Taraji Henson
"Zi!"
Here I was again, struggling to wake Zion up for practice again because she insisted on going to bed at midnight, every night.
Zi just groaned and shrugged me off. "Come on Zi, you do this every morning."
After she finally had gotten enough of me shaking her, she rose up rubbing her eyes.
I made my way to Dallas' room. Waking him up was much easier. He rose up from his bed, making his way to his bathroom. "Good Morning, Ms. Taraji." He mumbled groggily.
It's been about a month since I've moved in with Ms. Barrino and her kids. Well really just her kids because I rarely see Fantasia. The only time I see her is when I go downstairs in the morning to fix coffee after I've woken up Zi and Dallas. Even then, the most we say is Good Morning and then we go our separate ways until dinner or sometimes even until the next morning.
And this morning was no different. I ambled downstairs and headed to the kitchen.
I rounded the corner and Ms. Barrino sat in the bar stool with glasses on and her nose in files from what I'm assuming is a current case.
"Good Morning, Taraji" She spoke placing the manila folder on the island while I went to the cupboard to get a mug.
"Morning, Ms. Barrino" I mumbled, not really in a good mood.
She eyed me as I poured the coffee into my cup, I knew she was trying to figure out why I was down.
That's what I've figured out while living here in the time i've spent here , Fantasia is big on making sure everyone is okay. I noticed it with her children first, and today it's with me.
I could see her getting ready to ask me if I was feeling alright, but a cry echoed across the house from up stairs before she could open her mouth.
Ms. Barrino got up to go check on Keziah but I stopped her.
"I'll get her, you should head to work before you're late."
Of course she protested against it and insisted that she go get Keziah.
"Ms. Barrino, isn't this what you pay me for? Now getting going before you're out of a job."
She hesitantly gathered her things and left for work.
I went up to Keziah's room and brought her down stairs to feed her a bottle.
When she was done with her bottle, Zion and Dallas came downstairs, Zi in athletic clothes and Dallas in just a regular outfit.
This is our regular routine, I wake them up, Keziah wakes up around 20 minutes later, I drop them off where they need to be and Kezzi
and I come back and chill.
We usually have about 2 hours to chill until Dallas needs to be picked up.
When we got home I laid Keziah down for her first nap of the day. I took the baby monitor and made my way to my room.
I walked my room and plopped down on the bed , sighing.
This was not what I intended for my summer.
I miss Tracie. I miss mama. And in some ways I miss school.
What was the point of coming home for the summer if I wasn't going to be home or around the people I loved.
Fantasia and her children are lovely and I love my baby Kezzi, but this is not what I came home for.
Eventually I drifted off while I was overthinking and was woken up by Keziah's cries.
I flicked my wrist, reading the time on my Apple Watch. 4:30.
