Tell Me You Love Me [COMPLETED]

Chapter 47: Making Moves

Saturday July 25, 2020 - Tampa, Florida

12:30 PM

Aesha POV

"Ugh, cleaning up's gonna take forever!" I groan to no one in particular as I'm surrounded by Joe, Raul, Jameson, Galina, and Joelle, Jonathan and Junior over at Joe's mom's house again.
"C'mon girl, we're all here for you. Between all of us, your store will be up and running again in no time." Galina says rubbing my back.
"Yeah, Eshie, we can do this, all of us together." Joelle says standing beside me.
"You really don't have to do this, though. I'll whine and moan about this but I should take care of this."
"No, Eshie, you shouldn't, not alone. We love you and we wanna help, end of story."

I laugh and shake my head as Joelle stands there with her arms crossed and I pull her into a hug.

"Oh, my lovely little NibNib, I love you so much. I love you too, G. Thank you for being here for me, no matter how hard I try to push you away." I say and pull Galina into the hug.
"That's what family does. We've only known you since December but you've already done so much for us; you helped Joelle through her anxiety, helped me with the twins, listened to me rant and gave me advice whenever I asked for it. Aesh, you just fit in with us, you're such a bright and loving soul and we didn't truly know how much you meant to us until we almost lost you. We love you Aesh, you're like family because you are family now, and we're gonna do everything we can to help you because that's what family is supposed to do."

Whoa, where did these tears come from?

I hang my head and continue to hug my two favorite girls, tears slowly falling from my face. After a few moments, I lift my head and give them a bright smile, the best one I could through my tears of joy.

"Y'all are too much for me." I laugh out.
"But you're perfect for us, Eshie." Joelle says hugging me again and I seriously don't know how much more of these emotions I can take.
"Alright, girls, break it up, stop making my girlfriend cry; we don't need this place flooding with her tears, too." Joe says walking over to pull me into his side and I throw my head back and laugh and wipe my face with his shirt.
"You're dumb. I do appreciate all that though. Thank you both for always lifting me up; I don't know how I'll ever repay you."
"Make sure we're your bridesmaids." Galina says.
"Yeah, I'm too old to be the flower girl now; I'm bridesmaid status now." Joelle adds in flipping her hair and Joe flicks her nose and rolls his eyes.
"Get back to work." I say with a chuckle and Joe leans down to kiss my cheek briefly.

After a few more minutes, Joe's phone rings and he checks the caller ID.

"Babe, I gotta take this. Gimme ten minutes?"
"No problem, go handle your shit."
"I'll be back ASAP. Okay? Oute alofa ia oe."
"Ou te alofa foi ia te oe, pepe."

We share a quick kiss before he jogs outside to take his phone call.

"Ra, I'll be back in a few, I gotta make a call, too."
"Aight, BooSha, I gotchu."

I pat his shoulder and shuffle into my workroom, locking the door behind me, sitting at my desk, and dialing a number on the burner phone that I have stored in one of the drawers now.

"Yo."
"Aye, it's me. You got anything on him yet?"
"Sure do, girl."
"Aight, whatchu got?"
"He's in New Mexico, for one thing."
"Hm...New Mexico, I think I know what he may be doin' there. Tell me whatchu know first."
"Okay, hope you're takin' notes. Aight, so check it..."

Here's a little life lesson for you guys: there will be many times in life where who you know is just as important as what you know, sometimes it's even more important, so be nice to people because you never know when they'll come in handy.