It was a miracle Taissa had managed to reach the kids' school without getting herself into a road accident. She was sure she'd have, had there been no snarl-up on the way. Her mind had been preoccupied — was still — with the thoughts and emotions trampling over her like an outraged herd of elephants. Heck, she'd even forgotten to turn the car to selfdrive mode.
She parked the car and rested her head on the wheel. What to do? she asked herself that question for the nth time that day. She'd had a roll in the hay with Channing Chevrolet. Up an alley. She palmed her face.
This is very bad.
If she was going to get drunk, why did it have to be with him? Why couldn't she have been with another person, at least then she wouldn't be feeling this down in the dumps. For fucks sake, he was a playboy! He probably saw her as nothing but a tool to satiate his manly needs for the night. Fuck, he was probably in between another woman's legs right now. The worst part was that she'd betrayed Aeneas. It really did feel like her dead husband had been angry at her this morning. Although, she'd tried to forget Channing, had spent a whole hour in a hot aromatherapy bath in order to purge herself of his touch. But deep inside she knew it wasn't going to work, she couldn't clean his touch inside her. It'd been a bitter pill to swallow and her betrayal hit her the most. If only—
'Mommy!'
She raised her head with a start to see a boy who looked to have ants in his pants in front of the car door. She shut her eyes and took a deep breath.
Forget this, Taissa. You've got your kids to look after.
'Hi, Yannis, my baby!' she said as she opened the door. The boy immediately flew into her not-outstrecthed arms.
'Mommy, I missed you,' he said into her chest.
'Me, too, baby. I'm sorry.'
'It's okay,' Yannis said, pulling out of her arms. 'The school bus was sorta fun.'
She smiled at this, brushing his moppy red hair out of his face. 'Where's Naima?'
'I dunno.' Yannis shrugged. 'With her friends, maybe.'
'Go get her?'
'Okey.' He chucked his backpack into the backseat and ran back into the school only to come out seconds later with a group of girls behind him.
'Hi, Mommy,' Naima said, hugging her mother who had now gotten out of the car.
'Hi, Mrs. A,' her friends said.
'Hi, girls. How was school?'
'Twas good,' they said together like a Greek chorus.
'I guess we'll be going now,' Wanda said.
'Okay, bye, see you tomorrow,' said Naima.
'See you tomorrow,' said the girls and they were gone.
Five minutes later they were on their way home. The car was silent for some seconds then Naima brought her phone out and Yannis leaned forward from the backseat to turn the car radio on.
'Mommy,' he said, 'can I get a bike for my birthday?'
'Uh,' Taissa murmured. Why was he asking that now? She had bills to pay and her salary was becoming insufficient for them, she barely made sure the kids were oblivious to this fact. A bike was pretty expensive, unless she got a secondhand. But a preloved bike wasn't the ideal birthday present.
'Excusez-moi, Mommy?'
'I'll think about it.'
'Really? Thanks you, Mommy.'
'I make no promises, Yannis.' She knew the boy like the back of her hand. When the said day arrived and she got him no bike he'd insist she'd promised him.
'Uh,' he mumbled and sank back into the seat, looking down in the mouth.
'Mommy?' It was the daughter this time around.
'Yes, sweetie?'
'We're having a field trip next week. Well, our teacher said it's more of an excursion.'
'Okay, to where?'
'C.C Arkitexs,' Naima answered. 'Ain't it cool, Mommy. We get to see Mr. Chevrolet in person.'
'Uh, yeah, I guess it is. Good luck.' What a coincidence. She couldn't help remembering what had transpired yesternight. Although she'd been drunk she still remembered everything vividly. He'd felt good inside her, she'd felt all of him, every inch of his big manhood had filled her. She shivered at this memory, no matter how she tried to forget that night it refused to go away, it was etched in her memory. She'd been euphoric till she passed out with sheer exhaustion, it'd been very long for her, and she'd never done it up a wall before. Maybe it was because she'd never had anyone else before, or because it'd been long for her, but she couldn't deny she'd loved every moment of it, even if she was now regretting it. The feel of his mouth on hers, oh God, it'd been like heaven, her moans and his own groans, it still fired up her blood. She sighed, pity he was a playboy. Not her type.
Who're you kidding?
She knew he was every inch her type. He had muscles in all the right places that she admired. Had loved the feel of it under her hands—
'Mommy!' the kids screamed.
'Look out!' Naima screamed further.
She jerked out of her wanton thoughts in time to see a truck in her way and swerve out of the lane just before she crashed into it.
Her heart was beating wildly against her ribcage. The kids were screaming. Her head was pounding on one side.
She stopped the car by the side of the road and looked down at her hands which were now shaking uncontrollably. That was a really close shave. If she'd looked up a second later, she'd have crashed into the truck full force. She put a shaking hand to her chest to calm herself. Her kids had stopped screaming and Yannis was now crying, Naima was still in shock.
Fuck, what have I done?
The truck driver was already on her side of the road. The older man looked really mad enough to strangle her. 'Fucking hell! Are you insane? Have you frigging lost your nut? Did you want to put me into trouble? If you wanna commit suicide why don't you effing go do it in your house?' the man raged, his face as red as bad rash. Then he heard Yannis crying and frowned staring intently at the back but the smoked glass allowed him the view of nothing. He looked back at her. 'You've even got a fucking kid in the car! Are you fecking high?!'
She couldn't blame him, she wanted to apologize and get away quickly before she got a traffic ticket.
'I'm so, so, sorry, sir. I had a lot on my mind so I wasn't concentrating . . .'
The man scoffed. 'You'd better not get yourself fucking killed. If you know you can't drive, get your effing husband to do it!' He stormed off.
Taissa exhaled slowly. 'This is all your fault,' she said to herself then held her head in pain, her headache seemed to have intensified. She looked back at her kids, Yannis had quietened down but was still sobbing, Naima looked scared.
'Mommy?' she whispered, her eyes as big as train headlights.
Taissa turned the car to self drive mode and input her destination and got into the backseat with the kids. She undid Yannis's lap belt sat her son on her lap. The latter buried his head in her chest and continued to sob. She pulled Naima close to her and hugged her to her chest too.
'Mommy?'
'I'm sorry, my babies,' she said.
One conclusion came to her mind.
Channing Chevrolet was toxic to her.
'Mommy, please don't go out tonight, Mommy.'Taissa slowly turned her head from the couch to Yannis. 'Okay,' she consented. Like she was planning to go back to De Grande after what happened last night. God help her, she wasn't going back to any night club again, ever. She needed to catch up with her kids on their life, the way they used to do.Before, it used to be the three of them together, after school and work they'd chat and gist and have fun, but the increasing stress at work had put an abrupt end to that. She had to take on herculean tasks discarded by the others just so to earn extra to pay bills and stuff. So, most often than nought she turned to drowning her sorrows at the bar, getting Marlee or a babysitter to watch over her kids.Remembering all that, she couldn't help but think she was an irresponsible mother to her kids. Take for example what happened earlier today. But, thankfully, the kids had
Chevrolet tried to sit up in the bed but the girl pulled him back down beside her, her mouth going back to his ears. He resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Instead he looked down at her with a smile and buried his face in her breasts, earning a moan from her.Funny, the girl wasn't even on his mind; a certain redhead was. He hadn't stopped thinking of her since that night, no matter how hard he tried, she was already stuck to his brain. He'd hooked up with this one yesternight to get his mind off her but it failed to work. As he had plunged into her his thoughts had turned to a mess and all he'd seen was Taissa. Every thrust into the girl had been reliving the ones with Taissa up the alley. For a moment he'd even believed she had been the one right beneath him till they both came and he looked down. He'd fallen out of his castle in the air hard, knocking the air out of him, leaving him cold as reality slapped him right in the face. It wasn't Taissa and it'd neve
Naima hugged her mommy as she got out of the car.'Be good, okay.'Naima rolled her eyes. 'Aren't I always?'Taissa chuckled and passed her her school bag and a few wads of money. 'For munchies and souvenirs and whatnot,' she said.'Okay, thanks, Mommy. You want me to get you something?'Taissa pretended to chew over this for a moment. 'Anything will do,' she said finally just as the son came out from the other side of the car.'What of me?!' he asked loudly as he bounded over to his sister. He held her right hand and made puppy eyes at her, sticking out his bottom lip. 'Aren't you gonna get me something, Naima?''Oh, why would I ever forget you? I'd get the best anything for you.''Can I get a Jag model, please.''No way, man. It's way too high-priced. 'Sides they might not have that.'
'Ring-a-ring o' roses,A pocket full of poises,A-tissue! A-tissue,We all fall down.'Naima's eardrums were starting to pain her. It was just that Annoying Thing Adolf and the boys singing wouldn't make it in a singing career. Annoying Thing's voice was a high-pitched nasal whine, like his passages were clogged — they most probably were.'Clive, Anointing, this isn't exactly the kinda song that gives you an architectural firm vibe,' Ms. McCullough said.'Oh, we were just tryna cheer up the bus,' a nasal whine answered.'Oh, I know, let's sing a Mason song,' another boy said.'How about you don't see any song at all,' Thelma, a girl from the other class said and almost everybody unanimously agreed with her.This shut the boys up and fast.So, Naima sat back and cracked the window shut some to reduce the wind blowing in on her face then she sat back and watched the city fly by.This is so baw-ring!
Annoying Thing, somewhere along the line, had sidled up to Naima and was trying at small talk and didn't get the gist that he wasn't wanted. He kept on talking to a brick wall that was already making a gap between them.She cast her gaze around wildly for her former company. They were nowhere in sight. Where were those friends of hers when she needed them the most?"I got an extra toe, did you know that?" Annoying Thing was saying. Naima rolled her eyes and made a retching sound, clawing at her throat. But the girl was only disappointed to find out that didn't keep off Annoying Thing, it only impressed the morbid creep. She crossed her fingers and hoped Wanda and the rest would show up and save her.But they didn't. And the poor girl tried to drown out the sound of a mooning Annoying Thing telling her about his obese aunt who did yoga to rid herself of asthmaUgh!Her rescue came in the form of Mr Quasar as the wiry man came up with two guys in office wear to announce to the bored
Leighton packed the files off the systems analyst's desk. The latter looked nervous, twirling a strand of hair. She looked full of nerves enough to chew on it.'Leighton, you sure everything's fine?''Yeah,' said Leighton, rolling his eyes.'I mean, I was gonna bring the files myself, is Mr Chevrolet angry?''No. Wena, you're overreacting.'Rowena wrung her hands and tried to smile but only succeeded in looking more nervous. 'If you say so.'Leighton flashed a smile, ticked something on the top file then pat her cheek and made to go.'Leighton?'He stopped and glanced back at her.'I was wondering if you're still up for a drink at my apartment.' Rowena was shy saying this, her face red right to the roots of her hair, like someone suffering from a bad rash.Leighton turned pink at the neck and ears. 'Well, okay, fine by me.' Then he bolted out of the room speedwalking to the elevator towards the end of the hallway.It was his luck it was a mini-break for the fourth floor and no one was
Trying to not worry was definitely not an easy task for Taissa. Nothing seemed to be, nowadays. The worrying parasite thoughts kept running all over her head like energy zigzagging through her brain. Where was the next money going to come from? She didn't always get the paperwork (she wasn't the only one who applied for them). The current client she had was a shoestring budget man who'd come to her in the first place because he couldn't afford them famous and more expensive advocates.His sweatshop had been run into by a FedEx truck and he hoped to squeeze some money from them for damage control.Was it this man she was going to depend on? It wasn't easy keeping her head above water. The landlord was getting more aggressive each day, that problem wore her down the most but she was almost through with paying the rent money and then she'd look for a nice apartment building. Tears stung her eyes at this. She couldn't help remembering her dream, her and Aeneas's. To live happily in a 'hom
'Guys, Mr Channing Chevrolet is now almost around, be on your best behaviours,' Ms. McCullough said. 'And, kids, please stay together. Nobody wander off on their own.'A girl raised her hand.'Yes,' Ms. McCullough answered'We can ask questions from him, right?' she said.'Definitely??' Mr Quasar said. 'Feel free to, just do not ask questions that . . . ah . . . aren't . . .''Did you wanna say stupid?' Annoying Thing interjected. Naima didn't know if anyone noticed, but he'd just removed a finger from up his nose—where it'd been for a long time— and had wiped the disgusting booger on the back of a row seat near him. Naima turned away in disgust before she gave in to the urge to retch.'No, boy,' Mr Quasar gently said, smiling. The smile looked pretty forced to Naima, like the man had the thought that Annoying Thing was the stupid one. She was all heart and hands for that opinion. 'I was just going to leave my words in aposiopesis.'He garnered himself attention at this.'What the he