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I was ready to get my baby from day care and go the hell home.

Since I didn’t work at the club tonight, I closed Louie’s.

The sandwich shop closed at eleven at night Monday through Thursday and one in the morning Friday and Saturday.

We were closed on Sundays. I thanked God that I found a day care center that I was able to work out an overnight schedule with. At-home day cares were the best.

“Mommy!”

My baby boy Lucas ran to me when I walked into Mama Bee’s house. When I lowered myself to receive him, he jumped into my arms.

“I miss you!”

I kissed him all over his face. “I missed you too, baby boy. Why are you awake? Have you been good today?” I asked after I put him on his feet and stood to my full height.

“Yep. I was,” he said proudly.

He ran back toward the playroom where his cubby was. I knew that he would come back with his bookbag and shoes.

Mama Bee smiled widely. “Hey, Reya. Girl, he had a very late nap, then I gave him ice cream, so he’s wired,” she said with a chuckle. “How was work today?”

I huffed. “You know how it goes. Mean girls, hood boys, but money was made.”

“Aye, as long as money was made. You can’t control the hood,” she said. “Your boy was good. He tried to run the center with his best friend.” She gave me a knowing look.

I laughed because no one could tell Lucas or Jedi anything.

“Well, I really appreciate you.” I reached into my purse. “Here’s my payment for the next month based on my anticipated work schedule. If it changes, I’ll let you know.”

I made sure I always paid Lucas’s day care in advance as far as possible.

I never wanted anything to happen that would prevent me from having adequate childcare.

I met Mama Bee in the grocery store a little over a year ago.

I was financially strapped, and my food stamp card declined, so I was putting stuff back.

She was behind me in the line. Instead of being agitated, she told the cashier to add whatever I couldn’t cover onto her total.

I cried that day because life was whipping my ass as a single mother.

I had just gotten the notice that I couldn’t take Lucas back to the day care that he was at because of too many late payments.

God knew what he was doing that day because I poured my heart out to that lady only to find out she had an in-home day care.

That was where I met GeGi, who connected me to Sully for my bartending position at Glitter Girls. GeGi was a featured dancer there.

Blessing was not enough of a word to explain Mama Bee. She kept Lucas and GeGi’s two kids when we worked at the club. It wasn’t a service that she offered to all the parents. Well, it wasn’t as if she had so many parents, but yeah.

Mama Bee took the envelope of money. “Okay, baby. Remember the babies start their swimming classes next week. It’s Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, so I don’t care if you work or not, I want him here.”

“Yes, ma’am. I’ll make sure he’s here. I work all of those days.”

A local organization offered free swimming classes to the community. Mama Bee was able to enroll her center into a private class. For the Wednesday classes, Louie told me that I could take my lunch during the class time to join the class with my baby boy.

Lucas came out of the playroom just in time with his shoes already on. At two years old, he wanted to do everything by himself. I bought him sneakers that he didn’t have to tie. It made him feel like a big boy when he slipped them on by himself.

Mama Bee and I talked for a few more minutes before Lucas and I said our goodbyes.

I put him in his car seat in the back of the used SUV that I was able to get with the money that Lucas’s father gave me when he relinquished his rights.

My SUV was five years old, but it was in amazing condition, and it was paid off.

The one good thing about Lucas being awake was it didn’t take as long to get into the house. He was a heavy little boy. The housing development that I lived in was built for the purpose of low-income housing. I was blessed enough to get one of the homes brand new.

It was crazy because God continued to find ways to let me know that he was still in the blessing business every time I looked around.

I was blessed with a brand-new house that I was able to get on my Section 8 voucher, an amazing home day care, and two jobs that didn’t make me rich but covered what I needed to survive.

When Lucas and I got into the house, I locked up and made sure the alarm was set. I prayed that a bath with some nighttime wash would get my baby to sleep. An hour and a half after we got into the house, Lucas was bathed and in the bed. Another hour later, I was showered and in my bed.

Tomorrow night, I worked at the club, so I needed as much rest as I could get.

On the nights that I worked at the club, I didn’t go into Louie’s until eleven in the morning and got off at six in the evening.

That gave me enough time to come home for a quick nap to get to the club by 10:00 p.m. Lucas stayed at Mama Bee’s until the next morning.

The strip club closed at four in the morning.

I rarely worked the day after a nightclub shift.

I prayed I made great tips this shift because I’d been saving so that I could start taking classes again at UNCC.

I was eligible for financial aid, but I didn’t want any loans.

I’d been saving for the difference in the bill after all of my grants and hopefully scholarships.

I wanted more for my life than where I was now.

My son deserved the best, and I wanted to give him everything that he deserved, even if it killed me.

I prayed daily that God give it to me, but I knew I had to put in some work for it too.

Night Shift, Glitter Girls…

It was almost two in the morning, and Glitter Girls was poppin’ like it always was.

My tip jar looked great, and I felt great.

The uniform for the female bartenders, bottle girls, and servers was a translucent glitter bodysuit under booty shorts with a crop top that adorned the club’s logo.

We had multiple color options for our logo crop tops, but we always wore black booty shorts.

Our shoes could match our tops as long as they were slip-resistant.

“Reya, are these mine right here?” one of the servers asked me from the end of the bar. After I nodded my confirmation, she gave me a thumbs up. “Girl, you are the shit! Thank you for getting that out so fast.”

I gave her my blushing smile. “You know I got you, girl.”

I took my bartending job seriously. When I first got the job, I had no idea what I was doing.

YouTube University taught me a lot in the beginning.

I learned drink recipes and how to do all the bottle tossing things that made it cute.

After three months as a bartender, I sent an email to the owners and asked if they would invest in a bartending class for us.

I figured all they could say was no, but they said yes.

For a month, two hours before our shift, a mixologist came in to teach those who wanted to become certified mixologists.

I was skilled enough to work at the bar alone on a busy night with minimum hiccups. Tonight, we had three people at the bar, so I covered the private rooms.

I had just finished an order of drinks for a section when GeGi came to the bar. “Hey, girlie! This is my friend Emmitt and his friend Jaun. I’m going to give them a private show. Can you escort them to room three while I freshen up for them?”

This was a normal request from the girls. It allowed me to show the men how to use the ordering system and give the ladies time to wash their coochies.

“I sure can, Gelly.”

Gelly was her stage name, which was stupid, but I digressed. I told the other two bartenders that I would be back before I addressed the men.

“Gentlemen, please follow me.”

“Hell yeah. I’ll follow your fine ass anywhere,” the guy that she introduced as Juan said. “Damn, your little ass is fine. You need to be on that stage not behind that bar.”

I peeked over my shoulder with a flirty smile.

I had nothing to say because he seemed like the type of man that if you gave an inch, he would take a mile.

When we got to the room, I turned to face them before I opened the door.

Emmitt was what we called a normee. He was always here. Juan was a new face to me.

“Alright, gentlemen. Here is your private room.”

I opened the door and walked into the room backward. I never turned my back to the men that I brought into the rooms. I also never closed the door.

“Emmitt, I know that you know how to use our ordering system.”

He smiled, then said, “You already know I know how to use it.” He picked up the tablet. “Let me go ahead and put my order in, so you can get it here before Gelly comes in.”

“That’s why I love you, Emmitt,” I responded in a flirtatious tone. “I’ll head back up to the front to get your order together. Be right back, gentlemen.”

I blew them a kiss before I closed the door.

I stopped in room two to grab the empty bottles and glasses to take to the bar.

By the time I got back to the bar, Emmitt’s order was in my system.

He wanted something simple tonight—two bottles of brown with three different chasers and two beers.

I got everything I needed, let the other bartenders know that I would be back again, then was on my way back to private room three with a full tray.

I turned my back to the door then used my hip to push the handle down so that I could push the door in.

“Alright, gentlemen!”

Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew!

The tray in my hands fell to the floor. An unmasked man had just put bullets into the two men that sat on the couch.

I was frozen, but I thawed when he lifted the gun in my direction.

The door was still open because I hadn’t fully stepped into the room, so it made for an easy escape when I backed out of the room and ran toward the back of the building toward the locker room.

I’d lived in the hood long enough to know what to do in these situations—get ghost.

“Reya, you good?” Sparkle, one of the dancers, asked me when I got to my locker.

I was sure I looked frazzled. Concern was etched on her face.

I nodded as I unlocked my locker. “Yeah, I-I’m good. Something is wrong with my son. I have to go.”

Normally, I changed into different clothes before I left the club but fuck that. I grabbed my go-bag from my locker and was gone. I didn’t want to bring too much attention to myself, so I walked briskly to my truck, hopped in, and was gone. I had to get the hell out of here.

I was so glad that I emptied my tip jar every twenty minutes or so and put the money in my fanny pack.

I would have to use that money to get the hell out of town.

I broke the speed limits to get to Mama Bee’s house.

She was going to beat my ass for coming to her house this time of morning.

It was after three in the morning at this point.

When I got to Mama Bee’s house, I threw my car gear in park but left the engine running. I ran to her front door and pressed her doorbell. After the fourth press, her door flew open.

“Girl, why are you at my door this time of the morning?” She had a gun in her hand.

“I’m so sorry, Mama Bee. I need to get Lucas. I had an emergency, and I have to go visit family.” I walked past her into the bedroom that she reserved for the overnight babies. I grabbed my baby up.

When I turned around, Mama Bee stood there with her arms across her chest.

“What kind of emergency got you in here at three in the morning grabbing this boy up out his sleep, Reya? What you done got caught up in?”

I shook my head. “Nothing, Mama Bee. I have to go.”

I rushed past her. I didn’t have time for this shit. I needed to figure out what the hell I was going to do. Instead of putting Lucas in his car seat, I sat him in the passenger seat and laid it back.

When I walked around to the front of my truck, Mama Bee stood on her front porch with a scowl on her face.

“Reya, if you need me, call me. I mean it, little girl.”

“Ye-yes, ma’am. I will. I promise.”

I wasn’t sure if that was a promise that I would be able to keep.