Tears Into Roses

Contents

TEARS

WELCOME

Dedicated to the ‘Man Of My Dreams’ Aubrey Drake Graham.

A Very Thin Line

Keeping The Secret

Moving Forward

Tell Him The Truth

Welcomed By Family

Friends & Lovers

A Drinking Problem

Breaking Up VS. Making Up

Support, Loyalty, and Forgiveness

Never Truly Forgiven

Trying to Move On

Accept Nothing Less

TEARS

INTO

ROSES

Kay Griffin-Lucas

Copyright © Kay Griffin-Lucas

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by reviewers, who may quote brief passages in a review.

Published by Kay Griffin-Lucas

Partnered with Dean Diaries Publishing

To order additional copies of this book, contact the author:

WELCOME

You're about to get a genuine treat with this novel. Though I must clarify, If you're looking for one of those traditional stories of glitz and glamour (i.e., mansions and limousines), this is not the book for you. There are no million-dollar homes, expensive materialistic gifts, or exotic locations that leave you wishing you were one of the characters. What you will read should send you on a whirlwind of human emotions, reminding you of some person, thing, or place from your past. Tears Into Roses contains loads of humor, irony, faith, passion, conflicts, and, most of all, love. Suppose you've ever been in a committed relationship with someone. In that case, I can guarantee that you've encountered one or more of these situations at some point. We have to remember that life doesn't come with a handbook, and there's no perfect outcome to any situation. We all do what we can and hope for the best. Sometimes the slightest inappropriate decision or distraction can throw us off course. The next thing you know, the path ahead is not what you intended or desired. You will get a glimpse of the journey between two people whose lives would never be the same as before.

All situations and comments illustrated in this novel are accurate representations of the characters described.

Dedicated to the ‘Man Of My Dreams’ Aubrey Drake Graham.

When I first started getting to know him through music, my love as a fan grew. When I faced some very dark times emotionally, his music comforted me as nothing else did, so I'm eternally grateful.

I continue to love and support him on his journey.

Now and Forever.

A Very Thin Line

A

fter being with her company for a little over four months, Jayla had begun to settle in at the new position, although she hated the work schedule. Employed by PXL Logistics, she worked from three o'clock in the afternoon to midnight for almost five months now, which is difficult as a single mother. Jayla was delighted to hear about a day shift position that had just opened up. Larry (her manager) informed her that even though the role was in-house, she still needed to interview. This information came at her from left field because her interview was being held the next day.

Jayla Grainger is a little over five feet in height, with caramel-colored brown eyes and an hourglass curvy physique. She always wore weave hairstyles, kept her nails done, and wore business casual clothing. She is a beautiful woman who also has a strong personality and witty demeanor. Besides her outer appearance, Jayla was a caring and loyal person. She has a certain effortless sexy swag about her that was easy to notice, especially from the opposite sex. Her smile was photographic. The sway in her walk exacerbated a higher level of strength and confidence than most. She unwillingly commanded attention when she entered a room of people. Not everyone Jayla came in contact with would like her, but that is a usual disadvantage of the Scorpio woman. They're usually sassy, confident, and opinionated, which is more than some can handle. Scorpio's love hard or not at all, which is commonly known. When it comes to love and respect, she was always extremely serious. Jayla was turning thirty years old soon. She'd had numerous romantic experiences by this stage of her life, but none like she was about to experience with Devon Williams.

Within two days, Jayla's whole working atmosphere had changed. On her first day, she arrived promptly at 8:00 am. Even though this job was still within the same company, it was like starting a brand new position. Ted Conklin, her new manager, began showing her around the building and introducing her to other managers, shippers, and forklift drivers scattered throughout the warehouse. By lunchtime, she tried to get a clearer understanding of the expected responsibilities. This account was handled quite differently than the previous one.

For one thing, she was blind-sighted by the fact that she was going to be representing three business accounts instead of one. It was unsettling because Ted & Jenny were cramming two weeks of training on the procedures into one day. Jenny had decided to resign and take a job with a carrier for PXL. This choice had brought about conflict with Ted and Carolyn, who tried to hide it from Jayla, but Jenny told her what was going on. By the end of the day, Jayla's brain felt like it was going to explode from the absorption of so many different names, email addresses, phone numbers, and products.

Sometime during the conversation with Ted about item details, Korey felt the need to introduce Jayla to another employee. Jai, this is Devon or Dee. Have you met Dee?

She sort of waved it off, saying, Yeah, I've already met him, then turning her attention back to Ted. It wasn't a rude intent. She just had to memorize so much, and meeting these guys was the least of her concerns for the moment. Little did she know, Devon had taken offense to this. He formed a negative opinion of her in that very brief encounter.

Devon was six feet three inches tall with a large muscular build. His brawny exterior and handsome facial features made him desirable to most women he met. He must've weighed approximately 230lbs. Large tattoos covered the upper body of his tannish complexion and added to his character. Devon was quite a handsome young man. Although Jayla had picked up on this when they met, she wasn't in the position to mention her observation. Devon was easy going, but he was also hot-tempered. Surly to someone at first glance, his standoffish comments could make him appear to be mean. He was powerful and demanding. While in his comfort zone, he could be playful and silly.

Through gossip, Jayla found out that Devon had allegedly made several remarks about her making the guys think she's a shallow bitch with a disheartening bias towards black men. Devon's name had come up in conversations with a few of Jai's close friends outside of work. For example, Ginger and Diane heard how much Devon's attitude and behavior bothered Jayla at work. While Diane visited one Saturday afternoon, she asked, Hey girl, what you been up to?

Jai replied, Nothing different, you know my schedule changed at work.

Diane: Oh, that's right, you said you switched jobs, but how do you like the new position so far?

Jai: It's okay, but it's more work than the other account was, and I don't like the people over here as much.

Diane: Why not.

Jai: I ain't saying anything wrong with them; it's just things were more social before. The new people are okay, but I don't mingle with them. We just work together.

Diane: Well, what about ol' boy, the one you were complaining about last time we talked?

Jai: Oh, you must mean Dee. Girl, he gets on my nerves. He always got some silly shit to say, and I don't be in the mood for that. He play too damn much.

Diane: Does he act like that with everybody?

Jai: I guess so, but they're probably used to him because everyone likes him, but it's like he is trying to piss me off on purpose.

Diane: Okay, let me ask you this; let's pretend you didn't dislike him. How does he look?

Jai: What? Hell naw it ain't even like that girl, but he ain't nowhere near ugly. I guess he looks aight, but you know I don't like men with long hair, and he's got cornrows.

Diane interrupted, saying, If I remember correctly, Dre had cornrows, and he had you hemmed up for a while. They both laughed.

Jai: Now see here you go with that 'Dre’ shit….  that’s why I don’t be wanting to tell you nothing.

Diane: Because you tryna act like I’m not supposed to remember that shit… he walked up on you and had you speechless.

Jai: I wasn’t speechless. I was just caught off guard, and he was so rude about it, hell he didn’t give me a chance to say nothing.

Diane: Yeah yeah, well, this has been fun, but let me get my god kids and go.

Jai: That’s fine. I packed them a couple days of clothes. What time you bringing them back tomorrow?

Diane: I’m not sure, but I’ll call you early enough to let you know.

Jayla agreed just as her children came running down the stairs yelling in excitement to greet their godmother. Diane grabbed both kids, hugging and kissing them. Jayla’s son and daughter waved goodbye to Mommy as they exited the apartment.

With the exhausting transfer of warehouse materials currently underway at the office, everyone felt more irritated and anxious to finish next week. Almost a month went by before Jayla started to feel more at home in her working atmosphere. She didn’t get a warm reaction from a lot of the employees, though. Aside from the office personnel, she didn’t communicate with others. So one day in early December, Jayla found herself in the breakroom alone with Devon. He was heating his lunch, and without actually trying to do so, she glanced into his bowl. What the hell is that? she asked.

He looked up from the table where he sat and responded, It’s chicken, ravioli, and tater tots.

She kind of chuckled as she expected him to be joking, but he wasn’t. Why are you eating it all mixed together? she pondered.

He sarcastically said, What’s the difference; it’s gonna mix together in my stomach.

She countered with, Yeah, but it looks like slop I couldn’t even get my kids to eat anything that looks like that. As she exited the breakroom, she thought the subject had ended there. Devon was already not crazy about her, so his frustration mounted. Following this, there always seemed to be some tension between the two of them. Jayla felt she could tolerate the awkwardness since she rarely had to be around him because his shift didn’t begin until 2:30 pm.

One day, her team (Ted, Mary, Carolyn, and herself) went to pick up lunch from McDonald’s. They rode there in Mary’s SUV, which was not usual, but everyone was trying to hurry the moving process. Ted and Carolyn were discussing the changes occurring by upper management. Ted happened to mention that Devon was being switched to the day shift to help handle the morning workload.

Jai comments, Oh great, now I gotta deal with him all day long. Neither of her counterparts could believe her response. They all found it strange that she didn’t like Dee. They began to go on about how nice he was and how most people, especially women, seemed to adore Devon, but Jayla was unimpressed.

The move was occurring in the middle of winter, and the demands had been hard on everyone. It was during this time that Jayla started to fraternize more with the fellas at work. Devon even offered to go outside and warm up her car in the cold weather. When he did this, she began to realize he’s probably reasonably nice wearing an asshole’s disguise. After that day, she started asking him to do this favor all the time, and he would.

Once everything was set up at the new location, there was still more work for the warehousemen. These guys had to unpack and organize all the merchandise just moved over by truckloads. They were working mandatory twelve-hour shifts to get this done while still shipping orders. One evening towards the end of her shift, Jai noticed that Devon’s braids looked quite shabby. Before she’d seen how he kept them very neatly braided, she asked if the long hours were keeping him from getting them re-braided. He confirmed that was precisely the reason. So Jayla hadn’t planned on it, but she offered to do it for twenty dollars. Devon quickly rejected her offer saying, Thanks, but no, I don’t think I should because I know myself.

She gathered her things to leave anyway, so she said Okay and left the office. She thought about what he said on the drive home. He did have a girlfriend, so maybe he thought it would create an issue with her if he had accepted.

Months pass, and they’re all enjoying the new location, which was more modern and larger than the last. This site was a lot closer to Jayla’s home, so it benefited her the most. While leaving for lunch one Tuesday, Korey asks Jayla if she wouldn’t mind picking Devon up from the hospital on her way back to the office. Jai asked, Why is he at the hospital?

Korey replied, Today was his random drop test, and when we do that, employees are not allowed to drive themselves to and from the hospital to get drug tested.

Jai: Okay, well, I don’t mind as long as you cover me with my boss if I’m a few minutes late coming back because I hadn’t planned on going that far.

Korey: What’s your phone number so I can give it to him?

Jai hesitated before saying, Why does he need my number? I know where the hospital is?

Korey: I’m sure you do, but I’ll tell him to call and let you know which entrance he’ll be at. He should be done by the time you get there.

Jayla had a nervous feeling about this, but she complied then left the office, heading towards the parking lot. When she got close, she got a call from Dee, who said, I’m finished, but I’m walking across the street to McDonald’s so you can pick me up there.

Okay, I’ll be there in a minute, she replied.

He asked if she wanted anything. She said no but thanked him for the offer. On the way back to their job site Jai stopped by her house to get the lunch she had prepared instead of buying fast food. Devon sat in the car while she ran in for two minutes. She got back in the car, and he couldn’t help but mention how lucky she is to live down the street from their job.

While they were talking