"My tinka!" Karis exclaimed as she repeatedly kissed Cali's cheeks. "I missed you so much, baby."
Cali smiled. "I missed you too, mommy."
"My dawg came back home to Memphis!" Tristan said as he approached Cali to give her a hug. "I missed you, tink!"
"I missed you too, dude." Cali replied, returning his hug.
"Go ahead and rest, baby. Zuri, Malik, and LJ are coming over in a few hours." Karis said and Cali did as told. "Tristan, go see if daddy needs help with Cali's luggage."
"I got it. Just take it to her room." Taylor said as he walked in with Cali's Nike duffle bag.
"That's all she brought?" Karis asked.
Taylor nodded as he handed the bag over to Tristan. "Yeah, she said she still had plenty of clothes here."
"Tristan, move before I fuck you up!" They heard Cali yell from upstairs.
"Hey, watch your mouth!" Taylor yelled back. "T, get back down here and leave your sister alone!"
Tristan ran down the stairs as he laughed. He missed being a pain to his sisters. Schoolwork and basketball had him tied up so he was making up for time starting with Cali.
"Don't be harassing your sisters this week, Tristan." Karis told her son.
Tristan grabbed Karis' face and kissed her forehead. "No promises, mama dearest."
-
Tristan threw punches in the air close to Zuri's face as she diced a bell pepper. Zuri simply ignored her little brother as she continued helping Karis in the kitchen.
"Tristan, get out of my kitchen with all that!" Karis fussed.
Tristan walked out of the kitchen and went into the living room where Cali was building legos and watching television with LJ. "Where's daddy and Malik?" He asked.
"Umm, I don't know. Probably in the man cave watching some basketball." Cali replied.
"Uncle T, look." LJ said as he showed Tristan what he built with his legos.
"That's nice, LJ. Can you build me a house?" Tristan said.
"A small house?" LJ offered.
Tristan chuckled. "Sure, a small house will do. I'll be back though. I'm about to go see if they're watching the game."
"Come back in four minutes." LJ said, making both Cali and Tristan laugh as he exited the living room and went towards the stairs.
Cali's phone began to ring, indicating a FaceTime call from Jonah. "Hey." She said once she answered.
"I told you to call me when you got home." Jonah said with a mug on his face.
Cali giggled. "I'm sorry. I forgot."
"Yeah, yeah. What you doing?" He asked.
"Playing with my nephew. What you doing?"
"Just finished packing." Jonah replied. "So, about Friday—you sure your parents cool with that?"
"I told you they're the ones who invited you." Cali said.
"I just don't want to overstep—especially when it comes to Zuri." Jonah said with concern written all over his face.
"Pumpkin is excited to meet you. Her issues are with everyone else—not you. We were just babies when everything happened." Cali assured him.
"I trust you what you're saying, but—"
