“Oh, Tre. Good Lord, you scared the devil out of me.”
Balanced on her young deliveryman’s hip was a little girl with fuzzy braids wearing a too-small dress. Shorty D stood beside him, his backpack hanging low on one shoulder, a cocky grin on his face.
“What’s up, Mrs. T?” Shorty D said.
“I saw you had company so I waited. Used my back door key and hoped I could find you here before you left. Sorry about scaring you,” Tre said, rubbing the back of the little girl, who sucked on her fingers.
“That’s okay,” Eleanor breathed, trying to stop her galloping heart. Double thank-God Blakely had interrupted her and Dez. She could have scarred some children with the naughty things she wanted to do to Dez. “I’m good, Shorty D. How are you?”
“Cool. Thanks for the doughnuts. Hit the spot.” He patted his stomach.
She tried not to laugh at how grown-up Shorty D talked. He wore pants that sagged a bit too low and tennis shoes that had seen better days months ago. “Anytime. I like rewarding those awesome baskets you shoot. You keep playing like that and every high school in the city will be trying to get you to play for them.”
Shorty grinned. “I’ll go wherever they have the most doughnuts.”
“Hey, Mrs. T. Can I talk to you?” Tre spoke, jerking his head toward her office.
Obviously something serious was afoot. Tre never came in after hours and the worry on his face seemed too much for a kid who was the same age as her daughter. She didn’t know who the little girl was. Could be Tre’s daughter, she supposed, but he’d never mentioned having any children on his employment application...only his brother, for whom he was unofficial guardian.
“Sure. I don’t have much time because Eddie has his show tonight, but I can talk.” She moved toward her office, hoping there was no evidence of her near insanity with Dez moments before.
Office looked the same as always.
Huh.
Somehow she expected it to show some small indication she’d tossed out all sense.
Tre set the toddler down next to Shorty D at the threshold and handed his brother his iPhone with earbuds. “You can play Ninja Jump, but you have to make sure Kenzie don’t mess with nothing. Got it?”
Shorty took the phone with a nod before tugging on the little girl’s arm. “Come on, Kenz. You can help me.”
Tre watched as the two settled on the desk chair behind the counter, giving another grave nod to his younger brother.
“So, what’s wrong, Tre?” Eleanor asked, moving a few papers around, trying not to be overly concerned with the atypical actions of her employee.
“Yeah, uh, I hate to ask, but you think I can get an advance for this week?”
“An advance?”
Tre straightened and she wished she hadn’t repeated the request. Tre was proud, reminding her of a young Morgan Freeman. He had a sort of confidence that allowed one to trust him, and she figured he’d rather have a tooth yanked out with no pain medication than to ask for help. Things had to be bad for him.
“Yeah. Won’t happen again, but I need to find someone to watch Kenzie and I got to pay them.”
Eleanor nodded. “Of course, Tre. You can have an advance.”
He nodded and shot his gaze anywhere but near her. “Thanks.”
“Tre?”
He still wouldn’t look at her. “Is Kenzie your daughter?”
His eyes widened. “No, she’s my little cousin. My mama’s sister’s girl.”
“Oh, okay. I just never heard you speak of her. Let me grab my checkbook.” Eleanor didn’t know how to breach Tre’s defenses. The boy didn’t trust her and she’d never given him reason to feel the way he did. If she could get him to open up, she might be able to help him solve his problems. She felt like he needed someone on his side, but thus far, he’d been unwilling to be anything but polite.
Several minutes later she thrust a check toward him. “That should cover what I’d pay you for the next two weeks. Will that be enough?”
His dark eyes flickered to the paper and he nodded. “Yeah. Thanks.”
“Tre, is there anything more I can do? You’re not in trouble, are you?” She hated to ask it, but she couldn’t seem to stop herself. Maternal instinct whispered in her ear she could help, that she could at the least fix something for someone.
But Tre withdrew even further.
Yeah. Good job, white woman. Think you can fix years upon years of poverty. Of hunger. Of need. Of out-and-out