Be in My Life (Fifth Book in Life Series)

Chapter 1

"Make a pact with yourself today to not be defined by your past. Sometimes the greatest thing to come out of all your hard work isn't what you get for it, but what you become for it. Shake things up today! Be You...Be Free...Share." ~Steve Maraboli 

"And here is your Mint Julep, Mrs. Tyson," I say, setting the glass of the alcohol that Marisol Tyson always drinks on Wednesday nights at seven. 

"Thank you, Eleanor," she replies in her strong southern accent. 

Marisol Tyson is one of the oldest people living in this town of Guntersville. Everyone knows her and everyone knows that you call her 'Mrs. Tyson' or else. Mrs. Tyson calls everyone by their full first name and nothing else even if one is called by their nick name. 

"Now, Eleanor, tell me if you are seeing anyone," she commands just as I turn to walk back to the bar. 

"No, I am not seeing anyone," I reply. 

"Now why is that?" She questions. "You are perfectly healthy, are you not?" 

"I am as healthy as I can be," I say. 

"And dare I say that you are pretty from where you come from," she remarks. She is referring to the fact that my family is poor and we have nothing to offer. A small pain touches my heart after she says that but I have heard many times. "Certainly not pretty enough for my Henry but maybe pretty enough for Penelope's great-grandson...oh what's his name?" 

"Eddie," I say. 

"Oh! Yes, it is Edward," she says. "You might be pretty enough for him. You never attended college though. That might be a problem." 

I feel Tatiana walk to me. "Mrs. Tyson, now I do believe that Ellie has work to do and really shouldn't be distracted from your comments," my friend and co-worker says in defense. 

"My dear Tatiana, I was just trying to help Eleanor out. I mean nothing rude about it at all," Mrs. Tyson says in defense of herself. 

"I also think that all your Mint Juleps have gotten to your brain but of course I mean nothing rude about saying that," Tatiana retorts. 

"I am going to tell your mother what you just said!" Mrs. Tyson warns. 

"And what is she going to do? I am an adult and I am in charge of myself." 

"Tatiana Katheryn Hanes, if we weren't in a public setting I would give you a piece of my mind," Mrs. Tyson warns. 

"Marisol, you have no right to degrade anyone especially since we all know about your past," she retorts. 

"It is Mrs. Tyson! You know so much better than that! Your mother didn't raise you like a hooligan!" 

"You are right. My mama didn't raise me like a hooligan but she did raise me so I can stand up for myself and others from people who degrade them!" Tatiana says matter-of-factly. 

"That's it, Tatiana Violet! I am calling your mother to talk to her about you!" 

Mrs. Tyson pulls out her cell phone. Within seconds she has her phone up to her ear. 

"Hello, is Monroe Elouise Hanes there? It is Marisol Juliet Tyson speaking." Mrs. Tyson asks. "Oh, she isn't?...Then is Callahan Benjamin Hanes there?...Oh! I am speaking to him!...Well how are you?...I am excellent, thank you...I called to speak about your daughter....Which daughter? Oh, I almost forgot you had three!...Tatiana is the one I wanted to talk about...Now, she is a little feisty and very argumentative...She was born that way?!...Why didn't you nip it in the bud from the beginning?...Now that is no way to raise your children...I do have the right to comment on the way one raises their children...Why on Earth would you ask a lady how many Mint Juleps she has consumed?!...Three Mint Juleps is not a lot, Callahan...Did you just say that I should quit while I am ahead?!...Now I understand where your daughter gets her feistiness from. You should be ashamed...The Hanes Family needs therapy!" She declares before hanging up her phone with a grunt of disapproval.