"Hey boo thang!"

I laughed at my friend, Lola, and shook my head inviting her inside. It had been well over a month since I'd seen her and she was overdue for an update.

"Hey honey." I smiled while hugging her close to me. "Are you back for good?" I asked, joining her on the couch.

It was Saturday and Moriah had come to get MJ and Miracle about an hour ago, so we had the house to ourselves.

"I am." She smiled. "I have so much to tell you too bitch. Cali was lit, nothing like boring ass Charlotte but you know home is home." She shrugged.

"You coming back to the shop?" Before I had anyone, I had Lola. She helped me run the nail salon, kept my head above water when I doubted myself. Even gained us some more clients by offering her makeup services.

"I am but enough about that. How is Micah doing? How are the kids?"

When Lola called to tell me she was coming back home, I filled her in on everything that was going on back here with me. Besides Micah, she was one of the few people I talked to and with her finally back, it made talking to her so much easier.

"Micah's doing okay; he has another ten weeks before he can come home but he's making great progress. MJ and Miracle are great; they've been nothing but helpful around here. I honestly don't know if I'll want them to go home when the time comes," I answered honestly.

"You're heaven sent Marley, I swear you are." She smiled while shaking her head. "You know how many people would have sent them off to live with their grandparents or even your older sister. But you are holding your brother and his kids the fuck down. I like that about you. You're genuinely a good person and you've been that way since I've known you."

"Thanks Lola, I just wish Carter saw things that way." I sighed while lying back on the couch.

"What's his problem? You know what, don't tell me. His punk ass caught a bitch fit, didn't he? You weren't showing him enough attention?" Lola hit the nail on the head, causing me to just laugh lowly.

"You have no idea." I shook my head. "He started complaining the other day about us not having enough sex and how he doesn't fit in this thing I got going on."

"The fuck?" Lola's face screwed up at my comment.

"Yes, he was acting as if I didn't take on a whole responsibility of raising Micah and Miracle until their dad got better. Not to mention, the kids just lost their mother not even two years ago. I can't see myself making them anything other than my first priority right now. They need me Lo."

"Oh, I know. It just sucks your dude can't understand that."

Before I could answer, my phone went off, letting me know I had a text message.

>>

I shook my head and laughed a little to myself before replying.

When I looked up from my cellphone Lola was staring a hole into my face.

"Who are you over there texting Marley Renee Wright?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Elijah...the new friend of the family I told you about."

"No, you told me about an Elijah but you said he was MJ's substitute shop teacher." I nodded. "Something about him getting MJ a job at his auto shop..."

"Yeah, he's really cool. He was here the night Carter and I broke up."

"Wait, so you and Carter did break up?" She shook her head. "What the hell was Elijah doing here though?"

I laughed at Lola's nosey ass and proceeded to explain everything to her.

"Miracle was babysitting his daughter for him; he came to pick her up that night and on his way out of the door, Carter was standing outside with an edible arrangement and some wine, like...really." Lola and I shared a laugh before I finished telling her about my night, down to the Facetime call I got from Elijah once he got home.

"He's feeling you."

"Oh stop, you think everyone is in love with Marley." I laughed and waved her off. "He's just a nice person and I've helped him out, so maybe it's just his way of showing appreciation."

"It's possible." Lola nodded.

I looked down at my phone and noticed Elijah had replied to my text.

>>

"What the hell?" I was confused; they were supposed to be out at the carnival or something, not at my house, and why were they here?

"What's wrong with you?" Lola asked while turning the television on.

"Elijah is here," I said, not moving from my spot on the couch.

It wasn't that I didn't want to see him or Bella; I just didn't expect them to show up. Not to mention, I was catching up with Lola, who was nosey as hell. I just knew she was going to grill Elijah as soon as he stepped foot into my house. Truth was, Elijah was a cool person who could possibly become a really close friend of mine but I wasn't looking for anything more from him, especially not with this whole breakup with Carter still being fresh. I'd be lying if I said the man wasn't attractive but he was a friend and a friend he would stay. Before I could question why I was even giving any of this any thought, the door was open and Lola was introducing herself to Elijah and Isabella.

"Nice to meet you too, Lola." Elijah smiled her way while entering the house with a huge purple panda in one arm and little Isabella at his side, holding his hand. I smiled at the sight before getting up to greet him.

"What are you two doing here?" I asked after hugging him and picking a sleepy Isabella up.

"Isabella wanted to bring you a gift," he explained while taking a seat in my lazy boy. Lola sat down on the couch with me and Bella.

"Bella huh?" I asked while smiling down at a blushing Isabella. "Thank you so much baby girl. I love it." I smiled while Elijah handed the purple panda to me.

"Sorry for interrupting your girl time." Elijah smirked while sitting up and smoothing his jeans out. "We can go if you want us to."

"Oh no Elijah, that won't be necessary." Lola smiled while grabbing her purse and keys off of the coffee table. "I just got back in town, so I have a few more stops to make. We're actually going out tonight; you're welcome to join us." She smiled while I side-eyed her.

"Umm okay, thanks for the invite; I'll see what I can do." He nodded while grabbing Isabella who had made her way over to where he was seated and was struggling to climb onto his lap.

"Don't be late Lola," I warned her while hugging her tightly. I was honestly trying to squeeze the life out of her for pulling the slick shit she was pulling.

"I won't be late mother." She giggled. "Love you boo, see you tonight," she sang while leaving the house.

I laughed a little when I noticed Bella asleep in her father's arms.

"That's why she was so quiet." I giggled while sitting back down on the couch.

"Exactly, we've been out since 9, so I knew this would happen sooner or later."

"Awwww," I cooed while looking at a sleeping Bella. "You want to lay her down or something?" I asked preparing to get up from my seat on the couch.

"Umm if you don't mind, I was only planning on dropping your bear off but she had other plans." He chuckled while looking down at her.

"It's not a problem." I led him down the hall to the only spare bedroom left and opened the door for him. He looked over at me with a raised eyebrow while laying Bella down in the bed decorated for a little girl, and I laughed a little. I knew it was because of the décor in the room, not to mention the two twin beds. "My older sister used to visit a lot with her kids; this was their room whenever they came," I explained to him while we made our way down the hall back to the living room.

Truth is, Marlow and her kids stayed with me for a whole year while running from her ex-husband, who was deathly abusive. He's actually the reason she's out in Virginia now; far away from him and safe.

Elijah sat back on the couch and let out a loud sigh before looking over at me as I took a seat on the other end of the couch.

"You straight?" he asked with much concern in his voice.

"Yeah." I smiled while getting comfortable. "After talking to you and even after having a 15 minute conversation with Micah, I was able to put things into perspective." I nodded.

"Glad to hear that. I was going to stop by even if Izzy didn't want to give you the panda." He chuckled. "I had to make sure my homie wasn't over here in her feelings n' shit."

I shook my head at him and let out a slight chuckle. "You're a real character Elijah." I smiled his way.

"For real, and if you were over here crying and shit, listening to Mary J or something, we were going to box in this bitch." He gave me a stern look that only caused me to laugh harder.

"Whatever man, I'm good. At the end of the day it's Carter's loss." I shrugged while making my way to the kitchen.

"Damn sure is," I heard Elijah mumble under his breath.

I brushed his comment off and grabbed two water bottles out of the refrigerator before heading back to the living room, handing Elijah a water bottle.

"Thanks," he said while I sat back down in my spot on the couch.

"You're welcome..." The room got quiet and I'm not good with that whole sitting in awkward silence thing, so I decided to speak up. "You really thinking about coming out with us tonight?" I asked while placing my attention on Elijah.

"Nah." He chuckled while shaking his head. "Your homegirl seemed like the type who doesn't take no for an answer, so I just said enough to satisfy her."

We both laughed a little.

"You're actually right about that." I shook my head and thought about how Lola wouldn't have let up if he had said he couldn't make it or something like that.

"No but I'll let her have her fun with you tonight because I got you to myself all day tomorrow," he replied with a smirk.

Before I could say anything, in walked Miracle, MJ and Moriah laughing and talking with two boxes of Popeye's chicken and a bag of what looked like sides. I watched them and shook my head.

"I know y'all didn't," I scoffed.

"Chill, we got your grass-eating ass something too," Moriah replied while going to the kitchen. He couldn't have seen Elijah sitting down on the couch because his ignorant ass would have said something for sure.

"What's up Eli." MJ smiled while dapping him up.

"What's up bro?"

"Hey Eli, oohhh who's the bear for?" Miracle cooed while looking at the huge purple panda that was sitting in the lazy boy.

"Izzy made me win it for your aunt." Eli chuckled while standing to hug Miracle.

"Oh, this is Eli?" Moriah's loud ass was back from the kitchen, eyeing Elijah as if he were my older brother. "What's up man, I'm Marley's brother Moriah," he introduced himself while dapping Elijah up.

"How's Micah? Did y'all go check on the house before you came back here?" I asked before Moriah could go into drilling Eli; there was no reason for him to get all overprotective. Elijah was just my friend but I knew how Moriah would see it, seeing as we were in here alone when they walked in.

"He's doing great," Miracle beamed. "Wait until you see him tomorrow, he's already gaining his weight back." She couldn't stop smiling. "And we checked the house before we went to go see him. Got the mail and everything in my purse."

Last week when we went to go see Micah, he was dealing with withdrawals bad. He couldn't even get out of his bed; not to mention, he kept breaking out into cold sweats. It was stressful and a pain to witness to say the least.

While talking to Miracle, I noticed Moriah tap Eli on the shoulder and show him a pre-rolled blunt, with his eyebrow raised. Before answering him, Elijah looked back to see if I was watching. I giggled a little and motioned for him to go ahead. Moriah peeped and chuckled a little before leading the way out the back door.

I went into the dining room where MJ and Miracle were getting the food together.

"We went to that little spot in Pineville and picked you up a vegan gyro, whatever the hell that is." Micah shrugged while handing me my bag of food.

"Make me hurt you Micah." I laughed while going to turn the oven on so I could warm my gyro up.

"That's a nice panda you got in there," he said while biting into a piece of chicken.

"Stop being childish MJ." Miracle laughed while taking a seat at the table.

"How about mind your business MJ." I laughed while placing my gyro and steak fries on a baking pan.

"You need to get a microwave Aunt. I swear this is not the move," Micah said while grabbing a pan to put his French fries on.

"I will not get a microwave; they're bad for your health. Get some patience young grasshopper." I laughed while joining Miracle at the dining room table. "Has he been this annoying all day?" I laughed while looking over at Miracle.

"O.M.G yes, he's just excited about dad being better. But he's still annoying." She shrugged.

Micah came over to the table with a silly grin on his face. "You know Eli got a crush on you though, right?"

Miracle let out a soft giggle before getting up from the table.

"Look at that bear he got you in there, talking about Bella wanted to bring it to you. There's a big ass pink panda in his back seat just like that one he got you." Micah smirked while nodding his head.

"You're annoying. Maybe he was just trying to be a good friend and cheer me up after the breakup with Carter," I tried to reason.

"He was trying to cheer you up and he is being a good friend," Micah agreed, "but he also has a crush on you," he countered, making me roll my eyes.

"Whatever, I'm not having this conversation with my 17-year-old nephew." I shook my head and got up from the table.

"I know more than you think Aunt," he called after me.

I grabbed our food out of the oven and went back over to the table feeling a little annoyed. Moments later, Moriah and Elijah joined us at the table. Shortly after, Miracle came into the dining room, holding Isabella. I guess we were having family lunch today instead of family dinner. It was cool with me because I had plans with Lola tonight.

"Aye, you and Lola still going out tonight?" Moriah asked before stuffing his face with a few fries.

"Yeah, nowhere too turnt. We're going to hit up that little bar downtown that does karaoke on Saturdays," I explained with a shrug.

"Marley? Doing Karaoke?! Okay nah see, I might have to take Lola up on that invitation because this is something I have to see to believe." Elijah laughed loudly, causing everyone at the table to join him.

"You say that like I'm a prude," I scoffed while stuffing a steak fry into my mouth.

"Not even. You're just so...reserved," he tried to save himself.

"Nah, Marley gets it in when it comes to karaoke. Can't sing her way out of a paper bag but she puts on a show." I guess that was Moriah's way of taking up for me.

"You both suck and neither of you are invited." I pouted.

"Nah, we're coming for real now." Moriah laughed at me.

"I'll watch Bella for you Eli," Miracle offered, causing me to shoot her a look that could kill if only I had the ability.

"I need the extra cash Aunti." She giggled.

"You're all on my list," I said, pointing at everyone at the table besides Isabella.

"I'm just here Aunt." MJ chuckled while holding his hands up in surrender.

"Oh, you know why you're on my list," I countered, trying to hold my laugh in.

We sat in the dining room and enjoyed each other's company for at least another 30 minutes. Micah disappeared to his room and Miracle ended up taking Bella to her room to watch Disney channel. I knew that Miracle would grow attached to Isabella. Before Diana passed away, she actually ended up pregnant again; unfortunately, we knew this baby wouldn't make it. Diana wasn't even supposed to give birth to Miracle, they figured that since the cancer was gone, she would be in the clear to at least try again—a big family was all Diana wanted. Unfortunately, not even two weeks after finding out the sex of the baby, Diana miscarried. Almost as if to add insult to injury, she passed away a year later.

In a way Elijah and Bella were healing me, Miracle and MJ without even knowing, and he claimed that I was the blessing.

"Aight y'all, I'm out. About to meet up with the homies, so we can hit up this lil kick back on the north side," Micah announced while entering the living room where me, Moriah and Elijah sat watching Step Brothers.

"Wait, a party you never told me about." I looked over at him through squinted eyes.

"Chill Aunt, it's a kickback, not a party," Micah stressed.

"Is that code for house party or something MJ? Look, all I know is you better not get into no shit while you're out," I warned him.

"I'm good Aunt. I'm always good." He smirked while kissing my forehead.

"I'll see y'all later," he said after dapping Eli and Moriah up.

"You really gotta chill on him Mar," Moriah spoke up once MJ left the house.

"I just want him to be safe at all times. Is that a crime?" I whined; I couldn't help but place my attention on the window, so I could watch MJ pull out of the driveway.

"He's a good kid. His friends are good kids too. I can understand why you worry but he's smart and he'll be okay," Elijah assured me from the other end of the couch.

"Exactly!" Moriah cosigned.

I let out an exaggerated sigh before getting up from the couch. "I guess you're both right. I'm going to check on the girls and then I'm going to get ready," I told them, looking down at my watch.

"I should do the same. I'll grab some stuff for Izzy too, so she doesn't drive Miracle crazy while we're out." Elijah smiled while standing up from his seat.

"I'ma head out too. Hey, is it cool if I bring a lady friend with me?" Moriah asked while wiggling his eyebrows.

"Eww." I giggled. "Yes, but you know how Lola is so just prepare the girl before we get there," I warned as I held the front door open for them.

Once they were gone, I grabbed the panda and headed to Miracle's room to check on her and Bella. After making sure they were good, I went to my room. I sat the panda down on my bed and found myself staring at it for a minute too long. I couldn't help but think about the remarks from Lola and MJ today about Elijah possibly feeling me. I mean, he did make it clear he found me attractive, the first day we met but I still had a hard time believing that he wanted anything more than a friendship from me. Then again, I didn't know what was going on in that man's head. I just hoped his actions were genuine and not just to get what he wanted from me.