Chapter Forty-One; Skiing Vs. Samoans
"Okay, I hope you guys are ready for today's activity," Laniyah said as everyone gathered in the living room.
"What are we doing today?" Joelle asked.
Laniyah clapped her hands and squealed. "We will be skiing," Laniyah answered.
There were mixed reactions from everyone to Laniyah's announcement of today's activity. Joe hid his face and balled a fist in his mouth to keep him from laughing out loud. He told Laniyah that no one would be on board with skiing but she wouldn't listen to him.
Laniyah rolled her eyes. "You know what..." Laniyah paused before kissing her teeth. "If you want to go skiing then raise your hands and everyone else can do whatever they want because I don't care anymore," Laniyah said.
Laniyah started ranting about how ungrateful everyone was being then she started getting emotional. Everyone was shocked and silenced as Laniyah's emotions were like a roller coaster.
"Laniyah," Joe said, trying to get her to stop crying.
"Whatever, my crew let's go," Laniyah said, wiping her tears.
After that, Laniyah takes Joe, the kids, and everyone else who wanted to ski with her to get snow gears and equipment. Then they hit the slopes. Laniyah rides with the boys since she has the most experience with skiing while Joe goes with Joelle.
Joe says the air is so crisp and he has a new-found respect for the outdoors. He's all excited and is appreciating life. He then takes a ride with Laniyah on the sled. Laniyah laughs at his antics.
They enjoyed an afternoon of skiing and sleding before returning to the house. Laniyah apologizes for her outburst of emotions earlier that day and she said that she wanted them to do this family trip to make sure they all stay close and try new things.
To change the mood, Jacob says he wants to play Pictionary and mostly everyone is in. Then they decide to play charades. Later, they play charades. They team up to play for who will be responsible for cooking tonight. The loser team has to cook for everyone tonight. Each team gets one right. Laniyah goes next. Jon is next. He couldn't do Black Panther. Jon's team lost and had to cook dinner. Trinity says Jon has to suck it up.
Next day, Joe is ready to go skiing again but this time alone with Laniyah. Joe takes Laniyah to a tram that goes to the top of the mountain. They head way up high on a tram to the highest peak on the mountain. They take five trams to go up so high on the mountain and both of them are on snowboards. They get off the tram and ski down to a lower course. Joe goes tumbling while they laugh.
Later, Joe and Laniyah have a romantic dinner where Joe points that Laniyah has been emotional about everything lately.
Laniyah shrugged. "Maybe I need to go back to therapy," Laniyah said.
"I'm your husband, Laniyah, if something is bothering you, you should tell me so I can help you," Joe said.
Laniyah says it's difficult to sort through all her issues and relive the past.
"I'm here for you, baby, I hope you know that," Joe responds with a smile.
Laniyah nodded. "I know, once I figure it out, I'll let you know," Laniyah said.
Joe changes the subject and says it's hard to travel as their family gets larger so it's nice that they're all there together.
Laniyah smiled. "I feel the same way," Laniyah said.
Joe pulls out a cool Polaroid instant camera and they take pictures.
Back at the house, London plays pool with Matthew, Tamar and Juaquin. "I think Laniyah's ass is pregnant again and that's her emotions are a mess," London said.
"Yeah, I think so too but I didn't want to say anything about it because I didn't want her to blow up on me," Tamar said.
"If she's pregnant again then we need to force either one of them to get neutered," Juaquin said, jokingly.
Matthew laughed. "What are you laughing for?" London asked her husband.
"What? They need to stop being fertile," Matthew replied.
"So do you," London said.
Matthew raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean by that?" Matthew asked.
"Congratulations, Daddy," London answered as she pulled out a positive pregnancy test and handed it to Matthew.
Matthew gasped.
"Oh shit," Tamar said.