Lynnia (35 page)

Lynnia

A few days later

Lynnia and her sisters were sitting around a table having their weekly lunch talking about an issue Lynnia was having. They were missing one sister, but it was to be expected since she’d just given birth. They were discussing the problem Lynnia was having finding someone to take care of her bathroom. She’d asked if they knew anyone that could do the work and wouldn’t cost her the restaurant. She usually wouldn’t be the one handling this, but had decided to take it on as a favor.

Old Lady King, Lynnia’s building manager and original owner of the condo she currently lives in, is one of her favorite people in the entire building. She would do anything for that sweet, little lady. Her phone rang two days ago and it was Mrs. King. The woman was upset because their regular maintenance man, Mr. MacNally had passed away the week prior. The little lady had become worried when she’d called him and hadn’t received an answer. It wasn’t like him to disregard a phone call from her, especially one that involved work.

“It just not how he did things,” Mrs. King had explained to her.

At the time, she’d been ready to make excuses for the man, but quickly learned he had the best “worst” excuse ever for his continued absence. A seemingly healthy man has some kind of seizure then dies due to some rare heart disease that he didn’t even know he had.

“With the death of Mr. MacNally, I’m in need of someone that could do work on the building and in my condo. Mrs. King has so much on her plate with the other part of building upkeep that I told her I would help her out with this part. The only thing is, I don’t have the slightest inkling of how to do that. Do you have any people that I could ask? I don’t want to refer her to some service either. I could just see how that would work out. I don’t want this to be a stressful thing for her.”

Lynnia looked at her sisters and could see that each of them was pointedly refusing to look at her. Wynter was finally the one to look at her before speaking up.

“I may know someone that could do the major work that you need done in your apartment and the other parts of the building. This person might be able to help you with the maintenance part as well, meaning they could help find someone that could do the work regularly if needs be.”

“Evie, why do you feel the need to do this? I know she’s older and all, but where are her kids? Does she have any?”

Rayna asked some valid questions even though part of Lynnia knew it was because her older sister felt the need to look out for her. She was a fully grown woman and they still looked out for her like she was a little kid. Lynnia had been an adult for at least thirteen years now. One would think it would be acknowledged by her sisters.

“Mrs. Harriet King is one of the sweetest women I’ve known outside of the women in our family. There is a family the lives in our building that were originally squatters. They were homeless and a parent of one of the other kids at her children’s school lived in the building. Penny didn’t know that they were homeless. She was just telling the woman that there was a possible condo available in her building,” Lynnia took a deep breath then continued her story. “The woman didn’t have anywhere to go or anyone to call to help her out. The father died in Afghanistan and the mother lost her job. She was actively looking for work and begging anyone that would listen for help. Every night she would sneak into the open window of the fire escape and unlock the door before going to pick up her kids from the other mother’s condo. No one knew that they were there for about three weeks. She kept up the ruse for her kid’s sake. Josephine, who was six at the time, Matthew, who was five and Thomas, Matthew’s twin, would come home to a home cooked meal, a warm bed and a mother that loved them dearly. It wasn’t until Mrs. King received the bill for water and electric in that apartment that she came to realize she had someone living there. As those of us that own or have owned condos know, most of the time, the condos are furnished for show. Mrs. King had been gone for about a month and a half visiting her kids. She went to the condo …”

Lynnia’s story was cut off when Zoie gasped and turned to look at Lynnia before looking at their other sisters to see if they clued in or not. She could see the understanding clearly written on her older sister’s face as Zoie began to tear up.

“What, Z? What’s the matter?” Rayna looked at Zoie then at Nyema who had also began to wipe her eyes.

Dawnie was the only other person that new the truth of how she and Carlita met. Dr. Nyema Norton was the one who spoke with the kids and helped them deal with the pain of losing their father. Her sister had worked wonders with her friend’s kids.

“I didn’t know that Carlita was homeless before,” Zoie finally got out in between gasps.

“What?” Rayna and Wynter questioned at the same time.

“Yes, Carlita is the woman whose story I’m sharing in telling you why I will forever be indebted to Mrs. King. I didn’t know Carlita from Eve, but learning about her story and the man that Sergeant Pauling had been let me know all I needed to. We became fast friends when Mrs. King came to ask me if I would mind donating some of my old pots along with some other kitchen things to a special project she had going. Knowing the woman didn’t know how to cook, I went to check on her to ask if she needed help and caught her gifting the items to Carlita. The next night I was set to cook for Mrs. King. I’ll tell you why in a moment Nika. I made enough to send to Carlita as well. I figured there was a reason Mrs. King, who never asked for anything from myself or anyone else, was giving things from the tenants of the other condos to this woman. Initially, I thought she was related to Mrs. King. After meeting her, I learned the truth. I love my neighbors, if for no other reason than the fact that they were willing to come out of their pockets and help Carlita and her kids. Is there a better reason?”

Each of her sisters was wiping away tears as she spoke about her friend’s previous situation. She couldn’t help but smile thinking of how everyone came together to make sure Carlita and her kids were taken care of. One of the tenants worked with a special program for veteran’s families. He helped Carlita get the money to purchase the condo for her kids. Mrs. King wanted to offer Carlita a job, but the stubborn woman didn’t want to “take” anymore from the woman that helped make sure her babies were okay. When Lynnia offered her a job at her newly established restaurant as a waitress, she tearfully accepted. The fact that the woman loved cooking as much as Lynnia was an added bonus.

“Okay. I think I’m officially in love with this woman. I can’t believe someone would be so kind in this day and age. I, also, will never mean mug another of your neighbors again.”

Lynnia and her sisters all applauded at Rayna’s confession.

“What the hell ever, y’all! Anyway, I didn’t know that you cooked for your building manager. That month or so you had too much food was because you’d planned on cooking for her, huh?”

“Yep, Nika. I didn’t know or I’d forgotten that she was going out of town. My sisters reaped the reward of that miscommunication. Carlita’s kids had been spending days and weekends with the aunt they lost touch with when Allen died. He’d had her information and no one knew how to get in touch with her then. That’s how y’all were able to enjoy the overabundance of food I had for two weeks. I have made it such a habit that I can’t break it. The meals we give to the needy families through Zoie’s day care don’t amount to the number of covered dishes I ended up giving to y’all for those two weeks.”

“Seriously?” Zoie seemed genuinely shocked.

“Yes, Z. When I cook for myself, Mrs. King, Carlita and her kids, I have enough for us to have leftovers. They don’t have to worry about lunch for the next day. After Mrs. King’s kids moved away, they left me a note asking if I wouldn’t mind cooking for Mrs. King at least three nights a week. They know I run a restaurant and she will burn down the house toasting bread. I didn’t mind because I hated seeing her dumping all of the takeout boxes she was. Her son and daughter worry about that woman and both live far away. In the beginning, they sent me checks, but …”

“Our sister refused to accept them. She would bring me the money so we could donate it to the families that we prepare the meals for,” Zoie laughed before continuing. “They fixed her happy tail when they found out she wasn’t keeping the money.”

“What do you mean? How did the find out?” Nyema asked as she took a bite of the sandwich that had to be lukewarm by now.

They’d been talking for a while at the little bistro.

“Mrs. King caught me at the bank one day. First, she was shocked to learn that her kids were sending me money for making her meals. After that wore off, she called me a ‘silly, generous chile’ and ratted me out right there on the spot. She overheard me talking to Zoie about delivering her my monthly King donation. The woman put two and two together, called both of her kids and told them to send a special gift for Zoie and Lynnia’s Giving Tree. The next thing she demanded was that I have a gift card sent with the check from then on.”

“She didn’t?” Rayna asked, sounding as if she was genuinely shocked while snickering and mixing her salad.

“She did, sissy. The brats actually listened. For two years now, I’ve been receiving gift cards from all of my favorite places. The little, nosey biddy has been watching me and reporting back so they know what to send me every month. Do you know they each send me something now? It was just one lump thing a few years ago. Now, they each send me a gift card, a card for Christmas, a special package for Zoie and the donation.”

“Why does she sound disgusted about it?” Wynter spoke as she pointed at Lynnia while tapping Nyema who looked up and shook her head.

“She doesn’t like the fact that her charitable thing is being tainted by a monthly gift. Evie, would prefer to have this as something she does. You know she and Z never think anything of the wonderful thing they do for the families that are around them. They do what they feel is necessary. Neither of them expects to be thanked or acknowledged. Evie takes it to another level because she gets annoyed when someone tries to reciprocate.”