Couple days later....

Today, is the day that Craig leaves. And as he promised he's giving us the house and after I told him I lost my job, he also promised to send me money to pay the bills. Isn't he so sweet?

"Aight! Y'all ready?" He asks pulling down his suitcase. We're going to see him off. "Yeah" Troy and I say in unison. I ruffle Troy's hair smiling at him.

"Mommy, you're messing up my hair! I have to look good for the l-" he cuts himself off while I raise my eyebrow "For myself" he smiles goofly before walking over to Craig. Him and Craig laugh at the joke that obviously made no sense.

We get in the car and drive off to the airport. Yep, no Ariana; she's too busy to even see her boyfriend off. I have a feeling she's up to something but you know, my instincts always get the best of me.

We arrive at the airport and Craig checks in his stuff while Troy and I sit waiting patiently.

He walks over to us and smiles"Turns out I'm boarding in five minutes"

"Oh" I look down, cause I thought we'd get to spend a couple minutes with him before he leaves.

"Lighten up" he says lifting my chin up smiling like an angel. He goes down to Troy's level.

"Bye Troy, I'll miss you so much" Craig hugs him and I could see Troy crying a little.

"I'll miss you too, bye daddy-" my heart started to race, did he just call Craig...daddy? I start to bit my lip; something I do when I'm nervous. Craig pulls out the hug and looks at Troy with a glad yet shocked expression "I mean uncle Craig. I'm sorry it was an accident I didn't mean-" he starts to talk extremely fast.

"It's okay Troy clam down" Troy gives a small smile. Craig gets up and gives me a hug.

"Bye Janelle imma actually miss you and your horrible cooking" he smiles chuckling a little, I give him a little smile. What Troy said still had me shocked in so many ways. What if...

"Janelle?"

"Huh?...Oh um imma miss you too Craig" I give him a tight hug, he pecks my lips and smirks at me before walking away, not allowing me to ask any questions. I smile before shaking my head and grabbing Troy's hand.

"I'm sorry momma, I didn't mean to bring up daddy" I nod feeling guilt spread over me, Troy has asked me many times where his father is and I told him that he was dead.

I drive back to the house my heart heavy of fear, hurt and guilt. I lied to my son.

As we arrive home, a beautiful dark-skinned women with a daughter walk to the front porch of the house beside ours. I open the door of the and smile at her.

"Hey, did you just move in here?" She smiles with the whitest teeth I've ever seen.

"Nah, my momma lives here"

"Oh. I'm Janelle by the way, Janelle Hughes and this is my son Troy" she smiles at Troy while his attention is to her daughter. She chuckles.

"I'm Selena Francais and my daughter here is Maya" I smile at the little girl "Hi cutie" she waves and hides behind her mom.

"Well if you need anything, I'm next door" I round up

"Alright, would you like to come over for dinner?"

"Sure what time?"

"6:00"

"Okay" I smile once more before heading into the house.
____

It's 5:30pm and I'm confused on what to wear, I don't want to be too fancy or too causal. I've been searching for what to wear since 4:30 pm.

"Mommy are you ready yet?"

"I'm coming" I decide to put myself in a pencil skirt and a spaghetti strapped cropped top with sandals and my hair down.

I came down the stairs and Troy leaps from the couch and we head to the house.

I ring the doorbell and an old lady that looks around 65 years old opens the door. "Troy how are you baby?"

"I'm good, Ms.Francais"

"How do you know her Troy?" I let out a nervous giggle "I watched him when you and Craig went out" she smiles warmly

"Oh that was you, thank you very much" she nods and allows us in where Selena is setting the table.

"Hey, your right on time" she smiles, Mrs. Francais puts the bowls on the table while we all gather to the table and close our eyes for prayers.

"Lord, Jesus we want to thank you for the meal you have provided, for not allowing us to beg for food lord I worship your name. Lord bless this food in Jesus name-"

"Ame-" I open one eye and look over at Selena who was trying not to laugh and I couldn't blame her, her mother sounded like Madea at the moment.

"-Lord have your way in our lives, bless this family oh father. Send your angels to guide and protect us in all our doings. Send down your peace that passes every understanding in our lives oh lord. Father, I call upon you tonight. Have your way in, Jesus mighty name I pray"

"A-amen" I stutter kinda shock, I didn't know that praying over a meal would take that long or be that serious. Mrs. Francais digs into her food like nothing  happened. Wow.

*

After dinner, Troy and Maya go play in the backyard while Selena and I sit on the couch watching TV and Mrs.Francais goes on a walk.

"So tell me about yourself. What do you do for a living? How old are you? you know" Selena asks

"Well...I recently lost my job, I was working in Walmart, I'm 21 and I'm schooling well kinda"

"Oh, well I'm 23 and um..I'm a stripper" she say nervously closing her eyes, my eyes grew "Really?"

"I'm not proud of it believe me. But whatever puts food on the table right?" She shrugs

"Does your mom know?"

"Of course not, she's not even happy that I had Maya. The church people had to talk her into forgiving me" she looks down

"Where's Maya's dad?"

"He dead in a shot out, but he was never there for us. He use to abuse me through my pregnancy" she smiles bitterly "I'm so sorry to hear" I rub her shoulder. This makes me think of  how much better of a man Craig is. At least he tried to care.

"So what about you?" She brightens up a little bit. "My mom kicked me out, I lived on the street-" I shook my head bitterly "And how I made it this far is by his grace." She gives me a weak smile.

"How about I help you?" I look up to her, for her to continue.

"How about I take you to the club tomorrow and you know you become a stripper." My eyes grew... Me a stripper? Nah...

"What about Troy?"

"We can leave them here just for tomorrow and when you start making money, you can hire a babysitter. Plus it's not always going to be you. You'll have time to spend with Troy"

I dunno about this. But then again I can't allow Craig to be the only one  taking care of me and Troy.  That would make me useless. My grandma use to say 'a woman who is strong on her own, always gains respect' I don't want it to look like I'm weak, just cause the guys are here for me.

"Aight, what time?"

"9:00"

"Alright then it's done" I shake her hand like a business person while she  giggles.

This might just be fun.