“He’s Wren’s baby. I don’t have any children, yet,” she said, her tone softening with each word untilyetwas all breath and air. She straightened her posture. “We call him that. You know, raising children should be a whole family effort.”
Rowan nodded. She felt her shoulders relax. A nine or ten year old son of Wren’s though? She did the mental calculation. That would have put Wren at nineteen, twenty at most.
Damn.
Giving him her full attention, she knelt down to eye level. “Wren is your mama? How lucky are you?”
“Verylucky,” he beamed back at her, then looked at her feet. “You wear Converse to work?”
Rowan looked down at her professional attire that had gotten even more casual since starting this job. She still had on a button down shirt and slacks, but she’d switched her dress shoes out for high tops this week.
“Yep.” She nudged his foot with hers. “Just like you.”
He blushed, but his tone was matter of fact. “I don’t work here yet.”
Rowan chuckled again and stood up. “You know your mom, Auntie, and me used to all be friends when we were your age.”
“Really? What’s your name?”
“Rowan.”
“Oh, I heard about you,” he said, turning to Juniper. “Auntie, you and mama were talking about her the other day, huh?”
Juniper looked visibly uncomfortable. Kids always find a way to tell on adults.
Rowan couldn’t stop the smile that spread across her face. “Oh really? What did they say?” She asked, eyes flicking back to Juniper.
“Auntie said—”
“Okay,” Juniper interjected, “that’s enough for introductions for today. Time for the tour before I take you downstairs to meet your mama.”
Juniper pressed her hands against Wanchese’s back and scurried him toward the door. Rowan closed the door to Juniper’s office behind them all and rounded the door frame back into her office. She paused there, leaning slightly backward to hear their conversation drifting down the hallway.
“I can’t wait to show you all of the good things our people are doing for our community. I hope you feel so proud.”
“Do you really think I could work here one day?”
“I’m about to put you to work now, what do you mean Nuqisis?”
“No, Auntie, like for real.”
“I am for real. These toilets aren’t gonna scrub themselves.”
They devolved into a fit of giggles that was so unbelievably cute, Rowan thought she might explode. She felt a pang in her chest at the thought she might be gone before she got to see the day he worked there too. Which was ridiculous, she corrected herself, because he couldn’t be older than fifth grade.
His shoes squeaked on the floor as Juniper stopped him.
“For real, for real. You can do anything you want. Do you understand all of the power that’s inside you?”
As Rowan sat in her chair, she leaned her head back and reminisced about all the ways Juniper had always been everyone’s biggest cheerleader as kids. She herself had never felt powerful until Juniper made her believe it. There wassomething so special about Juniper. Special was too weak of a word to describe her. She needed her own word entirely.
???
Later that afternoon, Juniper knocked softly on the open door of Rowan’s office. She caught Rowan’s eyes drift to her hip as she pressed it into the door frame.Interesting. She mentally high-fived earlier Juniper for picking out the figure-hugging forest green wrap dress she was wearing.
Then she remembered the feeling of Rowan’s arm under her hand when she had balanced herself to show off her tattoo. She could still feel Rowan’s hand on the back of her leg. The feeling of skin to skin contact had shot a ripple of nervousness across her body when it happened. Much to her dismay, that feeling also sometimes crept into her thoughts when she was lying in bed at night. She hadn’t done anything about those thoughts yet. To herself, of course. Rowan was strictly off limits, but that didn’t mean she didn’t want to.
Rowan didn’t seem interested either way, beyond the occasional glance. They had enjoyed eating lunch together nearly every day, marking their transition into more collegial vibes, but Rowan hadn’t made an effort to get to know her outside of work. Juniper hadn’t made an effort to get to know Rowan either, but that ball was in Rowan’s court, squarely.
