Candace -
"MJ come on baby before we be late!" I yelled at the bottom of the stairs. Since Marcus work schedule had changed, I decided on helping him drop off and pick up MJ to school. "Sorry Mommy I forgot my English book," he said as he ran downstairs.
"It's okay baby we gotta start putting your stuff together at night, mommy's almost gonna be late for work come on," I said as I grabbed my water bottle and headed out the door. We hopped in the car and I headed on the expressway.
"Mommy can I try out for football?" He asked. "Yeah baby is that what you wanna do?" I asked as I turned the radio down. "Yeah either football or track, but I like football better, you think maybe dad could help me?" He asked.
"Of course MJ, I think your dad would be happy to show you how to play football," I said. "Okay," he smiled. After the thirty minute ride we pulled up in front of his school. "Bye baby give mommy kisses," I said. MJ jumped up and wrapped his arms around my neck. I gave him two pecks on the lips. "Bye baby," I said as he grabbed his book bag.
"Bye mommy," he said as he closed the door and ran to the front door. I watched as he filled in with the other kids. I turned my music back up and drove into the McDonald's drive through. After I ordered my breakfast. I pulled over to eat. I was running late this morning and didn't have time to eat. Just as I was about to dive into my hash brown, my phone started ringing.
I looked at the caller Id and it was Marcus. "Hey baby," I said as I took a big bite of my hash brown. "Hey babe, you dropped MJ off yet?" He asked. "Yeah, I'm in McDonald's feeding my face right now, me and our son is hungry," I laughed.
"Yeah, well I got two cases today, I just cleaned my office, but I'll be able to make MJ's counseling session today, I've been worried about him," Marcus said. "Yeah, I'll be there too after my meeting with corporate today, i know he still has nightmares but he doesn't talk about it as much," I said.
"Yeah that's where my concern is," Marcus said. "Yeah well don't worry too much baby we'll find out what's going on with MJ later on today, I don't want you too get too upset," I said. "I'm not baby, but I love you and I hope you have a good day babe," he said.
"Awe I love you too, I'll see you at MJ's school," I said. "Okay babe bye," I hung up and threw my trash in the nearest garbage. I cleaned my face and added on some more lipstick. I made my way to the mad house. I parked my car, grabbed my suitcase, and got out. As I walked toward the building all I could think about was the night Jarvis attacked me. I couldn't help but remember seeing MJ shoot Grace, and of course Grace giving me her last wishes before she died.
I wiped my eyes and took a deep breath. I had a long day ahead of me and I didn't need anything holding me back. I made my way to the elevator, and then I checked in with Andrea and clocked in. Once I grabbed me a donut from the lunch room I went into my office.
I hung up my coat and turned the on radio. I started cleaning my office. I began throwing out old papers, and old articles. I hung up pictures of Me and MJ, pictures of me and Marcus, and several pictures of all of us together.
I grabbed my folder and headed to the room were we hold meetings. I sat down and sipped some of my water as the room began to pile up. I made sure my phone was off, and buried deep in my pocket. Once everybody was seated we began our meeting.
"Well I'll began saying congratulations to Candace who landed us number two for best fashion magazine," Mr. Waters said as every one began to clap. "Thank you Sir," I replied.
"And to Edward who landed us number five for the best sports section of our magazine they really loved the Derrick Rose section," he said. "My pleasure sir," Edward said as everyone clapped again.
"Now we all know Femme has elevated from just the female magazine to now the men magazine thanks to Candace and her beautiful sketches. So we're looking into some new avenues we already have a great partnership with Calvin Klein and Stacy Adams, we need to look into maybe some shoe deals with Kanye, or Pharrell with his Adidas or his hat collection, we need to get a few deals with Nike and timberland to expand our men's section, thanks to Candace we already have a juicy women's section," Mr. Waters said.
He pulled a chart on the projector and showed us the weekly sales, and profits. "Now I have been working on this smaller company, called Just fit, they aren't really known but I like how they've set up their men's catalog maybe we can work out a deal with them to have them help us expand our poorly done men's section," he said.
"When will we be meeting with this smaller company?" Paul asked. "Well after I go over some more details hopefully by the end of this week, i can set up a meeting," he said.
"Alright now I have a few ideas of maybe we have a kids section, kids fashion is also booming, parents are always looking to find the latest fashion for their kids, maybe Candace's department can look into some kids sketches," Yolanda said.
"Candace?" Mr. Waters asked. "Yeah I agree children are booming pretty fast I can look into some children fashion," I said. "Okay well we all know exactly what we need to do, I'll send out an email for our next meeting, hopefully we'll be meeting with the smaller company," he said as he exited to room.
I took a deep breath, grabbed my folder and headed back to my office. I had to finish up this one sketch for our women's spring line. Once the sketch was finished I grabbed my fabric and my dummy and started working on the design of the dress.
Once I finished my design I grabbed my sewing machine and got to working on my measurements. I turned my radio on and Omarion's Post To Be came on. When working like this I needed up beat music to get me going.
Once I finished the dress I fell in love with it. It was 3:30 so I clocked out and had Andrea clear my schedule. I pulled into the Chinese restaurant and grabbed me a quick bite to eat as I made my way to MJ's school.
Once I got there I threw my trash away, and made my way inside. I saw Marcus and walked over to him. "Hey," I said as I gave him a peck on the lips. "Hey, you have a good day at work?" He asked as he wrapped his arms around my waist. "Yeah, you?" I asked. "Yup pretty good day, got a lot of work to do, but I just saw his teacher she went to go get him," he said as we sat down. "Okay good, I had a meeting today, I thought it was going to go slow but it went by quick," I said. "Yeah I got two cases, one girl is kinda mental so they want to charge her for child endangerment," he said.
"Wow that's kind ruff, I'm gonna pray for your strength," I said. "Mr. Henderson, Mrs. Witherspoon," Mrs. Jackson called with her clip board. Me and Marcus followed her to her office where MJ was sitting on the couch.
"Hey baby," I said as I pecked his lips. "Hey mommy, hey dad," he said as he bumped fist with Marcus. "You good son?" Marcus asked. "Yes," he replied.
"Okay Mom, Dad, I'm going to ask you guys to leave so I can talk to Marcus without you guys, and then I'm going to ask you guys to come back in so I can talk to him with you guys, just to see his different reactions," Mrs. Jackson said.
"Okay," we both said in unison. I grabbed Marcus's hand we exited the room. Marcus stood against the wall. And I stood next to him. I prayed that everything went okay.
