Scars. |✔️|

Chapter 31: Family

Thursday, August 1
Los Angeles, CA
7:09 PM

James.

The past few days have consisted of work and slowly rebuilding my relationship with Aaliyah. I'm glad she finally forgave me because even though it was only like three days, it felt like forever.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

I get up from my comfortable position, which was difficult to accomplish, and walk to the front door. I open up the front door to see Aaliyah standing with a ton of stuff in her hands and a sad, tired look on her face. I pull everything out of her arms and sit it down on the kitchen counter. She stays standing in the doorway, until I kiss her forehead and pull her into a hug.

"Long day?" I ask, closing the front door.

"You have no idea," she groans as she falls onto my couch. "All I wanna do is sleep."

"Then go to sleep, baby."

"But I can't. I still have some work to catch up on, then Kenzie wants me to read over something she wrote, AND you said that you wanted to ask me something. So... sleep isn't really an option at the moment."

I love how hardworking she is. That's one of the first things that made me want to be with her. I mean the girl would finish a 500 page book in two days. From day one she never let anyone get in the way of her work. But sometimes she goes a little too far and I have to stop her before she goes.

"Well, you can do all that stuff tomorrow, but I do need to ask you something," I grin, showing my pearly white teeth.

"What's up?" she says, tilting her head.

"My mother is getting better. They say that the chemo is killing the cancer quicker than it was before. The doctor thinks with some more sessions, they can make it more manageable for her, " I say. "And since I haven't seen her in a long time, I'm going to go up to Bakersfield tomorrow after work to see her. I want you to come with me."

"James, that's amazing! But you want me to come with you?"

"I do. Will you?"

"Of course I will!" she says, jumping up and down like a little kid.

As she sits up, she jumps on lap and pulls me into a hug.

"Well, I'm glad you're excited about it," I chuckle, as she squeezes my neck.

"I really am," she yawns out.

"Go get some sleep. I'll be there in a minute, I have to call my sister and tell her we'll be there tomorrow."

"Wait, wait, wait. I thought your sister lived in Florida with her family," she says, as the light slowly leaves her eyes.

"She does, but they're coming to California to check on my mom. Plus my dad wants us all to come up and have some 'family time'."

"So, your dad is going to be there too?"

"Yeah, are you okay with that?"

"Yeah it's fine. It's just... I don't have the best track record with dads," she shrugs.

Damn, she's never seen a father figure being a good person. The only father she's ever seen was an abusive, alcoholic man who was incapable of loving anyone. But I really want her to know that my father isn't like that at all. He's a loving man who would take a bullet for you even if you didn't know him. That man is my hero. He always has been.