3 As the Hot Foods section manager is late today, she makes her way over to the rotisserie to give it the once over it's all present and correct and Rupa, who's usually on the fish counter, is covering for Tammy who was fired last week, caught when security put a hidden camera in the back room because her till wasn't tallying caught in the act of eating spicy chicken wings, irrefutable evidence, had to go, sacked over snaffling chicken wings after seven years on the job what was she thinking? everyone was told about it as a warning, even though the store regularly suffers close to a million pounds' shrinkage every year on account of employee theft, shoplifting, cashier and admin errors and whatever it's a hazard of large-scale retail in spite of all the enhanced technology and security LaTisha keeps abreast of in preparation for her next promotion working hard? reading boring documents? love it! she's grateful she wasn't caught herself in the early days when she was stacking shelves, did a lot worse than Tammy but her excuse was more valid it went like this she'd had Jason, her first child, for Dwight, an accident, he didn't want to use a condom, said he'd withdraw, clearly not in time (many times not in time) she didn't show until it was too late Dwight was a security guard at the store, it's how they first met in the canteen as she sat there shooting her mouth off about something deep and meaningful
when he leaned over and whispered, you're so fit, LaTisha that's all it took plus buying a Big Mac and strawberry milkshake after work that day, sweet-talking her all the way, LaTisha-bae this and LaTisha-bae that like he was pouring honey over her naked body and licking it off which is what he said he wanted to do to her, you make me hard just looking at you he snuck her into the garage conversion flat at the bottom of the garden of his family home while his mum watched telly in the main house snuck her out again in the morning, before his mum woke up, she'd warned him not to bring girls back LaTisha wondered if there'd been others, it didn't matter, he was hers now, and she began to feel close to him, especially as he liked to talk afterwards previous boys only wanted an orgasm and not a conversation, let alone a relationship which is what they were having after seven months together, going cinema and concerts, doing normal boy-girl things he was the first person she told the truth to about her dad's disappearance, told him how upset and rejected she'd felt, even let him see her cry a few times, which had never happened with anyone your dad shouldn't have done that, Dwight said, stroking her back, it don't make him a bad man, though, only a weak one, nuff mans be like that she hadn't thought of that so Daddy was weak? so was Dwight, it turned out when a new girl started at work who the boys rated a ten (the girls rated her a three), she came on to him in a sluttish way and suddenly it was like, LaTisha who? she tried to talk to him, he said he'd moved on moved on from what? there was nothing wrong with us, Dwight you made me feel claustrophobic, bae, you're too intense, too much too soon, I'm not ready to settle down, ya gets? what do you mean too much too soon? I haven't asked you for anything
LaTisha badmouthed him to her friends on the phone late into the night, only to end up bawling because she still wanted him and how could he do this to her? I confided in him and he shat on my trust they commiserated, he's a dog, LaTisha, you can do better than him, he doesn't deserve you, forget him, which she tried to do until she discovered her expanding belly wasn't puppy fat she was pregnant and seven months gone, like one of those teenagers who go for a dump in the toilets at school only to find out they're giving birth instead and it's like OMG and WTF and I didn't even know I was pregnant and you're the father of this baby, Dwight, the one inside here, she patted her stomach they were outside the store just before his shift, she was so angry he'd got her into this mess in the first place are you gonna man-up about it, D? she said it was his fault he said it wasn't like how can it not be when he'd refused to put on protection when they'd done it, saying real men don't wear condoms, it don't feel right you should have known better, she told him so should you Mummy went through the roof, literally exploded like a rocket through the kitchen ceiling first, then the bathroom ceiling above it, then through the roof and high into the sky until she calmed down enough to come back to earth with a thud how can this happen to me, she wailed it's not happening to you, LaTisha shot back that got her a slap so hard it almost sent her flying across the room and she almost ended up stuck into the wall – arms and legs splayed like in those comic cartoons Mummy was so angry she'd said LaTisha had to pay for the child herself, threw her out after another row, ranting about LaTisha bringing shame on
the family, I don't believe it, she prattled on, I've got a babymother for a daughter you can talk, LaTisha replied Mummy pushed her out of the house so hard she fell on the pavement almost cracking her skull open LaTisha screamed back at the slammed door, found a brick from the loose ones on their garden wall, pelted it through the living room window by accident it was only supposed to crack the window, not smash it to bits anyway, Jason was safe in the kitchen even so Mum screamed she was calling the police LaTisha knew she'd never do that, would she? instead she brought her things out, including Jason I work with girls like you all day, I can't come home to one as well she gave her an emergency number didn't even call it for her LaTisha ended up in emergency accommodation for young mothers, how could her mum do this to her when she had a baby to look after, and it meant she'd lost the one person who could show her how to raise him at least Dwight manned up for a few seconds made sure their shifts overlapped so she could get as many things as she needed for the baby without detection she didn't like stealing but convinced herself it wasn't like the supermarket couldn't afford it with their billions in profits and exploitation of poor workers it was their fault for not paying her enough, and anyway, how else was she gonna support the baby on her own? a week later Mummy turned up to take her home, not before calling her a bloody fool and I had to teach you a lesson and that baby will die if you're left alone to look after it and you can't pick your family, can you? LaTisha gave her the biggest hug, told her how much she loved her and thankyouthankyouthankyoumummy luckily Jayla had been unemployed since she left school at sixteen so she looked after Jason during the day when LaTisha went to work Jayla loved children, couldn't wait to have her own
LaTisha wondered how that was going to happen when she played computer games all day and only went out to take Jason around the park and go on Tinder dates that didn't work out she'd come home early saying he wasn't the one now that LaTisha had two people to help raise Jason, she felt the burden roll off her and on to them even though Mummy said, I don't know if I've got any love left to give when LaTisha watched her with Jason, it was obvious her love for him was infinite he made her smile more than she had since Daddy left so there she was, LaTisha KaNisha Jones, aged eighteen, supermarket cashier, single, and boys wasn't exactly lining up to get serious with her as a single mother of one when she met Mark in the nightclub she went to once a month with Lauren and Chloe he was an electrician, had his own flat in Streatham, was fresh to death, and didn't press his hardness into her when they danced they arranged a date that involved a film, pizza and even a wine bar – her first time inside one, where he treated her to champagne and opened doors for her all the way she couldn't believe her luck and what with his bedroom eyes making her feel sexy and the drink making her feel romantic, she gave it up without protection in the back of his car in an empty parking lot that very evening as they made out, he whispered, I knew the minute I set eyes on you that we were meant to be together, I can't wait for us to become one it was the most incredible moment, and she was so ready to have a man in her life who could be a father to Jason when the only thing it led to was Jantelle, who still hasn't met her father because when LaTisha tried to call the number Mark gave her it didn't exist so now she's nineteen, got two kids, no man, and feeling overwhelmed by the absolute mess she'd made of her life so grateful for Mummy and Jayla's help because her other friends were still free people and had backed off because she wasn't
it was clear they didn't want to be burdened with a single mother as a close friend who was gonna be tied to her two kids for another sixteen years meaning they'd have to be as well.