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ChapterTen
Lila
After dropping Maddie off at school and signing the papers to allow Hollis to be able to drop her off and pick her up, we go back to my place. My landlord lives in the building next door to our triplex, so we’re going to go talk to him in person. My lease has been month-to-month for a while now. But my landlord is good people. It’s him, his wife and their two kids. They’ve never raised our rent during the whole two years that we’ve been living here. Part of me is sad to leave this place. When my siblings and I moved out of the house we grew up in, we found this triplex. We’ve never lived apart from each other. But knowing that Hollis wants us makes me feel like I’m on top of the world.
Hollis comes around and opens my door. He takes my hand—I love the little things he does for me. We head to my landlord’s apartment and knock on his door.
“Lila!” Martin says as he gives me a hug.
“Hi, Martin. This is my boyfriend, Hollis,” I say as I hug him back.
“Nice to meet you, Hollis,” he says. As they shake hands, he takes a second to look at the patches on the front of Hollis’ cut. “Cimaruta, huh?”
“Yes sir. Nice to meet you too,” Hollis says.
“Martin! Where are your manners? Come in,” Maria, Martin’s wife, says as she pushes him out of the way.
We laugh and follow them inside.
“Is everything okay, Lila?” Maria asks me.
“Everything’s great. I wanted to come and talk to you because Hollis asked me to move in with him. So I’ll be moving out as soon as possible.”
Martin is still staring at Hollis. I’m guessing it's because of his cut? I wish he would stop.
“This is really sudden, are you sure?” Martin asks, and Maria slaps his arm.
“I appreciate everything you both have done for me, and for Maddie. But I’m sure.” I smile at them as Hollis takes my hand.
“I’ll take good care of my girls,” Hollis says.
I can see the hard look on Maria’s face softening. It’s like she’s seeing Hollis as I see him. The handsome, protective man who would do anything for Maddie and me.
“Youbettertake good care of them. They’re good girls and deserve only the best,” Maria says to Hollis.
“I couldn’t agree more. We should get going, we have a lot to do today.”
I nod at Hollis and give Maria and Martin another hug. Hollis shakes Martin’s hand and Maria pulls him in for a hug.
“You bring Maddie over so we can say a proper goodbye. And I know the kids will want to see you too.” Maria smiles.
“I’ll bring her by before we’re done moving.”
We head up to my apartment and I see the guys from the MC waiting. I look at Hollis and he smiles at me.
“I told you they’d be here to help.”
I laugh at all of them. “Thank you so much for helping us.”
They each give me a hug and say that this is what families do. It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy.
Everyone gets to work packing up my apartment. I don’t have much—we’ve never had the money to buy a lot of things. I’ve always made sure Maddie had everything she needed, but the extras were saved for birthdays and Christmas.
Hollis
My brothers have gotten almost everything moved out of Lila’s place. She doesn’t really have much and I plan to remedy that. My girls are going to have everything they want, not just things they need. I’ll make sure of that.
“Cupcake, it’s time to get our girl. Do you want to keep working and I’ll go get her?” I ask Lila.
