Maya moves to New Orleans to start a fresh after her parents' death. She stumbles across her neighbour, August, and falls head over heals for him. How will they cope with the losses they will endure and the obstacles they will face? Will she really...
Moving from my home in London over 4000 miles to angry New Orleans was quite the journey. Being raised in the Uk as a Spanish girl with a black daddy, I didn't really fit in well- i guess June,Quincy,AJ and Omar didn't really help with that. Having 4 older brothers that everyone in your city either was afraid of or wanted to fight, didn't make it very easy to make friends- nonetheless, it was my home.
I was not as clueless as they thought I would be. I assume as a 7 year old they thought I'd be completely oblivious to the most life changing event of my life. Much to my despair, I wasn't.
June did a good job though, at only 17 he took care of all of us much earlier than he was legally permitted to, and my self centred aunt was all the more overjoyed that she didn't have to take care of her older sister's out of wed-lock, orphaned children-hence why she complied so effortlessly with the lie we told the state. June did everything for us, from working 2 jobs whilst at school, to making sure we were happy. It isn't a cliche "we had nothing" story, we inherited a great sum of money and we put it to good use. It was hard, but we made it work- from participating in "normal" family activities , to expressing our Caucasian genes when we bought our dog,hunter. We even got in touch with our grandma- who despite their argument was all too overjoyed to see us well and healthy. She would often cry too- realising her biggest mistake when it was too late.
I met august the day we moved in. I was sitting on the front porch overthinking every possible solution to my unsolvable problem at hand, when the smell of fresh- baked cookies entered my nose. It was the first time in years I'd smelled something this good... they smelled like mama's cooking so I was immodestly incised. Looking up, I locked eyes with a beautiful older woman, possibly in her early forties holding the plate of childhood memories.
"Hello baby, I'm Sheila, the neighbour, would you like one?"
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All I remember was jumping to my feet and embracing her, clinging to her as if she were getting carried off by a bird, and crying.i dont know why I did it really. It was the first time crying since the incident and it felt so good, like I'd known Sheila for my entire life. I knew from then on I'd love her unconditionally.
The next few moments were filled with apologies from June, followed by a "Young boy, what a silly thing to say! Come on, there's lots more where this came from" she stated referring to the plate of cookies spewed onto the pavement from my attack.
"Where are you from honey?" She asked Quincy politely, with a quizzical look on her beautiful face, as if she were trying to figure it out herself. "London ma'am" he said with a smile. "Oh please, no "ma'am" necessary baby, I'm not that old yet. But oh heavens, I could tell by your accent.Must be wonderful over there I'd love to go" not knowing what to say, Quincy just smiled at her, his award winning smile. We entered her house, lit with beautiful candles, as we sat down on her beautiful mahogany dining table.
"Calvin, Melvin, Aug.. where is august?" She sighed, as Melvin let out a small chuckle, his pearly teeth bouncing off of every reflective surface and his beautiful face curved upwards, amusement dancing on his features. He was the epitome of true beauty- an angel.
"I'm here mamma, I'm here mamma" a boy said, zooming through the room sitting next to me. "August you lucky this time, don't make me whoop your ass" she said with amusement , causing the room to erupt in light laughter.
"As you can see this is august, and avens the baby" she said, earning a sigh of defeat from an embarrassed aven, who couldn't possibly have been even 2 years august'a junior.
"Thank you for welcoming us into your home, Sheila" thanked Quincy gracefully, that was his specialty , he was the nicest person I'd ever met. "I'm Quincy, this is Omar,AJ and Maya" he said, before nodding his head towards June.
"That's June, he takes care of us, he's our guardian" he said with a proud smile, causing us all to mirror his expression- he was infectious in that way.
