Page 61 of Mia

She kissed my hand and turned to make herself a bowl of chicken and dumplings. I sat there for a second, taking in our conversation. I’d been thinking a lot about all the advice given to me over the last month, most of which was valid. It was time to stop thinking about it and apply it.

Ipulled into my parent’s driveway and shut off my truck. I’d finally gotten it back and fully restored from the shootout. It wasn’t too bad, but I did have the dings from the bullets fixed and got a fresh paint job. It felt good to have it back on the road. While I loved my cars, this was my baby.

I noticed my aunt and cousins were here, which wasn’t out of the ordinary. She and my mom were close, and my cousins and I hung out regularly. Stepping out of the truck, I closed the door and headed up to the front door. Before I could reach for the knob, the door opened, and my father stood there with a smile on his face and a Pitbull puppy in his arms.

“Hey, son.”

“What up, Pop? Who’s this lil’ nigga?” I asked, scratching the dog’s head.

“This is Bleu. Found her sniffing around the front yard a few weeks ago, no tag or anything. Poor thing looked all emaciated and shit. We’ve been feeding and taking care of her.”

“Not y’all adopting a stray.”

“Look at her,” he said, holding Bleu up. “How could we say no to that face?”

The puppy was cute as shit and friendly. She’d been laying comfortably in Pops arms, but the minute she saw me, she’d been trying to get to me. I picked her up and held her against my chest where she tried to lick my face.

“None of that shit,” I said. “Niggas don’t do all that face licking shit.”

Pops chuckled as he pulled me in for a hug and a slap on the back.

“You look good.”

“I’m a handsome muhfucka. I always look good.”

He grinned and mushed my head. “Cocky bastard. For real though, you look better than you have since I’ve seen you.”

“I’m holding up, Pop.”

He nodded and allowed me to come in. My mother was seated on the couch in the living room, knitting and chatting with my aunt. When she saw me, she smiled.

“Hey, baby,” she said as I leaned in to kiss her cheek.

“’Sup, Ma?” I moved to my aunt Michelle. “’Sup, auntie?”

“Hey honey. It’s good to see you.”

“Good to be seen.”

“I’m happy to see your face,” my mother said. “I see you met Bleu Baby.”

“You attached to this dog too?”

“Not attached, but she’s adorable, aren’t you Bleu Bleu.” She reached out and scratched behind Bleu’s ears. “I thought I was going to have to pull up on you. You know I don’t play about not hearing from you, Titan Ahmad.”

“I know, Ma,” I said as I took a seat on the loveseat with Bleu in my lap.

“How’s my daughter-in-law?”

“Speaking of!” my aunt said. “I was waiting to bring it up, but how the hell did you get married and not tell us! I wish my boys would.”

My cousins appeared in the entryway of the kitchen, smacking on one of my mama’s famous eggrolls. She made a mean oxtail eggroll and the way they were fucking it up, I knew that’s what it was.

“You ain’t ever gotta worry about that, Ma,” Emmon said. “Nobody is about to lock me down like that. The only one you might have to side eye is East’s ol lover boy ass.”

East glared at him. “Shut up, nigga. Not everybody wants to be a ho their whole life.”

Elum chuckled. “It ain’t so bad.”