"Bitch what you need to do is get a life! Shanda, you are not the first woman to be divorced with kids and you won't be the last. I bet Chad somewhere laying some dick down while you all up here working and taking care of grown ass kids letting your last good years pass you up on some Ms. Independent shit. Girl I keep tellin' yo ass you ain't got to fall in love with these men just get you a boo, get the dick, and move around just like they do us. Period!"
I roll my eyes at the phone. I have heard this line from my best friend Renata at least once a month since my divorce was finalized four years ago.
"Fuck I wish my sorry ass baby daddy could scoop Aiden up, shit bitch I would ball the fuck out, straight cut the fuck up in these people streets. Shit I wouldn't know how to act."
"Bitch really, you do that now," I laughed.
"True, true girl a bitch gotta
live
. You know my motto: YO fucking LO!"
My name is Shanda Carson. I am a 35-year old, divorced mother of two teenagers, a daughter and a son. My oldest is 18 year old Brianna. My youngest is 17 year old Carlos. My Irish twins, born ten short months apart. I work as a social worker in private practice with a focus on marriage and family. One would think that my profession would give me great insight in raising these kids and keeping my marriage together, but honestly I catch hell like everyone else. Since my divorce I've devoted my life almost exclusively to work and the rearing of my children. I never saw this as a problem, but now the looming reality of becoming an empty nester in a few short weeks makes me question the wisdom of that decision.
On a normal day, I usually see about seven or eight clients and manage to get out of the office just before 5 pm, but today I'd seen 12 clients and I'm swamped with case notes. Leslie, another social worker in my counseling group, is out on maternity leave which means that my caseload is that much more demanding because I have to handle some of her clients as well. I won't complain because the extra money is nice especially with both kids starting college in a few short weeks. I didn't realize how engrossed I'd been in my work until a smooth baritone startled me out of my revelry.
"Hi, Shanda it's been a minute. How have you been? You're looking lovely as usual."
"No, please and thank you," I blush "I've been good Grayson, how about you?" I ask with a smile.
"I'm good, I could complain, but you get enough of that I suspect," He answered.
"Absolutely, good looking out. I appreciate it," I laugh. "Well since I'm here way past time I'm going to go ahead and pack it up and let you do your work."
"It's only me tonight and you really don't have to rush on my account, it really will only take a few minutes."
I reached out touching his shoulder, my intention only to tell him it was okay and I really needed to get home but the words never made it out my mouth. It was as if time stood still and for a brief moment everything in the office was stripped away till nothing remained but Grayson and I- a man and a woman with a frisson of awareness of the other. I immediately jerked my hand away and put my head down needing to avert my gaze to collect myself, silently hoping that whatever I'd felt that Grayson hadn't felt it too, but I knew he had. We had been playing this game of cat and mouse for a few months now. Hesitantly, I look up and I am confronted by the intensity of Grayson's gaze. I notice the flare of his nostrils and the rise and fall of his chest and I know without a doubt he felt that inexplicable pull as much as I did.
Grayson Jamison is the owner of the janitorial service that cleans our offices. He is quite handsome with deep brown skin and amber eyes. He has a quiet intensity about him that find both attractive and unsettling. I've noticed him noticing me on other occasions when I happened to work late or when he came in to fix minor and some major problems in the office, but I'd always been intentional about keeping my blinders on pretending not to notice. Ignoring him is hard to do. It takes a certain level of dedication to ignore a man standing over 6 feet, 220 pounds of solid milk chocolate sexiness. The man was so damn fine I felt like I was about to break a sweat just looking at him.
It seemed he lingered in the office much longer than necessary, crouching a bit too close to empty the trash., standing close enough for me to get a whiff of his cologne, close enough for me to feel the heat emanating from his body. His nearness made me become very much aware of my self-imposed dry spell over the past 5 months. I clench my thighs tightly while mentally castigating myself for having any thoughts of fraternizing with the help. In my field it's simply bad form. If nothing else, I pride myself on behaving like a professional at all times.
"Hey Susan if you don't mind waiting a few minutes I can walk you out," Grayson offered.
"Thanks, I'll do that," I answer without hesitating to take him up on his offer. Like many social outreach facilities, my office is not in the best part of town, so I figure I'd better gather my things and make my exit with him rather than going out alone. Maybe a little fresh air will take my mind off my crotch.
A few moments later we walk out together chatting amiably before saying our goodbyes. I don't pull off immediately, instead I sit in my car checking my text messages and missed calls. I debate if I want to return a missed call from Greg, my most convenient itch scratcher. Greg is single, good looking, employed, and great in bed. The only problem was he wants more than I do. Every time Greg and I had sex I would have to go through the process of extricating myself from his clinginess. The incessant "wyd" texts that followed were enough to make a bitch scream! The sex was good though, don't get me wrong, but something was lacking that I just couldn't put my finger on that always made me resist his persistence. I could use the stress relief but I decided against it.
Instead I send a text to my kids to find out what they want for dinner, only to be reminded that they're practically grown and don't need me to mother them. I try not to dampen their excitement of starting college but I must admit, at least to myself, that I am struggling with the thought of figuring out who the hell I'm supposed to be without them. I have been a mother for the entirety of my adult life. What is my life filled with if not my obligation to others? I shift my focus away from the heavy thoughts to watch the other vehicles pull out of the parking lot until there are only two left- mine and Grayson's. I act startled, like I'd been caught off guard when I hear a knock on my window, but secretly within myself I know exactly what I want to do. I roll the window down to see what he wants.
"Shanda, is everything ok, you good?"
" Yes, I'm fine just checking in with the kids seeing what they want for dinner."
"Speaking of dinner, If I'm not stepping on anyone's toes I'd love to take you out."
"Thanks for the offer, but I really don't have the time or the desire to date. With my schedule expectations get too high and I can't deliver."
"For some reason I get the feeling that you've never been presented with the right incentives."