A/N: Face Claims for Mercedes family are Yvette Nicole Brown as her mom and Leslie Uggams as Granny. Thanks for continuing to read, favorite, follow, and review. It encourages me to spend a day on a chapter for you guys. Please forgive all my mistakes and no I don't own any of this.
Five
Mercedes
I hate to admit, but I've thought about that night I was with Sam Evans every day for the past seven days. When I watch his videos with Jessica, I am no longer frowning at him. I would be okay if my thoughts were on how I was amazed at how good a parent he is to her, but no, my thoughts are mostly on his huge hands and how they felt on my body. And when I am not thinking about his hands on my body, I think about how he sounded when he talked to his father on the phone. I could relate to the sadness, frustration, and even anger he felt because I knew how it felt to be disappointed by the person you love and who is supposed to love you unconditionally.
Maybe, my thoughts were on how amazing his hands felt on me, giving me shivers and causing me to moan because I am horny as hell and have been for the last seven years of my life. Believe me it's not been easy being a virgin. Maybe it's not Sam's hands specifically that have that effect on me, and I would probably enjoy the touch of any man's hand. Sam Evans isn't some sexual god that his fans have made him out to be. Oh, I will admit only to myself that he's sexy as hell and handsome when he has the right haircut. That one time he grew it out thinking he was Thor, and I wanted to either braid it down or cut it off wasn't too long ago. It was when he first got Jessica and wasn't taking any time for himself until Marley convinced him to let her babysit Jessica and told him how important it was for him to have a little "me" time. He looked like a hot mess to me but some women thought it was hot. Like he was the return of Fabio or something. He looked homeless to me.
But that look hasn't been on him in a while. And I admit that my mom was right that he would be a good catch if only he wasn't such a player. His sleeping with anything that moves is his biggest negative because even his personality isn't too. Some women might consider him to be charming. I'll never admit to anyone that I do think he has positive traits. His ego is big enough, and I don't want anyone trying to play matchmaker for us or behaving like my mom. I swear you wouldn't think she was from East Cleveland last night. She actually approved of me, her only child being in a relationship with a man who has probably never been in a relationship his entire life and has probably seen more vaginas than a gynecologist.
I don't even understand why he didn't let my mom know point blank that we are not and will never be in a relationship. Everything about that night was crazy, and if I continue to think about it, I am going to be crazy. I have got to stop thinking about Sam Evans. I've wasted enough time thinking about him that I feel like he's affecting my performances when I sing at the hotel. All I play and sing are songs that remind me of him. My musical career is suffering because of him. I have even let a bartender, Unique, sing duets with me. And if my granny's condition continues to deteriorate, then I will start letting her do some of my performances. She is really good and deserves the spotlight. I could see her on the Broadway stage. All she needs is confidence and experience on the stage.
Today, I'm working from home, and I'm grateful that my grandmother is not having a bad day. The only thing she has been calling me by my mother's name all day and talks about things that happened before I was born as if they just happened, but she hasn't been violent or attempted to run away. She even had her old appetite today, and I had to fix her something to eat for lunch earlier than normal. She ate all of it and immediately was sleepy. She had just gone into her room to take a nap. Her napping was giving me the opportunity to get some work done, and if I could keep my mind off of Evans, I would be much more productive.
I probably need to eat lunch myself. That is what my problem is. I need some nutrition having skipped breakfast to make sure all my grandmother's needs were met. Just as I was getting up to fix myself something for lunch, my phone rings. I don't recognize the number, and I am tempted to just let the call go to voicemail, but the call could be transferred from my job and be something work related, so I changed my mind and answered it.
"Hello. Mercedes Jones speaking, how may I help you?" There is no response. If I listen carefully I can hear the background sound of traffic. I am about to hang up when I hear a baby singing. "I know this isn't Sam Evans," I say and hope that I am wrong but know instinctively that it's Jessica I am hearing.
"Yes, It's me," he says as if he has the right to be calling me while I am working.
"How in the hell did you get my phone number?" I know for a fact that none of my friends would give him my number, and that I sure as hell would never give it to him. Even if he asked for my number, which I am certain he never did, I would have told him hell no or gave him the wrong numbers as a joke.
"Maybe I am a magician and used magic to guess your phone number. Can you come to your door?" he says. I hear a car door shutting and someone outside my house. I am hoping and praying it's not him.
"What if I can't?" I ask him.
"Stop playing. Please come to the door and let me in, I have to change Jessica's diaper, and I brought food. Hurry, stuff is starting to seep out of her diaper."
"How did you even know that I'd be here? It's Wednesday at noon on a workday." For all he knows, I should be in the office, which is where I would be if not for my grandmother.
"It's an emergency. Why can't you just let me in before interrogating me? I see why you don't have a man in your life, you are a masochist." Oh no he did NOT. I immediately end the call. and I swear if it was not for Jessica, I would leave him outside in the sweltering heat preferably covered in baby poop before I ever let him back in my grandmother's house again.
He better be glad that I spent so much time in church as a little girl, because that's the only reason why I get up and yank the door open as violently as I can. Because he is standing so close to the door when I do this, I almost fall into his laden arms.
"Say Say," Jessica utters when she sees me. She is recognizing me by name. My heart instantly melts when I look at that beautiful baby strapped to her insane dad's chest. She starts to kick her legs and claps her hands when I smile up at her, while her dad stands there, wearing dark shades looking like a model. He takes advantage of my adoration of his daughter and his form to walk right into my Granny's house without waiting for me to invite him. I don't smell a poopy diaper. I smell food, and I notice that he has a big brown bag in his hand as he walks past me.
As soon as I shut the door, he takes Jessica out of the carrier and puts her down. She begins to walk around the living room. I am shocked to see that she is actually wearing a matching outfit today. She has on a purple dress. a lavender tulle tutu. And on her feet are purple high top sneakers. This is one the few times that I have seen her recently that she is wearing colors that match.
"Don't you need to take her into the bathroom to change her diaper," I say, gesturing down the hall to the half bath.
"Oh, about that it must have just been gas," he lies as he pulls out containers of food from the bag.
"How in the world could it have been gas? You told me she had poop oozing out of her diaper. How can you confuse poop coming out of a diaper to a fart?"
"You didn't hear me clearly. I said it smells as if she had poop coming out of her diaper and running down her legs maybe." The liar looks away from me because he cannot even remember the initial lie he told apparently. I put my hands on my hips and get ready to tell him to get out, but the delicious smell of the food makes my stomach growl. "Ah, so you are hungry, too. It's time for Jessica to eat. Isn't it, Jessie Love?" He looks at his daughter.
"Nom nom," she says while she signs something to him and Evans nods at her. She then comes over to me and wraps herself around my legs. When she lifts her arms, I look down into her green eyes and I am under her spell, so I immediately pick her adorable self up.
"I have steak in one container. And stir fry broccoli, red peppers, and mushrooms on top of rice in the other container," he says as if it's the most natural thing in the world for him to be bringing me food. "The last container has chicken nuggets for Jessie. It's her favorite." When he says favorite, Jessica tries to leave my arms to go to her dad. After he puts all the containers on the table, he turns and looks at the cabinets in the kitchen.
"The plates are in the cabinet above the sink," I tell him. He gets three dishes and puts them on the table. This time when Jessica reaches for him, he takes her in his arms, and I go and get the utensils. I also look for and find the Disney Princess plate my mom keeps here for when she babysits our neighbor's, Sheila's daughter, and I look in the pantry for the old booster seat we keep in the house when I used to babysit while I was in high school and college.
I turn my head and notice that while I am putting the booster seat on a chair, he has Jessica washing her hands at the kitchen sink
"Why are you here?" I asked him a few minutes later over the scrumptious lunch that he brought. "If you think that I am going to have sex with you, then I am letting you know right now that you are wasting your time." Sam Evans would have to be the last man on earth with a working penis in order for him to have a snowball's chance in hell of that happening. I narrow my eyes at him while I wait for him to explain his and Jessica's presences.
"Do you want me to tell Mike that you are talking about sex in front of his godchild," he smirks at me while uncovering Jessica's ears. His imitation of Mike is spot on.
"Please, Mike must not know you like I do. I am sure Jessica has heard worse from your bimbo nanny who took a video of herself in your bed while lying next to you. No telling what my little sweetheart has been exposed to in your den of iniquity." I say not feeling bad at all.
"Do you honestly believe that I would sleep with my daughter's nanny?" he argues. "In case she was not only doing crazy things and saying them as well, I am glad that I immediately fired her, and I haven't hired a nanny since that psychopath left my employ," he says.
"So, have you finally gone through all the willing and available women in the greater Cleveland area and now you've decided to check me out? And you think by feeding me, I will become interested in the male whore of Babylon?" In consideration of tiny pitchers having big ears, I lean over towards him and whisper in his ear: "You have lost your damn mind." Then, I add more food to my plate. He might have more than a few screws loose, but he sure as hell could cook.
"You haven't even asked me how I am doing today. Or thanked me for bringing you lunch. All your conversations center around yourself. Have you noticed how self-centered you sound when you talk to others?"
"No one has ever told me that, and you know Tina. If I did, do as you accuse, she would have surely told me. Now, tell me the real reason you are here before I kick you out."
"Believe me when I tell you this, because I am telling you the truth. I did not come here to seduce you," he says while staring deeply into my eyes. I don't know if I can trust him, but I do know that I don't have anything to worry about. I would not fall for his body rolling and anything else he had in his seduction armory. I would not sleep with a womanizer.
"I really don't care if you are being honest or not," I say. "Because you don't have a chance with me. I am not going to be another notch on your bedpost, so if somebody bet you that you couldn't get inside my drawers, then you need to pay them ASAP. Because just like En Vogue sang (and I sing the words to him) Never gonna get it, never gonna get it. Never gonna get it, never gonna get it. Never gonna get it, never gonna get it. Never gonna get it. Never get it."
"Wow," he says as Jessica tries her best to sing along. I reach over and give her a high five if you could call it that as she sings "Say Say" and I am almost distracted from what her dad is spewing from his mouth. When I look back up at him, I notice he was still talking. "You really have a one-track mind and you accuse me of being the one doing it all the time." He shakes his head at me accusingly.
"More!" Jessica says, and I continue to sing "My Lovin'" to her and I have decided to ignore her dad. When I finish singing and give Jessica some more food, I get a second helping as well because the food is so delicious, and I don't plan on telling him how much I enjoy the food and eating with Jessica.
"Is that all the food that you brought today? Did you bring fruit for Jessica's dessert?"
"I didn't think about dessert. We can go and get some," he says like I would be willing to be out in public with him. Why would he want me out with him and his child? Wouldn't that make people speculate we are dating like my mom. Something is definitely up with him and I look at him with the look both my grandmother and mother gave me when I was guilty, and they wanted me to confess. "Do you want to choose where we go?" he asks.
"Am I in a parallel universe or something? What makes you think that I would want to be seen out in public with you getting dessert?" I ask him these questions with a serious expression on my face.
"Why wouldn't you?"
"Because we would be photographed, people will see us and assume that we are together," I say pointing to him and then me, "Why would I put myself in that kind of situation?"
Jessica throws a piece of broccoli at Sam's head as soon as I stop speaking. She, then puts her hands to her face and says, "Oh oh." and begins to laugh uncontrollably, and in that moment, she reminds me so much of her father. She has a lot of his ways. I make the mistake of laughing with her which causes her to start throwing all her veggies at him and I can't stop laughing when a piece of onion hits him right in the middle of his forehead..
"Stop throwing your food, Jessie Love," he admonishes softly. "That's not nice. We are Mercedes guests, and this is not how we behave when we eat." Plop. Another piece of broccoli hits him while he is speaking. Jessica continues to laugh until Sam takes the food from in front of her. He decides to end her meal as he takes her to the sink to wash her messy hands. Then, he gets her diaper bag and takes her to the bathroom.
I am still laughing at the two as I get up to clear the table and load the dishwasher. I put his leftovers back in their original containers and stack them on top of each other. When he and Jessica emerge from the restroom, I thought he would take his food and leave, but he doesn't come near the dining room. He sits with Jessica in the living room on the couch making himself at home.
I am about to ask him what the hell is doing but the chat icon feature of my office email makes a noise notifying me that I have a direct message. I go to my laptop and sit down in Granny's recliner and start to conversation I have with my staff leads me into making purchasing requests for shampoo and conditioner along with other items that we are running low on. I get so engrossed with my work that I forget that Sam and Jessica are still sitting in the room with me. I only lift my head up from the screen when I see he's no longer on the couch but behind me staring at my laptop screen.
"So, what exactly do you do when you are not performing?" he asks.
"I work for the director of hotel finance as a part-time manager of the hotel's salon. I basically manage the salon by handling purchasing requests, billing, appointments, and I even help out when we are short-staffed for twenty hours a week. I can do most of the work remotely, but I do have to supervise salon employees as well, so I limit working from home as much as possible."
"Why do two jobs when you are a great singer?" he asks.
"It's complicated." I tell him because it's none of his business.
"Is it because you are not getting paid much singing and playing the piano at the hotel? You only work weekends and mostly at night, so I can't imagine you were making big bucks doing that." I whip my head around to look at him, and my face bumps with his. I move quickly, but not quick enough to notice how soft and smooth his skin is for someone who works outside a good portion of the year.
"Don't you know it's incredibly rude to talk about a person's salary." I tell him and then turn back to my screen, but he is still so close to me that he distracts me that I forget what the hell I was working on.
"I don't think it's rude if we have already discussed how much I make," he says, still wanting to be all up in my business.
I am really ready for him to leave, I am about to suggest he leave when I notice that Jessica is fast asleep on the couch. She's on her side with her knees curled up in a ball.
"Don't you think you should take her home, so she can properly nap in her own crib. It's very noisy here while I work, and I don't want the phone calls to wake her up." I am lying to him. I don't have to answer my phone a lot because of direct messaging. And I can't have many calls because I never know what my grandmother would do while I was speaking on the phone that could be overheard and misconstrued.
"Really, since I have been here, I haven't heard your phone ring at all. Besides, she is comfortable, and I don't want to disturb her," he says.
I just shake my head at him and get up because a couch is not a good place for her to sleep, especially if my grandmother comes in here naked screaming that she is a Sammyfan and starts body rolling all over the place. Honestly, I don't mind having Jessica here with me. Her father can go kick rocks for all I care. I try to ignore him as I gently pick Jessica up and she doesn't wake. I carry her to my bedroom, and I am not surprised to hear her dad's heavy footsteps behind me.
As soon as I am near my bed, I gently lay her down on my bed and place my throw over her after I surround her with pillows to make sure she doesn't roll and fall off my bed. As I am walking out, I collide with Sam, and I start to fall back, but he quickly catches me with instincts honed from being a professional baseball player.
I put a hand to his chest to steady myself and look into his green eyes. He stares down at me, and there's an expression on his face that I have never seen before. This is the first time that I've ever looked at him closely, and he's more handsome than I thought. His eyes are a nice shade of green, and his plump lips are nice, too.
What was I thinking, forget that, what in the hell was I doing? I instantly drop my hand off of his chest and walk out of my bedroom. He follows me and for once he doesn't say a word.
I ignore him and go back to the recliner and my laptop, and minutes later, I hear his heavy breathing, followed by a loud snore. I shake my head in irritation and grab my noise cancelling Bose headphones to drown out the noise while I finish my work for today.
Sam
I wake up kind of sluggish and in my mind I think that I am at one place whereas my body tells me I am somewhere completely different, so it takes me a minute to remember that I'm not on my own couch at home. This one, though comfortable, is much shorter and probably not as expensive as the stain resistant one I got, so I don't have to fear Jessica messing it up with stains that all babies leave behind. After growing up dirt poor, I am not a miser, so I don't feel bad about using my fortune to buy the best that money can buy now. I never spend my salary. That money is put away in savings accounts, money market accounts, trusts, saving bonds, and investments for Jessica's and my future. The money that I spend liberally is the money from endorsements.
I would like to stay there in the in-between state of sleep and being awoke, but there is a noise I am hearing that is surreal as well. I'm used to Jessica's sounds, but normally, if she wakes up before me, the first thing she does is climb on top of me and smack me in the face.
She hasn't done that but I hear my daughter. She is much louder than usual, but she's happy. I can always tell how she is by the sounds that come out of her. She's extremely happy right now, and that's a sound I don't hear much when I'm not involved.
I also notice there's a soft, fuzzy throw covering me. It's purple, and it's not Jessie's. I sit up and look around for my daughter, and I find her on the floor near me playing with another little girl around her age, and they are playing with dolls and stuffed animals.
Mercedes's grandmother is sitting in the recliner that Mercedes was sitting on while she was working, and she is watching the girls with a smile on her face. Mercedes is on the floor with Jessica very close to her. She is now running her fingers through Jessica's curls. My baby girl yells some gibberish and turns around and hugs Mercedes, who kisses her on top of her head.
I almost tear up because I am witnessing exactly what my daughter needs, and I'm going to give it to her by any means necessary. She's not growing up the way I did without a mother. My masterplan on convincing Mercedes to be her mother is going to have to go into full effect.
Jessica finally notices that I am awake when she stands up and walks to Mercedes's Grandma. She hands her a teddy bear and the woman bends down to kiss her.
"Dada!" Jessica says and waves at me but doesn't come running to my arms like she usually does. Instead, she sits with the other girl and they continue to play. Jessie's new friend pays me no mind.
I wonder about the time, so when I check my watch and realize it's four o'clock, I realize that I have slept for three hours. I then remember why I was so tired. Last night had been a rough one with Jessica waking up five times, every hour on the hour. I stand up and stretch and this causes Mercedes to finally look at me. This is the first time she has looked at me since having her little tiny hands on my chest. She seems annoyed with me when she stands and walks over towards me.
"Did you get a good rest that you came over to get today?" she asks me, not happy that I probably took her from work and that she had to watch not only her grandmother and the child she is babysitting but also my daughter as well.
"Mercedes, smile at your suitor. Men won't continue to court mean women," her grandmother says while she cranes her neck to look at us.
Mercedes frowns at me even harder and I didn't think that was possible.
"Sorry Cedes. I didn't mean to fall asleep. You should have woken me up."
"Are you crazy enough to think that I didn't try to poke, shake, and yell at you to wake you up," she snarls at me. "Finally I gave up because all you did was turn on the other side and snore even louder."
"So, you were touching me while I slept?" I say with a big smile stretching across my face.
"Don't remind me, my hands are wrinkled from all the handwashing I had to do today to disinfect them," she says back.
Jessica runs toward me with her wobbly stubby legs and the other little girl follows. "Yook," Jessica says, pointing at her new friend who waves at me with a big grin on her face. The other girl reminds me of what Mercedes probably looked like as a child with her brown skin and chubby cheeks. She was a little cutie for sure.
"Hi, there," I say.
"This is Stella," Mercedes says. "She lives next door, and my mom watches her sometimes for her parents Anthony and Sheila Rashad."
Just as the words leave her mouth, Melinda opens the front door and walks in. Right behind her is another woman who looks to be about her age, but is taller and has short blond hair.
"For goodness sakes, I thought you were lying to me, Melinda," the woman says as she walks to me. "I'm not a Sammyfan," she says even though she does the body roll, "but I am a fan of the Guardians." I stand and shake her hand. She pulls out her phone, and we take a few selfies. Mercedes rolls her eyes at us which the tall blond lady sees.
"Cedes, girl, how in the world did you get this man here? I knew hanging out with Tina was a good thing for you since she has married that fine ass Mike Chang. Now, Mike Chang, I am a fan of. I regret the day he retired so young from coaching y'all. I used to go to his games, and I was devastated that he had to stop playing so young, but when he coached the Guardians to two World Series Championship, I felt alright in my spirit about him no longer being able to play in his prime." She walks around me and looks me up and down. "And even though he is no Mike Chang, this man right here even though he is pale as can be, he is fine. You don't have to worry that he has a child. Because that just lets you know he likes the choco-latte, and once you go black, you never go back."
"Roz, just stop. He's not my boyfriend. He's not even my friend," Mercedes begins, but Roz interrupts her.
"Girl, bye," the woman says. "I'm Roz, and I'm one of Mercedes's moms."
"She is but not in a lesbian way," Melinda says, and I almost choke on my laughter.
"Girl, please," Roz says. "I was stupid enough to marry Melinda's ex-husband, Mercedes's daddy. It wasn't long until I realized he was no good," she says. "Do you know where he was when I was miscarrying his baby?" When I shake my head no at her, she says, "Neither do I. To this day, he won't tell me. It was at night so he wasn't at his office, so I came here looking for him, and when Melinda opened the door—"
"I just knew something was wrong," Melinda says, interrupting Roz.
"OMG," Mercedes says. "Why do you have to tell every single person you meet this story? He didn't even know you were pregnant. You didn't know either until that day."
"To warn them about that useless piece of human garbage that fathered you," Roz says. "Stop interrupting me, girl. Anyway, Sam," she says, turning back to me, "Melinda is the one who took me to the hospital. She stayed with me and took me home afterward. She brought me food every day for the next week. That's how the friendship started. And you know what the cherry on top of the banana split is? He hates it. He hates that we're friends, and he can't do a damn thing about it. When I divorced his ass, I moved right here in this neighborhood and made him pay for me a house as close to his baby girl and ex wife that I could get."
"Can you please stop talking trash about my dad?" Mercedes says.
"Stay out of grown folks' business. We didn't start talking crap about him in front of you until you became an adult. You know he ain't shheeeitt. He almost missed your high school graduation and he never went to any of your singing competitions. He didn't even come to your college graduation. I've never forgiven him and never will for divorcing me when I was depressed about my daddy dying," Melinda says. "Anyway, you two go ahead and go out. Roz and I will watch Jessica, and the two of you can have some time alone. It's important for Sam to take a break from his kid, even if it's just for a few hours a day."
Jessica has already wandered off with Stella. They are sitting in the corner playing with Legos now.
"We are not—" Mercedes begins.
"Let's go have some dessert," I suggest. "I can use some time outside, but I doubt Jessica will want to stay," I tell them. "She's my shadow."
"I don't want to go and get dessert," Mercedes says. "I don't want to do anything with him."
"Girl we ain't going to tell nobody you all are dating. You don't have to keep this little romance a secret. You betta take this opportunity to have a few minutes alone," Roz says waving us off.
"Mercedes, you want to come with me and get a couple of signed jerseys that I can give to Roz and your family?" I ask.
"Hell to the no," she says.
"Mercedes, I know me and Roz talk crap about men a lot here, but your belligerent attitude is no way to keep a man. You're too young to be this cold," Melinda says. "You both need a break. Roz is here, and she's going to help me. Sheila will be here soon to pick up Stella, and Junior will be home in about an hour. Leave."
"Okay," she finally relents. "Let me go to my room and change."
Once she's inside her bedroom, her mom smiles at me. "You cheat on, give my baby a disease, or abuse my daughter in any way, I'll cut it off," she warns without dropping her smile. "And I know you know what I'm talking about." She unabashedly points at my crotch.
"And I am the one who is going to hold you down while she does it," Roz says.
"I promise you both that I am not messing around with her." I cross my heart.
"So, you're serious about her?" Melinda asks and I nod. What I want from her is about as serious as you can get. My plan is to make her my wife and most importantly Jessica's mom. "Good," her mom says. "She's a sweet girl inside who has a hard shell because she's been hurt. She would do anything for those she loves, and I love her to pieces. She deserves a good guy, not some womanizing playboy who is proud of being a male slut."
A few minutes later, Mercedes comes out of her room surprising me by wearing a denim dress and a pair of white sneakers. I admire her body from her surprisingly long legs on such a petite frame up to her face. She's even put on light makeup.
"Let's go," she says.
I look at my daughter and tell her, "Daddy will be back soon, Jessie Love."
"Bye!" she says. Mercedes goes out the front door, and I leave my phone number for Melinda in case she needs to get in touch with me. She motions for me to leave, and I follow Mercedes out the door.