*Author's Note: Any and all persons engaging in any sexual activity are at least eighteen years of age.
*****
Chapter 31
Toni Delacroix looked across the street as a Superior Lawn Care, LLC truck pulled to a stop at the empty lot. She did not envy the men; the wind blowing off of the Atchafalaya had to be bone chilling cold.
"Oh, Mama, y'all get cold y'all just come on over here and I'll warm you up," Cheryl, a heavy set woman in her early thirties moaned as the two men got out of the truck and began unloading their equipment.
"Damn, Cheryl, like want a moment alone?" Toni giggled as she double-checked the box's contents with the order form.
"Oh yeah, give me a moment alone with both of them," Cheryl said.
"Um, like think your husband might like mind just a little?" Toni asked, dropped the order form into the box and sealed it, slapping the UPS label on the box.
"Uh huh, if he can get away from his mommy long enough," Cheryl sneered. "And of course, since it's the Holidays? Mommy's Boy is over there almost every night."
The men made quick work of the land across the street and next to the building of A and A Soaps. Then one of the men smiled and nodded toward the A and A Soaps building before getting out a leaf blower and clearing off the parking lot of A and A Soaps.
Toni had no idea who owned Superior Lawn Care, LLC, but the first time the truck had 14pulled up to the lot across the street, they'd gotten some of the grass clippings onto the parking lot. She called the phone number on the side of the truck and a very friendly but professional woman answered.
"Uh, yeah, like your truck was just here and they like got weeds all over my parking lot," Toni had snapped.
"Oh, ma'am, I am so sorry; I will have them go right back out there and clean that up," the woman apologized.
If the men resented Toni complaining, it did not show. They did indeed return a moment later, blew the entire parking lot clean, then one of them stuck his head in and asked if someone would check their work and then call their office and let them know the job was completed.
"I'm like sorry but..." Toni had stammered as she stepped outside.
"Oh no ma'am, you were right, that was completely unprofessional of us," the man said genially.
"Uh, yeah, it looks great," Toni had stammered, pulled out her cell phone and called the number a second time.
Now, Superior Lawn Care, LLC made sure A and A Soaps parking lot was clean before they reloaded their trailer and truck and left for their next assignment.
"Superior Lawn Care, this is Maggie, how may I help you?" Maggie Cox, former dancer and part time prostitute answered.
"Hi, this is Toni Delacroix, like from A and A Soaps," Toni said.
"Yes ma'am?" Maggie asked pleasantly.
"Your guys were like just here, and as usual, they like did a really great job," Toni said.
Maggie thanked Toni, and then let Anita Lopez know. Anita looked up from her homework and nodded, letting Maggie know she'd heard her.
When Anita had walked away from her relationship with Toni Delacroix, she had simply walked away and left everything but her clothing behind.
Anita did think, briefly, of moving back into the trailer that her mother Louisa and her mother's boyfriend, Luther Knox rented. That idea was out of her head before she reached Highway 52.
Anita lived in one of the rooms of the DeGarde Inn. Her first night there, she had to call the desk and request two more pillows. Two pillows for her head, and one for her to hug to her chest and one to entwine her leg around, just as she did with Toni while they slept.
Even today, there were four pillows on Anita's queen sized bed.
Two weeks after their split, Anita received a phone call from their attorney, Sophia Coutre, and agreed to come to the woman's office after class.
Walking into the woman's office, Anita saw Toni for the first time in two weeks.
"You, uh, you having been in class," she said quietly.
"Like what's the point," Toni said and looked up.
Her beautiful blue eyes were red and raw looking, her pretty round face was blotchy, her curly blonde hair was lifeless.
"What's the point? Toni, we're making straight as," Anita had spluttered.
Sophia Coutre picked that moment to enter the room. For the next forty minutes, she presented documents, Anita signed them, Toni signed them and Polly Chastaine, a pudgy young woman with a severe looking hairstyle stamped them. Anita understood she was relinquishing her rights to a and A Soaps. That was fine; she had never considered the business as hers anyway.
Finally, when her head was aching from the legal jargon and her hand was tired of scribbling 'Anita Michelle Lopez,' Sophia Coutre slid three checks over to her.
"What's this?" Anita asked Toni.
It was Sophia that answered.
"Half the equity in the condominium that you and Ms. Delacroix purchased, half the equity in the building currently held by A and A Soaps, and half the current value of A and A Soaps," Sophia intoned.
The three checks totaled nearly five hundred thousand dollars. Anita looked across the table and she saw that Toni was silently crying.
"I love you so..." Toni whispered. "You're like the best friend I ever had."
"Then why are you doing this, Toni?" Anita asked, her own tears beginning to fall. "Huh? Why are you doing this to me? Why did you cheat on..."
Toni bolted from the room.
Sophia discretely slid a box of tissues, motioning to an uncomfortable Polly to keep silent.
"Any kind of break up is hard," Sophia said gently as Anita blew her nose.
"Yes ma'am," Anita said.
"Keep in touch, please," Sophia said as Anita got to unsteady feet. "Let me know how you're doing."
Anita's first purchase had been a condominium, a condominium right next door to Stacy Falgout, her real estate agent. Her second purchase had been a nine month old solid black kitten from St. Ann's Animal Shelter.
Anita's third purchase had been Superior Lawn Care, LLC.
"Barry, you're daughter's here," Jack had called out when a very nervous Anita came into the showroom of Superior Motors.
But Barry's smile had been genuine and Anita felt a few tears slide down her face.
"Daddy, I need your help," she said, hugging him tightly.
"Anything; you know that," he promised, kissing the top of her head.
But it had been Jack that found the equipment and Mr. Bob that had found the three trucks and their trailers.
It had been Mr. Henry that suggested that she make it a Limited Liability Corporation, rather than a sole proprietorship.
Sophia Coutre had smiled approvingly as she helped Anita set up the corporation. And Barry had smiled widely when Anita showed him that she'd named it Superior Lawn Care, after his business, Superior Motors.
Her first hire had been Maggie Cox, on the recommendation of Sophia Coutre.
"She got popped, third time, for prostitution," Sophia said bluntly. She's a smart woman, a sweet woman, but somehow got it in her head that the only way she's going to make it in life is to fuck and suck. If I can show Judge Robichaux that she's got a real job, instead of dancing down at Club Fantastic, maybe I can keep her out of jail."
Maggie Cox was a blonde in her early thirties that looked as if she'd had a hard life. But as Sophia had said, she was smart and she was sweet. Each person that called Superior felt as if they were important to Superior Lawn Care.
Now, on this cold, blustery December day, Superior Lawn Care, LLC employed eleven people.
Maggie Cox had been Anita's first hire, her brother Marco had been her second hire.
And Marco Lopez had been Anita's first fire.
Marco assumed, that because he was Anita's brother, he was the supervisor, therefore allowed to sit on his fat ass and direct traffic.
Anita pulled up to the job site, saw three men busting their asses, and Marco sound asleep in the truck, AC blowing high.
"He's the supervisor," one of the men shrugged when Anita asked them why Marco was sound asleep in the truck.
"News to me," Anita had said. "Thought I was the only supervisor."
"That's what I thought too," Bobby Gremillion said. "But he says he's your brother so..."
Anita opened the truck, shut off the engine and pulled Marco out by his feet, slamming him onto the ground.
"You're fired," she said. "Hope you got money for a cab home."
She turned to the three men that were trying hard to hide their smirks.
"And any of you give him a ride in my truck? You're out of a job too, understand?" she said and stormed back to her Mustang.
But now, all of her men, and Maggie knew, their boss would not hesitate to fire her own brother, she would not hesitate to fire them either.
In the condo, Snowball, Anita's solid black kitten lay on her lap, purring contentedly while Anita finished her Algebra homework.
"Goodnight, Ms. Lopez," Maggie said as she shut her computer down.
"See you tomorrow," Anita said.
In the condominium next to Anita's, Stacy Falgout writhed underneath Jared Tyler and felt another orgasm welling up.
The young, brash African-American went to her noon AA meeting, even though he proclaimed that he was an addict. He was always hugging the white women that went to the meetings, always trying to pick one of them up.
Precious and Stacy had decided, since Stacy now had six months of sobriety, and had done a good Fourth and Fifth Step, Stacy was ready to start dating again.
"Three reasons for sex," Precious had said. "One, it an expression of love, two, you wanting you a baby, and three, shit girl, it feel good, know what I'm saying?"
"Done right, it feels great!" Stacy had said and the two women laughed.
"But anything else? Like you trying manipulate them? Or you trying use them? Or you charging them money, then you keep them legs closed; ain't got no business doing that," Precious had said.
Stacy, in doing her Fourth Step, had seen that she had used sex as a tool, or a weapon, or a bargaining chip. And while she had not outright charged money for sex, she had used sex to make real estate sales. So what was the difference between standing on a corner, and standing in a vacant house?
Stacy didn't love Jared, and she didn't want a baby; she was almost forty five years old. But it did feel good. His cock was a nice one, almost as large as Barry Delacroix's. He wasn't much on foreplay and his technique left a lot to be desired. But he had one thing Barry Delacroix did not have and that was a very quick recovery time.
Stacy thought of her father, a loud, small minded alcoholic that would barge into her bedroom and jerk her blue jeans and panties down and jam his shaky erection into her. She thought of how horrified he would be to see his darling daughter letting a black boy fuck her.
"Oh!" Stacy cried out loud as an intense orgasm rippled through her.
