Secrets In The City

10: My Confessions

LILLIAN

IT'S Christmas Eve and I am more than ready for the festivities to commence. My family has this tradition that on the night of Christmas we must partake in a gift-wrapping contest and whoever wrapped up their presents first and brought it under the tree, would receive fifty dollars from the losers.

It's always a friendly competition in the James household. I slowly frowned, missing my family. Or least what used to be my family. Speaking of family, since the night of the office party, Brena has been scarce.

I think it's because of the holiday season.

Last year we didn't spend the holidays together because of what was going on in our relationship at the time. Even so, I still made sure to call to see how she was faring. Most importantly, I'm aware that January 7th is right around the corner.

I'm sure her emotions were scattered and possibly eating her up inside. To lose a mother is one thing but losing a parent on your birthday? That's some next level shit right there.

Life isn't all roses and rainbows. Good and bad happenings will always occur. It's just how life works. There's a balance. The good things happen so when the bad things do, we're more appreciative of the good moments we got to relish. The way you endure the tough times, determines your strength.

To me, Brena is an example of strength.

She deserves nothing the best in life. I already know what I'll be gifting her on her birthday. Since we started speaking again, she's been complaining about the memories her Range Rover held but she was supposed to go to the dealership and trade in her cars days ago.

I don't think she's gotten the chance to do so yet.

Brena also has a blue Jaguar XJ that she hasn't touched in over two years. That was the car she was driving the night she received the news about her mother's accident. The matte black G-wagon was stolen weeks prior to her 21st birthday.

It's 10 o'clock in the morning and I'm just waking up. I got home late from work last night because of the meetings we've been having all in preparation. We will be shifting gears in certain facets of the company because of the new position that Desmond Johnson, is about to occupy in the New Year.

I give credit when it's due and I must say that the man is incredibly smart. Some of the ideas he's suggesting are exactly what I've been trying to tell my boss, Stiles Davis. For example, I suggested that we shouldn't use only newsletters to promote seminars for teenagers and young adults, who are interested in the automobile industry. Rather, we should try engaging with our followers on all of our social media platforms. Specifically, Instagram and Twitter.

Every time I attempted to voice my opinion to him, he'd shut me down. What an asshole. I'm supposed to meet Brena at the Restful Nights Homeless shelter in Queens, New York. Today we were going to an all women's shelter, a children's group home and, a pregnant women's shelter.

I sluggishly swung my feet over my bed and pulled my feet into my black UGG's fluff sheepskin slippers. I sat on the side of the bed for a second trying to decide whether or not I should give her a call.

It's been a minute since I heard anything from her.

I crawled out of bed and strolled over to my reading desk where my black 27" iMac Pro computer sat. I opened my golden-colored curtains by pulling them apart to allow sunlight into the bedroom. I sat down on the brown leather chair in front of my computer and checked my email for any important messages.