The Chauffeur

Episode 2

"How's your danish, Harvey?" I asked, glancing at him through the rear-view mirror as we ate in the parking lot of the bakery shop.

"Delightful. And you, ma'am? How is your lemon bar?"

"Amazing. As always."

We finished stuffing the sugary pastries down our throat before heading out to pick up my daughter.

I sucked my teeth, trying to savor the lemony taste in my mouth just a little bit longer. I did order more than one, but I was saving that for Everly. She also enjoys them.

Typing away at the keyboard on my phone screen, I sent Andi a text letting her know I would be there in ten minutes.

Seconds later, three dots appeared before Andi's reply popped up onto the screen.

Andi: Ok. Oh, and tell Harvey I said hi.

Me: Ok.

I looked up from my phone. "Andi says hi."

Harvey's blue-gray eyes are back on me. I can tell he's smiling by the way the wrinkles around his eyes crease.

He fired up the engine of the Rolls Royce Phantom. The exterior was shiny and black, the interior black with hints of white along the seams, and according to Sam, the highest quality leather for guaranteed comfort.

I didn't know s**t about cars and didn't see the point in the upgrade from the Lexus we had a few years ago. I only cared about getting to and from a destination safely.

But then I saw the starlight headliner that felt like I was looking up at the stars in the sky. I fell in love with the vehicle instantly after that. I mean, what even is a Lexus anymore?

I didn't say a word for the rest of the ride, occasionally humming to the song playing on the radio. Harvey made me a playlist of every song me and Everly have ever belted out like it was karaoke.

The old man has joined in from time to time, quickly becoming a fan of Selena, Maroon 5, and Beyoncé. Our playlist was all over the place. We even had some Disney songs in there, which Everly and I often sang the loudest. Especially when it was a song from Princess and the Frog or Coco.

The song I was currently humming along to was "Dreaming of You" by Selena. Hearing her sing has always made me so emotional. I'm either overcome with sadness, or anger because that b***h Yolanda snatched her from this world too soon.

As I hummed along, I watched Harvey work his way through traffic before pulling up to Andi's house a moment later. He parked in the driveway of her luxury home. Right beside three of the sports cars her and her husband owned.

Andi and I met at a Mommy and Me group. We were both pregnant as s**t at the time and had connected on the fact that pregnancy was hell on earth for us. We both experienced nausea all through out, swollen feet, tender breasts, and a bladder the size of a freaking pinto bean.

It was a little later on, when we started hanging out, that I learned she was a model and her husband was the famous race car driver Reuben Cortes.

I wasn't famous or anything like that. Nowhere near like them anyway. I was just "Sam Hendersen's wife". None of the people he worked with could ever remember my name.

It wasn't that hard. And I couldn't tell if they genuinely had a difficult time remembering my name, were misogynistic pigs, racists, or all of the above.

I opened my own door before Harvey could reach me, a wicked smile on my face. I hardly ever let him do his job. I loved messing with him. He simply glared at me and waited until I stepped out of the vehicle to close the door.

"Mommy!"

My head swivels in the direction of my daughter's excited voice as she comes running out of the front door. She leaps down the stairs, her long flowing dark brown hair dancing in the wind behind her.

I hold out my arms, bracing myself. She nearly knocks the air out of me as she comes crashing into my arms. I embrace her. Kiss the top of her head. I let out a content sigh, having missed her even though it had only been a day.

"Hi, bunny. Did you have fun with aunt Andi and Zoe?" I ask, holding onto her a little longer.

Everly pulls away from me and nods, a smile plastered on her youthful face. I often stare at that young face while she sleeps, trying not to cry because my baby girl is growing up way faster than I'm prepared for.

"I brought you a lemon bar," I tell her, glancing at Harvey.

Everly doesn't even think about the lemon bar as she races over to Harvey. I'm surprised she hasn't already knocked the old man out with the way she leaps into his arms like a little spider monkey.

"Hey, grandpa," she chirps, giggling when he ruffles her hair.

My daughter has been calling him "grandpa" ever since they met. And Harvey lets her. It makes him happy.

I asked him if he had any grandchildren of his own when he started working for us. He told me he didn't have any grandchildren but that he was hopeful.

This was good for the both of them. Sam's parents are the only grandparents Everly has left since my parents cared more about shooting up heroin than they did me. They ended up getting killed by the very thing they loved more than raising me, so my grandparents ended up taking me in.

Unfortunately, their time had come, my grandmother first, then my grandfather. They passed away right before Everly was born. It's actually how she got her name. Everly for my grandmother, and her middle name Sol for my grandfather.

They would have loved her.

"I'm going to talk with aunt Andi for a bit," I told the two of them, who seemed to forget all about my existence as they joked and laughed with one another.

I shook my head and smiled before jogging up the short flight of steps. I went into the kitchen where I knew Andi would be. She loves to cook. And I love to eat. It's the perfect pairing really.

She stood at her island, tossing a bowl of fruit salad with a pair of wooden tongs. When she was done, I stole a sliced strawberry from the bowl and popped it into my mouth.

"You two should stay over for dinner tonight. I'm making Reuben's favorite: Tamales."

My mouth watered at the thought. Tamales sounded really good. But I needed to get Everly home. She has to get up early for school tomorrow. "As tempting as that sounds, I can't. But you and I can have lunch tomorrow after your shoot."

Being friends with a model isn't easy. If I wasn't so secure in my own beauty, I would honestly cry. Andi looks like she came straight out of an Essence magazine. Flawless deep brown skin, round chocolate brown eyes, and full pinkish-brown lips. She was a five foot ten goddess with the body of a coke bottle, and hair as voluminous and wild as she is. The camera loves her and so does the runway.

"You sure? It's not like Sam's going to be home."

I wish we weren't so freaking predictable. I'm over at Andi and Reuben's nearly every night because Sam works late and Everly and Zoe are inseparable.

I do cook sometimes. But Everly prefers Andi's cooking over mine. I'm not saying it's bad, but Andi can throw down in the kitchen. So I never put up much of a fight when she invites us over for dinner.

I sighed. "We had another fight."

"What was it this time?"

"I brought up wanting a baby again. Only this time I mentioned wanting to see a doctor. That pissed him off."

She stopped tossing the salad and added some more black pepper and olive oil to the mix. "I don't see what's wrong with wanting to see a doctor. It could help."

"That's what I said. But my suggestion offended him, so I apologized and decided to drop the doctor talk for now."

She huffed, giving her eyes a roll.

"And we haven't had s*x in weeks. So maybe tonight, when he comes home, I'll surprise him with the lingerie I bought a month ago."

"That see-through lavender one piece that makes your ass look like J.Lo's?"

I nodded. "Yep, that's the one."

"That color was made for you, boo. You will definitely get pregnant tonight."

"We'll see." I gave my best friend a kiss on the cheek before heading back the way I came.

"Tell me how it goes," she yelled from the kitchen. "And don't leave anything out. I want to hear about all the nasty freaky shit."

I chuckled. "Bye, Andi," I yelled over my shoulder before joining Everly in the backseat so we could head home.