Authors: Aisha Brooks
Chapter 2: Tami
Tami Jones had grown up as one of nine children, the only girl. She had been raised to be a strong willed woman and that was precisely what she was. Despite being blessed with a beautiful head of black curls and flawless mocha colored skin, the brown-eyed beauty had never had any luck when it came to dating.
Tami guessed that it came down to her unwillingness to take anything less than she deserved, that and her attraction to the bad boys. Her friends called this group of characteristics “picky,” Tami called it “being selective.”
Tami was run off her feet. The morning hours before the nine to fivers got off to work were always the busiest in the coffee shop. She thrived on the challenge of remembering all of her regulars’ favorite drinks and she loved every second of the conversation. Tami had always been a people person for as long as she could remember. Sure, she hadn’t imagined that at twenty-six she would still be working as a barista, but it wasn’t a job that she could complain about.
When so many of her friends had no jobs, she felt lucky to have one that afforded her flexibility in schedule and a good paycheck.
“Hey girl! I saw you flirtin’ with Mr. Tall, dark and handsome this morning!” Tami laughed.
“There is nothing dark about that man, he is my tall glass of whipped cream!” Her coworker shook her head.
“You got a thing for those white guys, huh?” Tami shrugged.
“I like what I like!” Katie leaned on the counter as the midmorning lull took over.
“Why don’t you just give him your number? Never hurts to try, right?” Tami laughed.
“Honey, there is nothing about this gorgeous black body that he wouldn’t want, but I have a feeling I’d be a little out of my league financially.” Katie sighed.
“Like I said, never hurts to try?” Tami turned to face her.
“You know what? I just might. I can’t do any worse than any of the other losers I’ve dated and Lord knows I’m getting too old to keep playing around on those dating sites.” Katie’s eyes suddenly widened.
“Oh! You never told me how that last guy turned out!” Tami shook her head with a chuckle.
“Girl, you do not want to know. First off, the guy says he’s six foot tall, he shows up and he’s all of an inch taller than me. Honey, I’m five five. I was like, I know you did not just tell me you’re six foot tall!” Katie snickered. “Then, his picture on his profile turns out to be from like high school. He shows up and he’s about a hundred pounds heavier. Now you know me, I don’t mind a little extra man to love, but you can’t prepare me for a burger and show up with a Big Mac! I gotta have an appetite for that, you know what I’m saying?” Katie nodded as she laughed. Tami could always tell a story.
“Anyway, so I go through with the date, ‘cause I’m not about to hurt his feelings just because he’s a little bit insecure but honey, when he tried to take food off my plate…that’s when I lost it. You don’t take food off your girl’s plate! You want something, you order it!” Katie was clutching her stomach by now and Tami shook her head. “It’s so hard to find a good man out there and this clock is tickin’!”
“Don’t be in such a rush, I have three kids at home and I love them to pieces but God they’re hard work.” Katie bit at her fingernails.
“Maybe, but I come from a big family and I need to have a big family but the way I’m going I’ll never find a man sane enough to have one with!” Katie shrugged.
“So, go to the sperm bank? At least that way you get to pick out the dad and you don’t have to deal with any of their shit.” Tami laughed.
“You might have a good idea there. I wonder how those things work anyway.” Katie shrugged.
“You walk in, ask for sperm and pick the one you want out of a book?” Tami shook her head.
“I’m pretty sure that’s not how it works.” The two burst in to a fit of giggles that only worsened when Katie nodded towards a customer approaching the till.
Tami had no doubt that she could thrive as a single mother. She had spent much of her life raising her brothers alone while her mother worked to support them. It wasn’t that she didn’t think she could ‘do’ the single parent thing, it was more than she didn’t really want to.
Katie had got her to thinking though, what if the right man never did come along? What if he did come along but he came too late? She made a mental memo to look for the local sperm bank and to at least find out what the process took.
Chapter 3: Life Changing Decisions
“We should know relatively soon if you’re pregnant.” Tami’s OBGYN gave her a sympathetic smile.
“Like how soon?” Her doctor chuckled.
“I’d say two weeks is a good time frame.” Tami nodded.
“Not soon enough but I’ll take it!” It had been months since Tami and Katie had talked about the possibility of her using a sperm donor to get pregnant, but the idea had stuck and as she always did, Tami fast tracked it.
She had spent weeks pawing over the candidates, but one in particular had stood out. He was athletic, tall, slender, white and educated – all of the things that were truly important to Tami. She had intended on waiting before going through with the insemination process, but the more she thought about the possibility of getting pregnant, the faster she wanted to complete the process.
“Okay, I suggest that you take it easy for the rest of the day and try not to overdo it at all for the next few weeks. Recent research shows that the amount of rest you get is directly proportional to the success of pregnancy with artificial insemination.” Tami nodded. She had no intention of taking it anything but easy, not after the amount of money she had spent to go through the process. “So I want to see you back here in two weeks, okay?” Tami nodded.
“And if I’m not pregnant?” Her doctor shook her head.
“Then we will cross that bridge when we get there. For now, go home, relax and take it easy.” Tami laughed.
“Easy for you to say doc!” Her doctor smiled.
“Well, try to take it easy. We will know the results in no time.” Tami nodded.
“Okay, I’ll leave your chart here. When you’re dressed and ready to go, just pick it up and give it to the ladies at the front and they’ll take care of you.” Tami inched toward the end of the table, her petite frame lifted high off the ground.
“Okay, thank you Doc.” They exchanged a smile and Tami’s doctor left the room.
Tami sat for a moment on the end of the examination table. She let her legs dangle freely and stared at the floral print wallpaper. She couldn’t help but wonder if she had made the right decision.
Ever since Albie had felt that uncomfortable feeling of jealousy towards the coffeehouse barista’s advances on another customer, he had been drinking more coffee than usual. In fact, every morning he made sure to visit the local coffee house even if he had no intentions of going in to the office.
Over the months, he had begun to work out Tami’s schedule and the more he saw of her, the less he wanted the company of his usual twentysomethings. As he watched her at work he wondered if perhaps, Albert P. Johnson III could live the life of a married man rather than that of a playboy.
“Can I take your order?” Katie leaned over the counter and Albie looked at her, confused.
“Is…Tami not here today?” He asked, trying not to sound overly interested. Katie shook her head.
“Sorry, she’s off today.” Albie felt his heart sink.
“Oh…” He paused.
“She will be back in a few days. What can I get for you?” Albie contemplated not ordering anything at all, but then opted to save face and ordered his usual instead.
“Quad espresso, please.” Katie punched the order in to the till.
“You’re Albie, right?” Albie nodded as he reached in to his pocket and pulled out a crisp ten dollar bill. “I thought so. Tami always talks about you.” Katie took the money and slid it in the till. “I don’t mean that to sound weird or anything, just that she always talks about what a good customer you are.” She went to hand Albie back his change and he shook his hand.
“Keep the change.” He said as he moved along to wait for his drink.
“She had a doctor’s appointment, but she’ll be back in a few days.” Katie tried her best to be discrete as she divulged Tami’s whereabouts.
“Oh, I do hope everything is okay.” Katie nodded.
“I’m sure it will be,” she said as she turned to the next customer.
Albie went straight to his office from the coffeehouse. Instead of focusing on the spreadsheets like he should have been doing, however, he focused on trying to track down Tami’s last name so that he could send her some flowers. He wondered perhaps, if it wasn’t a little stalker-esque, but when his receptionist offered that she thought it was a lovely idea, he went with it. It took a good part of three hours to track down both Tami’s last name and where she lived, but with the resources at his fingertips he managed it.
Unsure of which flowers to choose, he picked a few different bouquets and had them all sent to Tami’s apartment for same day delivery.
There was something about Tami and Albie couldn’t quite put his finger on it. She was certainly miles apart from any girl that he had ever dated. She was, in fact, the anti-Albie type of girl – someone who could stand on her own two feet, someone who knew her own worth and someone who didn’t seem fazed by his net worth.
Of course, he couldn’t guarantee that she knew anything about his net worth but then again there weren’t many people in Littleford that didn’t know about the city’s most eligible bachelor.
As he sat at his desk and stared out of his panoramic window on to the city below, Albie found himself wondering about his future. About the possibility of his having a future with someone a little more like Tami and a little less like…well, everyone else. The more he thought about it, the more he pondered the things that Tami could give him that his life had –up until now – been without.
There was the certain possibility of a child, something his father had been nagging him about for the past decade. ‘A Johnson man needs an heir to pass his fortune to,’ his dad would say. So important was an heir to Mr. Johnson II that before he agreed to finance his son’s business he required him to make a deposit at the local sperm bank.
‘No business funded by my money is going to fall in to any hands other than the Johnson’s’ he had said. And Albie, as much as he had needed his father’s funding, had agreed to the rather bizarre request.
But with Tami in the picture, or at least on the horizon, Albie could see a real possibility for a future Albert P. Johnson IV.
Chapter 4: A Mix Up
Tami sat amid six bouquets of beautiful flowers, completely flabbergasted. She had absolutely no idea who they were from as none of the bouquets had included cards, but she could only imagine that they were from her friends at work. The perfume from the flowers was incredible and the variety of colors simply amazing. She liked the daisies the most, she had always been a fan of the daisy – a simple but beautiful flower.
“Katie?” There was a pause on the end of the phone while Katie finished up with a customer.
“Hey girl! How are you feeling?” Katie had been the first to know about Tami’s appointment and she had even offered to go along if Tami needed the company. Tami had refused however, feeling that it was more of a solo type of appointment.
“Good…well nervous as all get out, to be honest.”
“Thank you, have a nice day!” Katie’s voice was muffled before she came back on the line. “I don’t blame you. When will you know?”
“She said two weeks, but I want to take a test already just to see. Do you think it’s too early?” Katie laughed.
“I think maybe just a bit.” Tami knew that it was, but needed to hear it from someone else.
“Yeah, I thought so. Oh, hey, thanks for the flowers but jeez you guys went way overboard!” Tami leaned over and smelled one of the carnations.
“Huh?” Katie was utterly confused.
“The flowers, I had like six bouquets show up. I figured they were from you guys since no one else really knows…” Katie went silent.
“Ah…”
“Katie! Oh my God who did you tell?” Tami could feel a sense of panic rising. She didn’t mind Katie and the girls at work knowing what she was doing but the idea that anyone else could know made her worry that she’d jinx her possibility of pregnancy.
“I didn’t really tell anyone. I just…well, Albie came in this morning for his coffee and he asked where you were. So I told him you had a doctor’s appointment and…” Tami interrupted.
“Wait, you seriously told one of our customers that I had a doctor’s appointment?” Tami should have been angry, but instead she found the fact that Albie had asked after her sweet.
“Yeah, I figured you wouldn’t mind since it was him…but now I’m guessing you do?” Tami couldn’t help but laugh.
“Don’t worry about it. I guess if there’s one guy you don’t mind knowing you’re
under the weather
, it’s the guy who can afford to send you six bouquets of flowers.” Tami couldn’t wipe the smile from her face as she stared at the bright white daisies.
“Are you sure? I’m really sorry. I didn’t think, I just…” Katie didn’t know why she had told Albie anything, but she put it down to her wanting Albie to finally get involved with Tami’s life. Still, she hadn’t expected him to do anything like this.
“Yeah. I’m sure.” Tami was sure, in fact there was something intriguing about a guy who would send his barista six bouquets of flowers. “One thing though, did you give him my address?” Katie gave a dramatic gasp.
“Oh hell no! I might be an idiot but I wouldn’t do something like that!” Tami bit down gently on her bottom lip.
“Hmmm…” There was a sound of muffled talking on the end of the line.
“Hey Tami? I have to go, Carla is telling me we’re out of Columbia blend beans and I know we’re not because I unpacked a box of them this morning. Urgh! Keep me in the loop though, k?” Tami nodded without realizing it.
“Sure…talk to you later.” She hung up the phone, still deep in thought as to how Albie could have found her address.
Albie was still sitting at his desk daydreaming about the possibility of a life with Tami when the phone rang. As per usual, his secretary picked it up.
“Mr. Johnson? I have a call from a Mrs. Amanda Adams on line one, she says that it’s quite urgent that she speak with you.” Albie picked up the phone.
“That’s fine Allison, patch her through.” There was a click on the line and a woman’s voice spoke.
“Hello? Is that Mr. Johnson?” Albie waited for Allison’s phone to hang up before he spoke.
“Yes, this is he. May I ask what you are calling in regard to?” There was a brief silence on the end of the line and just when Albie was about to hang up, the woman spoke again.
“Mr. Johnson. Do you recall a few years ago that you visited our institution located on Firth Street and made a…deposit?” Albie frowned, he didn’t even know where Firth Street was.
“I’m sorry, you’re going to have to be a little more specific, I have bank accounts at a number of various institutions.” There was another silence.
“I’m afraid you misunderstand, Mr. Johnson. I am from the Dunkirk Cryobank.” She waited for a moment to see if the name rang any bells.
“Ohhhh, yes. I remember that.” He laughed awkwardly. “I’m sorry, you were talking a whole different kind of deposit!” The woman on the other end of the phone didn’t laugh, in fact she was eerily quiet.
“Well, how can I help you Mrs. Adams?” She coughed quietly.
“You see, Mr. Johnson. Well, the thing is…there has been a terrible mix up.” This time it was Albie who went silent. “Mr. Johnson? Are you still there?” Albie was still there but for the moment his brain was fixated on the sheer number of possible mishaps that could have taken place.
“Yes…I’m still here.”
“Mr. Johnson, I’m afraid that your sample got mixed in with another…batch and it would seem that due to this mix up your donation has been…umm…utilized.” Albie could feel the paralysis setting in as it traveled from his toes, creeping slowly all the way to the top of his head. He stared at the swirling detail of the woodgrain on his desktop. “Mr. Johnson?”
“I…” He didn’t know what to say. Just moments ago he had imagined the possibility of having his very own heir, a small family of his own, and now it was happening. It was happening so very out of his control, but it was happening nonetheless.
“We will of course do everything we can to make this right.” Mrs. Adams was breathless and quite obviously flustered by the whole situation.
“Which would be what, exactly?” Albie tried to pull himself together.
“We…umm…we would like for you to come down to the bank as soon as is convenient so that we can discuss any and all options with you. We will also be inviting the individual who purchased your donation in hopes that we can all find some kind of resolution to this awful mix up.” Albie wanted to laugh. A mix up was when they accidentally put tomato on a sandwich that was ordered without tomato, it was not selling your genetic product so that someone could make a baby with it.
“Mr. Johnson? When would be a convenient time for you?” Albie wasn’t sure that anything about this was convenient.
“I suppose the sooner the better. I will also be bringing my attorney.”
“I understand, Mr. Johnson. Would 5:30pm today work for you?” Albie didn’t even bother to look at his organizer.
“Fine. We will see you then.”