I really could not bring myself to understand why on earth, my father thought I was incapable of taking care of myself. It's not like he and mother were mostly present in my life when I was growing up. They were always busy with work, and when we had time together as a family they would either argue or just ignore each other like we were not in the same room, scrolling on their phones.
When I turned fourteen, they both decided to get a divorce and my father won sole custody and my mother got visitation rights- though I'm not sure, she really needed it since she never bothered to visit. But it was all good, I didn't really care much either way. We spoke occasionally on the phone, maybe once every three months, and on my birthdays she made sure I was delivered a birthday present. At least she tried sometimes, they were often trendy designer stuff that a regular teenage girl would love.
Anyways, now I was eighteen and legally an adult. I could take care of myself, but my dad thought otherwise. This was the reason why he was currently shipping me off to Aunty Elodie's house. He had many business trips scheduled for this year, so he would rarely be home, more than usual. He thought I would spiral out of control without his tutelage and guidance so I needed a strong parental figure in my life to guide me whilst he wasn't there, and that happened to be Aunt Elodie.
Aunt Elodie lived in the suburbs of California, North Berkeley. It was a cute and pretty safe area and that was precisely what my father loved about it. I could not get into any trouble and I would not mingle with the "wrong crowd" like I did back home in Atlanta. I would continue to be his loving innocent princess.
"Dad don't you think I will be intruding on Aunt Elodie and Uncle Tim if I move in with them. They already have enough on their plate with four children."
"I have already spoken with them, and they are perfectly okay with it. As a matter of fact, they are more than happy to have you since they haven't seen you since you in a long while."
"But dad, I don't want to live with them! I want my own space, it doesn't even have to be far from their house, it could be nearby and they couldt just randomly pop up to check on me."
"Enough Theresa. There is enough space in Elodie's house to accommodate you and your tantrums and I'm a hundred percent sure they will give you all the privacy you need when you get there."
"Sure, how about Baby Blue? When will she get here?"
"She is already here. Tim is taking care of some paper work and making some repairs at the auto repair shop. Just ask him when we get there." Before I could get another word out, my father received a call from his secretary Loren.
I had a feeling he was also sending me away because he wanted to spend more time with Loren without my presence. I hated Loren, she was only using dad for his money and he could not see that. But that was none of my tbusiness, so I just shut my mouth and went back to listening Kehlani.
"Wake up, sleeping beauty. We are here." My dad said, tapping me to wake me up. I don't know how long I slept for but my shoulder muscles felt tense and my vision was blurred.
"I'm awake." I rubbed my eyes trying to wake myself up from my long nap. This place was prettier than I expected. It looked straight out of a movie. The bungalows were lined up in a nice orderly fashion and had nicely mowed lawns with a white wooden fence. I could see little kids playing around outside smiling and laughing, it was honestly a pretty cute sight to see. There were also the cute little cafes and shopping outlets. Something was telling me a I might really end up loving this place.
As we passed the town area, we approached a more secluded area with large oak trees and pretty fields. Right up ahead, there was a large white cape cod style building. There was a beautiful flower garden right beside the house, and a white gazebo with a nicely decorated seating area.
We pulled up right in front of the house, and my dad honked twice. I guess this must be Aunt Elodie's house. A blonde haired woman who looked to be in her early thirties soon walked out of the house with a huge smile on her face. Her cheeks were a bit rosy, probably from the cold weather. Aunt Elodie really had barely aged a day since her high school days with my father. I had seen their yearbook photos.
"Aisha!" She said running up to me and giving me a hug. She smelled like cinnamon, vanilla and sugar, my favorite scent.
"Hey, Aunt Elodie." I said to her. She was such a warm and nice person, it was hard to dislike her. When I was younger, she used to visit us in Atlanta a lot, since she owned a bakery a cafe there. She would always bring me some baked goodies and charms for my bracelets.
"You have grown a lot, since I last saw you! How tall are you now ten foot? No doubt, you took your mother's height. And your cheeks look so cute and chubby." I was not ten foot, I was six foot three. I always felt insecure when someone talked about my height, or made any reference to how chubby I was. But, I know she did not mean it any bad way.
"Yeah, you haven't aged a day too Aunt Elodie." She grinned and smiled,
"Oh please, the wrinkles at the corner of my eyes say otherwise. The little gremlins in that house are the reason behind these wrinkles. They stress me out way too much!" She sighed being dramatic and leaning her hand on her forehead.
"It's nice to see you too Elodie." My dad said.
"Oh, my goodness. I forgot all about you Peter." Said Aunt Elodie. She knew my dad hated being ignored, but she always did it to piss him off.
"Your sense of humor never ceases to amaze me." My dad chuckled and went ahead to open the trunk of the car.
"Let me call the boys to come and help you with that. Carter! Cole! Tyrone! Come down this instant!"
Three skyscapers walked out of the building, they were taller than me. I recognized two of them as Aunt Elodie's sons. Carter and Cole were twins but were the least bit identical. Cole took on his mother's features, with his curly blonde hair and honey brown eyes. Carter on the other hand took on Uncle Tim's hard features, like his strong chiseled jaw line, his dark brown hair and dark black eyes. They looked so different.
Then there was the other boy Tyrone, I didn't recognize him. I was guessing he was not related to them because he was black, and as far as I was concerned Aunt Elodie and Uncle Tim had zero melanin.