Wealth Pt. 04

*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.

At Side By Side Restaurant, BJ, dressed in Santa suit, white beard firmly affixed to his face smiled as he sat in the large chair. Michael shook his head as Briah, his fiancé, perched on Santa's lap.

"Take the stupid picture," Briah ordered.

"But you didn't tell Santa what you want," Michael said.

"I already got what I want; I got you," Briah smiled and Michael snapped the picture.

Across the street, at Superior Motors, Barry looked up and smiled as Heather St. Martin's Nissan came to a stop.

"Barry, your granddaughter's here," Bob announced as Kelli St. Martin, Heather's nine year old daughter yanked on the heavy glass door.

"Grandpaw, I got all as and two Bs," Kelli excitedly told him as she scampered into the showroom.

"Well how about that?" Barry said, picking the red headed child up and hugging her. "I am so proud of you! Ooh, that nose is cold!"

"She um, she couldn't wait to tell you," Heather said. "That's all right, huh?"

"Are you kidding? That's more than all right," Barry smiled. "She's my favorite granddaughter, of course it's all right she comes and tells me."

"I'm your only granddaughter," Kelli reminded him.

"Then it's a good thing you my favorite," Barry had laughed. "Be terrible you're my only granddaughter and you wasn't my favorite, huh?"

A few weeks earlier, BJ and Heather had come to the house, bringing Kelli with them. After a few moments, Barry could see that the girl was bored, so he took her out to show her the 1965 T Series Bentley he'd taken apart and was attempting to put back together, using the service manual Caitlin had given him for Christmas the previous year.

"And because it's English, it's all metric, right?" Kelli had asked, looking at the bits and pieces.

"Wow, I don't know a whole lot of eight year old girls would have known that," Barry had said.

"Well, it's because I'm nine," Kelli said, irritated that he would think she was only eight.

Twenty minutes later, Heather had gone out to check on her daughter and found the two of them working on the transmission.

"What's Dad doing?" BJ asked as Heather came back into the house, wiping at her eyes.

"Being a Grandpaw," Heather had choked out.

Now, at the showroom, Heather urged Kelli toward the door.

"Come on, Santa's at the restaurant," Heather had smiled after Kelli helped herself to a few of Mr. Jack's peanut butter cups.

"It's not really Santa," Kelli confided to Barry. "Santa's not real."

"Think she's got any idea?" Jack asked Barry as they watched Heather pull out of the parking lot.

"She'd still be screaming," Henry, Heather's uncle, answered.

At the restaurant, a few slightly tipsy female customers giggled as they whispered naughty things into Santa's ear, then smiled for the camera.

"And what do you want?" BJ playfully snarled at Kelli when she bounded into his lap.

"Nuh uh, you Santa, you got to be nice to me, Kelli corrected him.

"God, you are such a brat," BJ laughed and hugged her.

"Oh, and I got my report card and I got all as and two Bs," Kelli told him.

"Proud of you," BJ said and kissed the girl.

"And for Christmas I want a driver's license and a new car, hmm, how about a Bentley like Grandpaw's got? Oh! Or your Porsche!" Kelli said.

"And you're nine, keep dreaming, kid," BJ laughed.

"And how about a smile for the camera?" Michael called out and Kelli smiled.

"And how about the Mama," BJ requested and Heather smiled.

"And for Christmas I want a new dishwasher," Heather said, then leaned and whispered into BJ's ear. "And you to tit fuck me and shoot that Santa sperm all over my face and then..."

"And what about what Santa wants?" BJ asked.

"Oh? Santa doesn't want that?" Heather smiled.

"Santa wants you to be Mrs. Santa and I want to adopt Kelli and make her a Delacroix and..." BJ said, holding out a three carat diamond ring.

Michael got two pictures; one of Heather's open mouthed shock and one of Heather frantically kissing Santa.

"What's going on?" Kelli asked as Heather now sobbed, staring at her ring.

"Looks like I'm going to be your uncle," Michael smiled. "And Grandpaw's really going to be your Grandpaw."

"So?" Kelli shrugged. "He's already my Grandpaw."

At A and A Soaps, Toni set the alarm then locked the heavy door. She bade Milton and Cheryl a good night, made sure they pulled out of the parking lot ahead of her, and then drove to Patrick's apartment.

"Yeah?" Harmony's voice called out when Toni knocked on the door.

"Toni; I'm here to kidnap Patrick," Toni called back as the blonde dancer opened the door.

A few weeks after Barry's bachelor party, Harmony had been sifting through the rubbish in the bottom of her purse and come across Barry Delacroix's business card. At first she was puzzled; why would she have a business card for the expensive sports car showroom. As a dancer, as a very well-endowed dancer, men quite often put their business cards into Harmony's tip jar at the edge of the stage. She never looked at them, just threw them away.

Flipping Barry's card over, Harmony saw Patrick's cell phone number. She remembered the confident, smiling blind man that had unnerved her, even frightened her. Recently diagnosed with Diabetes, and knowing that one of the possible side effects was blindness, Harmony had approached Patrick and asked him about his blindness.

"Hello?" Patrick had answered.

"Um uh, hi, um, this Patrick?" Harmony had stammered.

"Yes it is," Patrick had answered. "Who's this?"

"This is, um, hi, this is Harmony, I uh, I don't know if you remember me, I uh, I was one of the dancers, um, at the Dead End, your Dad's bachelor party," Harmony had stammered.

"Oh yeah, girl that just found out she's diabetic, right?" Patrick had asked.

"That's right!" she said, happy he remembered her. "So, um, how's it going?"

"Going all right; caught me at a slow moment; don't have too many of those," Patrick had replied.

"Slow moment? What are you doing?" Harmony asked.

"Working; I'm a switchboard operator at the St. Elizabeth Trauma Center," he explained.

Harmony found out he was due to go on a lunch break in forty minutes and raced to the hospital. He impressed her with his competence and ease in navigating the busy cafeteria.

"Hate Fridays, though," Patrick confided. "Fridays they serve this nasty ass tuna fish. They didn't catch it; tuna fish committed suicide it was so embarrassed at how bad it tastes."

"Oh, I'll come get you; Dead End's got catfish; Miss Rosey's the best cook ever," Harmony enthused.

Harmony had forgotten about a tradition at the Dead End. Whenever a dancer brought in a boyfriend or girlfriend or spouse, the other dancers flirted outrageously with the dancer's significant other. Blind or not, Patrick was no exception.

"Mine, God damn it, he's mine!" Harmony finally exploded, pushing a giggling Angela and her own sister Unity away.

"I am?" Patrick smiled over the shrieks and hoots and laughter of the dancers.

"Yes, damn it," Harmony declared and kissed him hotly.

Two weeks after that first kiss, Harmony moved into Patrick's apartment.

Now, as he bundled up against the cold December chill, Patrick and Harmony kissed as if they'd never see each other again.

"God, come on, like give it a rest!" Toni demanded.

"Now, no rearranging the furniture while I'm gone," Patrick teased.

"God, I moved one chair, one chair!" Harmony defended.

"Now you like sure about this?" Toni asked as she guided him to her car.

"You know, with Debbie, I kept putting it off and putting it off," Patrick said. "I just never, I mean, it just never felt right, you know?"

"Okay, we're going to David's first," Toni decided.

The jeweler pulled out the engagement rings and let Patrick feel them.

"Ooh, Patrick, this one's like real nice," Toni said, picking up a ring. "See, its like got these sapphires, her eyes are blue and then there's this one diamond..."

"Oh, that is nice," Patrick agreed.

"Twenty nine hundred dollars," David said. "So it's a pretty reasonable one too."

"Now, you want to like look anywhere else?" Toni asked. "I mean, I like really don't think you'll find anything like any better than that and..."

"And I got these matching bands," David said, pulling out the bands.

"Oh, Patrick!" Toni approved. "Like the man's ring is very nice, very masculine."

"And of course, they're all backed with my guarantee; if for any reason she doesn't like it, or even in the off chance she says 'No' you can exchange them for something else, or if she really does say no, I will refund your money," David said.

"Well, you can't beat that," Toni said as Patrick pulled out his credit card.

"I assume this is a Christmas gift," David asked.

"Yeah, but I still got to get something for her too," Patrick said.

"Oh my God!" Toni giggled. "You like really are in love, huh?"

"Brother, that was the best answer I have ever heard," David laughed. "And I've been in this business quite a few years!"