Page 10 of Quiet as Kept

She nodded her head. She was a pretty girl. It was her eyes that held me captive. They were large, dark, and soft. I could telljust by looking at her that she was sensitive with a gentle spirit. She seemed to have Kept’s demeanor, which probably meant that the younger daughter was a hellion.

“Kept, you remember Xarielle. Xarielle, this is Kept’s sister, the girls’ aunt Trinity. She’ll be sitting in on the interview.”

I wasn’t caught off-guard because Yahirah had given me a heads up in the truck that she would be there.

Before I could respond, a ball of fire bounded into the foyer and plowed into Kept’s legs. He didn’t buckle. He just looked down.

“Daddy, I . . .” She seemed to notice me for the first time.

I gave her a smile. She released her grip on Kept’s legs and held out her right hand to me.

“Come play,” she commanded.

I immediately adored her.

“She can’t play right now, Des.” His low baritone rumbled through the two-story foyer. His volume wasn’t loud, but it didn’t leave room for any back and forth.

Knowing she wasn’t going to catch a break from her father, she turned soft eyes and a pouted mouth on me.

“Maybe we can play after I finish talking to your dad and your aunt,” I told her.

I wanted to laugh when her little arms flew across her chest, and she stomped her little foot.

“Destin Boudreaux, don’t get embarrassed in front of my company,” he warned her. “Fix,” he motioned up and down her body, “all of that. Right now.”

And she did, which impressed the hell out of me. I wordlessly followed the siblings into Kept’s home office.

First Week of April

Since the day of the interview, my life had been in a whirlwind. I was supposed to leave Jackson Island and head back to Londynville the next morning. Instead, Yahirah changed my plane ticket, and the two of us spent the weekend in Atlanta. I couldn’t believe it. After having never traveled at all, I got to see two different states in the course of five days. I was so tired by the time I got home on Sunday night that I actually called off the next day.

While I was home playing hooky from work, Dawn, Kept’s administrative assistant, called to offer me the position. She was nice enough to lay out all of the perks for me again and tell me that they would give me a week to make my decision. I didn’t need a week. I didn’t need more than a second. I gleefully accepted the position—my only request being that they allow me to give my current employer two weeks to find somebody and that they give me an additional four days to pack up my life.

The director ofThe Brainy Bunnyand my co-workers were sad to see me leave. They gave me a party on my last day of work that really made me feel special and appreciated. Then there was my family.

It had been my intention not to tell any of them anything about the job, the relocation, or any of it. But I mentioned the new job to Nisha when I returned her suitcase, and next thing I knew, Granny was planning something.

So, there I sat on Granny’s back deck, balancing a paper plate loaded down with barbecue and sides on my lap. My family members milled around the deck and backyard. They mostlyignored me. They weren’t there to celebrate me anyway. They were there for Granny’s cooking.

Others came by where I sat, trying to pry answers out of me about where I was moving and what I would be doing on my new job. I was vague about both.

“How’d you hear about a job in another state?” my cousin Zatoria probed. “You were on the internet looking for job opportunities in other states? Why? There’s jobs right here in Londynville.”

“There are.” I nodded my head. “This job just kinda fell in my lap.”

“What are you gonna be doing at this mystery job?” Cassandra asked, her nose already turned up before I could even answer.

“A little of this and a little of that.”

She rolled her eyes. “If you don’t want to tell me, just say that.”

“I don’t want to tell you. It doesn’t matter. It’s a job. It’s in another state, and I’m moving.”

Zatoria sucked her teeth. “She probably ain’t even moving to a different state, Ma. She’s probably just getting a new apartment so she can do Only Fans or something.”

“Yeah,” I agreed. “You’re probably right.”

Nisha walked up with a huge grin on her face. “Here’s the money. Four hundred dollars.” She held the cash out for me to take.