August, 1996
Tessa's POV
"Yo, whose baby is this?"
I laugh, coming back into the living room with a freshly made bottle to see Jimmy eyeing our young guest warily. Lily, my little helper, sits on the floor beside the baby on a blanket.
I pick the baby up, placing him on my hip, and introduce him to Jimmy.
"This is Calvin. His Mom and him live across the street. She took on an extra shift at the hospital and her usual sitter bailed so she asked me to watch him."
He starts fussing so I give him the bottle to get him to stop.
"And you got Lily too?" he asks, ruffling the girls hair.
"Your mom dropped her off earlier. Said she had to run some errands." I tell him. Stephanie does that a lot lately, sometimes for a few hours and sometimes for a few days, but I don't mind. Jimmy doesn't mind Lily spending so much time here either of course, but he does mind that his Mom is pushing her responsibilities to us. Steph isn't doing well, drinking too much again. "I told her she could stay the night."
"A'ight. What about the kid? How long is it here for?"
"Just a couple more hours." I say, ignoring him calling Calvin 'it'. I'm too sad he'll be leaving soon.
As much as I loved the older kids in the daycare I always enjoy cuddling the babies- so tonight has been a lot of fun for me.
Plus, we need the money.
A lot has changed this year. And while some things finally feel like they're coming together, life around us seems to be falling apart.
Jimmy and I have always split the bills, 50/50. Living by myself before, I just made enough money each month to get by. And when Jimmy moved in, his added wage had it so we were comfortable for a little bit. Enough that I started a savings for our future and he was able to work in the studio a lot. I was even looking into going back to school, community college, for a business degree.
But then my landlady moved into a retirement home, too elderly to live on her own anymore. She sold the place and rent skyrocketed. So it was either we come up with money we didn't have or we find a new place in our budget.
Then I lost my job. The entire daycare closed down, it's building too old to keep it running anymore. Without a second income, we really had no other choice.
So we moved.
The house we're renting off Bartlett Ave isn't ideal, but it's cheap. Temporary, Jimmy would remind me. It's a small two bedroom- the spare for Lily when she'd stay with us. That was a plus. The backyard was too.
But it was further away from Jimmy's work, so he's been late a lot. And it's also a high crime neighborhood. I couldn't tell you how many times the car and the house were broken into. They stole money, they stole food, they stole our stereo. It's not how I'm used to living, feeling scared in my own home. At least when Jimmy is with me I feel safe.
I've already put in a application at the diner Hanna works at, and Gabi and I have been picking up babysitting gigs here and there till we find something better. Jimmy made sure we were always taken care of, not once making me feel bad about anything. But he wants to get us out of this house and somewhere better so bad, that he's been working even harder to land himself a deal. It's the goal. But it hasn't been easy.
He's completed his demo- a couple incredible songs that show how truly talented he is. With his friend's help, he's been bringing it to local radio stations to play and selling them. People who knew Jimmy from The Shelter, know his talent, bought from him. Stations were reluctant at first to play him, most giving him an outright no. But once one played him and they heard what he could do, a few others picked him up. He was always hustling to get his name out there, his music heard. It's been a slow process, and he may hate it, but I'm so proud of him.
