Chapter 3
A
s soon as the wheels of the plane hit the tarmac, Ellie felt the tension rise in her chest. “Lord, please let this week be good for me and my girls,” she whispered as she anxiously began to gather her things.
The plane rolled to a stop at the gate, and as soon as the pilot clicked off the seatbelt sign, she stood.
Thankfully, she had been upgraded to first class so she and her girls would be among the first to get off the plane.
“Brooklyn, get your sister. I’ll get our carry-ons,” Ellie instructed.
Wasn’t shit harder than juggling kids in the airport for a single mother. She carried Tessa’s backpack, Brooklyn’s tote, and her purse plus a wheeled carry-on. She was overheating before she even made it to the baggage claim.
“Is Daddy picking us up?” Brooklyn asked.
“He should be here,” Ellie responded.
She pulled out her phone and turned off airplane mode, before sending her estranged husband a text.
We landed. Are you here?
Maneuvering her way through the airport was hell. Funky bathrooms, impatient passengers, and crowded gates made it feel like she was navigating a maze. When she found her way to the baggage claim, she was relieved to see that the carousel was already spinning.
“Do you see your dad?” Ellie asked. She was grateful that he had agreed to pick them up. They barely had cordial conversation, but she knew he would want to see his children while they were in town.
“No, maybe he’s waiting in the car. You want me to try his phone?” Brooklyn asked.
“Yeah, I see our bags. I’m going to grab them.
Come with me, baby,” she said, grabbing Tessa’s hand.
She lugged the heavy bags off the conveyor belt with one hand as she held on tightly to Tessa with the other.
All it took was a split second for her adventurous daughter to get into mischief, so she always made sure she kept a watchful eye.
“Okay, my girl. Up here,” Ellie said, blowing out an exasperated breath as she lifted Tessa on top of the largest suitcase so she could straddle it for a ride.
Her eyes searched the crowd for Cairo, and she frowned as she went to Brooklyn. “Did you reach him?” Ellie asked impatiently.
“He says he can’t come. He got caught up at work,” Brooklyn informed.
“At work?” Ellie repeated skeptically. “If he knew he was working, why wouldn’t he just say that?” she fussed. She wheeled the baggage over to a bench. “Here, you guys, sit here. Let me make some calls.”
Ellie didn’t want to call an Uber. It was an hour drive to her parents’ home and an Uber would charge her an arm and a leg.
She could have made other arrangements if she had known Cairo was going to leave her stuck.
She blamed herself for even leaning on him for support.
As much as he had dropped the ball lately, she should have lowered her expectations.
Hoping to receive the best of someone who had already revealed the worst to her was a trait she needed to rid herself of.
She broke her own heart by believing in a man who was full of false promises.
She was almost ashamed to make the phone call for help, but she didn’t have another choice.
Ellie sighed as she scrolled through her call log and found the number.
It was to someone who had always had her back, but she knew that with this call, she would also have to offer an explanation, and she had been avoiding explaining her situation to her family for years.
She took a deep breath and placed the call.
“Yo, Loyal, I really appreciate ya support, man. You really came through for this Christmas giveaway,” Cassidy stated as he sat across from his new business partner.
“Not a lot of niggas come out the joint and land on their feet the way you have. This is commendable, bruh. Happy to be a part of it,” Loyal replied.
Cassidy nodded and lifted his cognac-filled tumbler in the air, and Loyal followed suit before they each swallowed it down.
“It’s crazy because I went in at 19. Had my whole life ahead of me.
Hoop scholarship and all. One bad decision took me down the wrong path for 23 years.
I come out and the whole city done changed.
It died, man. The shit decayed while I was gone.
I just want to bring a little life back to it,” Cassidy said.
“I feel that,” Loyal responded. “I guess that’s why I haven’t moved on from investing in a city that they say isn’t worth my time. The construction contracts are bigger in the bigger cities, of course. Detroit, Novi, and all that, but the shit here feels personal.”
“Rebuilding the block,” Cassidy stated.
“These blocks raised us, dawg. I made my first hundred grand on these streets and never looked back. I can’t abandon them now that I’m on,” Loyal stated.
“It’s good to have you out here with me, doing the work.
The cigar lounge is smooth. It’s a real grown vibe, and the giveaways you doing for Christmas for the community is commendable.
I can respect that. Most niggas just think about profit.
They don’t think about pouring back into the people that support them. ”
“That’s how you stop the wolves from entering the den, my nigga,” Cassidy answered.
Cassidy had known when he decided to open a business on the north side of the city that being robbed was a possibility, so he quickly aligned with the community.
He made money, and he gave money back. It made niggas think twice about tearing his efforts down.
He had only been open six months, but he had invested a lot in community outreach.
He was apparently doing something right because Loyal now wanted to invest.
“Real shit,” Loyal confirmed.
The ringing of his cell phone interrupted them, and Cassidy noticeably brightened at the name that illuminated his screen.
“Damn, bruh, must be nice. A woman ain’t never brightened a nigga day like that,” Loyal quipped, sporting a rare smile as he finessed his goatee.
“Mine either, this baby sis,” Cassidy chuckled as he answered the call. “What’s up, E?”
He paused as Ellie’s fussing practically bled through the phone.
“So much for brightening that day,” Loyal said, amused as he heard the woman cussing and fussing on the other end of Cassidy’s line. He couldn’t make out what she was saying, but he knew she wasn’t happy. Cassidy signaled for the waitress.
“Don’t worry about it. I’m not too far from you. I’m downtown Detroit. I’ll be there in thirty,” Cassidy stated.
He hung up and Loyal stood. “I take it we gon’ have to settle the rest of this business later,” Loyal assumed.
“Yeah, apologies. My sister just flew in, and she needs a ride from the airport,” Cassidy informed. “My pops is cooking a welcome home dinner. Why don’t you slide later, and we can finish chopping it up? It’s kind of the kickoff to Christmas season for our family.”
“Nah, I don’t want to intrude. We can pick it up after the holidays,” Loyal responded.
“No pressure, my nigga, but you know how that fiscal shit go. We need to wrap this business before the year end,” Cassidy stated.
Loyal nodded. “True that.”
“The whole neighborhood ends up at the house when the old man gets to cooking. Trust me. It’s not an intimate thing at all. I’ll text you the address. Pull up, get some food, and we can finish this up.”
“Yeah, a’ight. I’ll pull up for a minute,” Loyal answered. “Better not keep your sister waiting. She sounds like she got a little bite behind that bark. I got the tab.”
“Next one’s on me,” Cassidy stated. They slapped hands the way gentlemen from the streets usually do, and Cassidy made his exit.
Cassidy emerged from the restaurant and handed the valet his ticket.
Ellie couldn’t have called at a more inopportune time, but there would never be a day she rang his line that he wouldn’t fly to her rescue.
He hoped he hadn’t fucked up business by putting family first. Loyal owned the biggest commercial construction company in the state, and he wanted to invest in his cigar lounge, Sigaro’s.
In fact, he wanted to expand and open more locations.
They hadn’t even scratched the surface of the conversation when Ellie had called.
He pushed the old-school Cutlass to the max until he pulled up to arrivals at Detroit Metro and then pulled out his phone to call her. He got out as she emerged from the glass doors, lugging bags behind her.
“Uncle Cass!” Brooklyn shouted as she ran to him.
“Wow, look at you. Man, where my shotgun at?” he asked as he wrapped her in a hug. “My little boss ain’t so little no more.”
Brooklyn laughed at the nickname he had given her long ago.
Ellie would take her to visit him, during his bid, and every time he would see her, he would tell her that she was the little boss.
She beamed at the title back then, and even still, she wore it with pride.
It had been a while since Ellie had visited the prison, and he hadn’t seen her since he’d gotten released.
This reunion was long overdue. He hadn’t even met Tessa formally yet.
“And you must be Tessa,” he said, bending so that he was at eye level with the little angel before him. Her soft hair was styled in locs and decorated with sporadic seashells, and her skin was the warmest shade of brown he had ever seen. “You’re a princess, aren’t you?”
“I don’t think so,” Tessa giggled.
“Yeah, you are. You just don’t know it yet.
Your mom is a queen, which means you’re the princess, baby girl.
I’m your uncle, Cass. It’s so nice to finally meet you,” he said.
He held out his hand for her, and she placed her little hand in his.
He kissed her knuckles and then stood to finally receive his sister.
“They’re beautiful, E. Come over here,” he said. Ellie placed the bags down and rushed into Cassidy’s arms. “What took you so long to come home, huh? Your big bro been free almost a year, and I’m just now wrapping my arms around you.”