“Come on. I’ll take you back over there to talk to her. She got a sweet spot for me.” He winked before sliding out of the booth.
Once he was on his feet, he held his hand out for me to grab, and I grabbed it instinctively, just as I did the night before. Something about the palm of his hand wrapping around mine felt like home. He calmed me even when I didn’t know I was unsettled. I smiled when he gripped it tighter.
We walked back to the counter hand in hand, but I stood to the side as he got ready to plead my case. I could tell by the smile on Ms. Audrey’s face when she greeted and gave Ramel the biggest hug, he was about to get whatever he wanted. It was like watching a spoiled grandchild with his grandma on his mom’s side.
“Now, where have you been? I haven’t seen you in days,” she greeted before letting him go and looking him up and down as if she was doing an inspection.
“You know Cap be working us like dogs. We barely have time to eat.”
“Don’t lie on me!” his friend, whom I assumed was Cap, yelled from their booth.
Ms. Audrey and Ramel’s conversation got quieter as they walked toward the back, but I could see her still smiling. That had to be a good sign. When he walked back over to me, he let me know that I would be starting in the morning.
“Thank you!” I squealed, jumping into his arms without thinking.
“No biggie,” he said once I finally let him go. “Good luck with everything.”
Ramel walked back to his booth to join his friends, and I thanked Ms. Audrey for giving me a chance. All I had to do was be there at five in the morning to start my new life. I had no idea how my first day would look, but it didn’t matter. I was justexcited to get my first real job. No matter how much it paid, I would be making my own money, and there was not a single soul who could take that from me.
Chapter
Six
Ramel
“No disrespect, Pops, but what makes you think I need your permission to call off a wedding I don’t want to be a part of? I told you from the beginning I wasn’t down with this marriage. I played along because I wanted to bring honor to the family, but what has the family ever done for me?”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“It seems like I’m the only one making sacrifices so you can see the dream you have for yourself come true. You want to control my life so you can have the one you want. Everything from my career choice down to the woman I marry, you want to have your hand in it.”
Hearing that must have caught my pops off guard because he was silent. I knew it was the career part that had him too stunned to speak because not only did I choose my own career, I did it behind his back. But I was tired of doing stuff behind his back.
I was a grown man, and if I was going to be a grown man, I had to stand up to my pops and act like one. I was no longer letting him call the shots. He could call the shots in his family,but I was old enough to start my own, so that meant I no longer had to be attached to him, if that was the way he wanted it.
“Look, I know this move would help the family, but I’m not even thinking about the family right now. I’m thinking about me. It’s time I made decisions that I could live with, and that’s just not one of them.”
“You wait one minute.”
“Alright, Pops. I got to go.”I cut him off and hung up the phone as Top and Cap walked through the door.
Top, Cap, and I made up the leadership in Alpha company, and the last thing I wanted was for them to hear me on the phone arguing with my Pops. I did a good job of keeping my work life and personal life separate.
No one in the unit knew anything about me outside of work. I hung out with them, and I did the best I could to make personal connections, but I was always one to separate my life from the Army. I always felt like whatever I had going on outside of this uniform, I needed to keep it that way because once the personal life mixed with the uniform, that was when shit got fucked up, and I never wanted my life to be mixed or mingled.
“Damn, homie. We ain’t want to make you get off the phone with your girl. We see you deep in that cake conversation.”
“Nah, it’s not even like that. Just some family drama I’m having.”
“Old private ass nigga. I didn’t even know you had a family. Did you, Top?” Cap asked, sitting on top of the desk across from me.
“Nah, I can’t say that I do.” Top was an old-school dude. He didn’t care one way or another what I had going on at home as long as I didn’t bring it to work. It was cool with him, but Cap was always concerned about the unit’s welfare. He cared about his soldiers way more than any leader I had ever seen, and I was no different.
Although I was the only other officer in the unit, he cared about me just as much as he did the enlisted soldiers. I had to do a double job to keep him out of my business because he was always trying to put two and two together, especially when he felt like life wasn’t going the way it needed to be for you to come to work on your A game.
“Anything I could help with?” Cap asked, just as I knew he would.
“Nah, Cap, I’m good, but if I need something, I’ll let you know.” I gave him the same line I always did, and he respected it, but I knew he was always watching my back, even when I didn’t want him to.
