Ella POV

Charli had it all and to say she was a little jealous of her was an understatement. Ella Smith-Townsend envied the long-standing, loving relationship between Charli and Bryce. Twenty years of marriage.

Here she was forty-nine years old, single most of her life until she met her now husband at age thirty-five. Before that, she was a single mother doing everything she could to provide a nice life for her son.

Pregnant at eighteen, so while all her friends were going off to college, she had to stay home with her mother, take care of a baby, and try and find a job to provide for him. After working a few odd-end jobs, at fast-food places, she landed a job at a catering company as a server dishing out bland food to bored banquet attendees. Dry rubbery chicken, a few flavorless pieces of broccoli, or whatever vegetable du jour.

People paid top dollar for tasteless food. She had been cooking all her life since she was five and could stand on a chair over a stove and help her grammy or mother in the kitchen. She always cooked meals for family functions and people raved about it. Why not do it as a career?

So she started a two-year culinary program while she worked during the day with help from her mother and friends. Natalie, her best friend forever, was her rock during those times. Since she stayed in St. Louis for college, attending Webster University, she watched Trennan for her, basically raised him as her own, and took him to her classes as needed. Trennan was her shadow for those three years.

Three years because she took extra courses on how to start and run her own business. Why continue to work for someone else when she could do it on her own?

She was twenty-three when she finished, and it was then when her son's father tried to come back into the picture.

The man was smooth and was the love of her life at one point. She would have done anything for that man, but when she told him she was pregnant, he didn't skip a beat and went off to college at UCLA to play basketball. Never once did he look back at her or their son and try to help them.

Now that she was trying to make a better life for herself and her son, he wanted to come back into the picture.

"Ella, I'm sorry I wasn't man enough for my responsibilities. I was young. A kid."

"And I wasn't?"

"I know, but...you were so much better than me. I want to make things right. For you and my son."

"Our son."

"Yes, our son."

Call her a fool but she was still in love with that man. Tall, dark, and handsome, the real kind, not a damn tan or "broody and mysterious." Skin so rich and dark brown, and against his drop-your-panties smile, full of pearly white teeth, Delano Mayweather could have any woman he wanted. Standing at six three and all muscle, he was a magnificent sight. When he went after her in high school, of course, she fell for the hottest guy in school.

After all those years of him not lifting a finger to help, she still took him back.

That did not last long. She was busy getting her catering company up, working from the small apartment they shared while he worked an entry-level job in accounting. They were fine for a while, till the other women came and messed up their happy home.

No amount of love she held for him could make her stay. She could do bad on her own. So she kicked him out and moved on with her life. Delano still wanted to be a father to Trennan so she let him. That was the only privilege he had with her, being a father to their son.

So focused on her son and her business she did not have time to date nor had any interest to. But her son, on his seventeenth birthday told her he wished she would be happy and get married so that someone could take care of her after he left for college.

She knew she raised a good son, but it was not his responsibility to take care of her. She was not looking for a man. Just so happened, one found her shortly after her son's wish.

She met her now husband Lorenzo while she catered a wedding of some associates. He was in the wedding party, a groomsman, and looked dapper in his suit. Just like Delano, he was a tall, dark, and handsome man. She had a type, and he fit it. He flirted with her and she ate it all up.

He invited her out and soon, he was at her place doing all the wild things in her bedroom.

He moved into her house shortly after.

They were married a little over a year after she met him.

Her dream guy.

Or so she thought.

"I just need you to help out more around the house, that's all I'm asking. I work hard all day and night, then come home, the trash is still piled up, dishes not washed, counters are a sticky mess, food not put away, and..." She sniffed the air. "What is that smell?"

"What smell?" her husband stated, who was still sitting in his boxers, in front of their large screen TV in the basement entertainment room. Half-empty cartons of Chinese food and four empty beer bottles were on her table.

"What have you been doing all day?"

"What do you mean? I've been here."

"Looking for a job?"

He let out a loud sigh as if she said something wrong. What was wrong with asking her husband to have a job and help pay bills around the house? Work was normal for a grown man of almost fifty years old. What was his problem?

He so-called had a job, working for himself, as a graphic designer but that business mostly dried up months ago and he brought in absolutely zero income.

"I don't need a job. I have a job. Things will pick up soon."

"Yeah, okay. Meanwhile, Lorenzo, you could help out around the house since you're the one making a big mess."

"You're going to nag me all night?"

"You're going to clean up your mess? I'm not your maid, I'm your wife."

"Okay, okay!" He shot up from the couch, grabbed the empty Chinese food containers and the beer bottles, walked over to the already full trashcan spilling over, and stuffed them inside as best he could.

"There! Happy now?"

"Happier if you dumped the trash before it smelled up the whole place."

"I was going to do it Ella, but your nagging doesn't make me want to do it at all."

This negro had some nerve. She worked since she woke up at seven a.m. till she came home at seven p.m. that night and had to do a late-night shift tomorrow that would probably last until midnight. Yet, this man couldn't keep their home clean and he was there all day. But she was the nag.

She threw her hands up and walked away from him.

She wished for a husband and she got one. It wasn't always like this with Lorenzo. He worked, he made good money, and he helped her pay bills in the house she'd previously purchased on her own. He helped out with Trennan, although he was out of the house by the time they were married. Only visiting on breaks and in the summer.

Now he was a grown man with a family of his own. Married, two kids, and helped her run her business working in accounting. He took after his father and was good with numbers, so she wasn't mad at that. They worked well together and her business was booming.

Yet, she wanted to come home and relax and not have to clean up after her man.

She stripped and took a nice long shower, erasing whatever stress from the day.

"I love Lorenzo, I love Lorenzo," she repeated as she stood under the steamy water. She had to repeat it like a mantra to convince herself.

Once done, she stepped out of the shower, grabbed her towel, and wrapped it around her ample body. Thick and curvy, she loved everything about her full figure. Never one to worry about her weight. So what she had a lot of meat on her bones.

She knew she looked damn good.

Honey-colored skin, ample breasts, wide hips, and a round derrière. She mostly wore her thick hair natural in a fro or pulled back in a puff or a bun, or weave and wigs. She was versatile that way like many Black women. More importantly, dress to impress. She could dress just as fly as any skinny woman.

She slathered lotion all over her body, slipped on a cozy nightgown, secured her bonnet over her hair, then did her facial routine. She had a mud mask on her face when Lorenzo walked in and wrapped his arms around her.

"Babe, I'm sorry." He kissed her neck. "You do a lot, I should do my part while I'm between work."

"Between work?"

"Come on El, you know I'm trying." He kissed her neck again. "You look sexy."

Now he was saying anything to get some tonight. In her bonnet, in her frumpy pjs, and the mask on her face?

"I'm tired tonight, Zo."

"Too tired for playtime?"

She could feel his arousal on her backside as he rubbed his brick-sized manhood on her. That's how he had her from day one. Sex was fiyah!

She elbowed him back from her. "Let me finish up in here."

Once all done, she went to their bedroom, and he lay there, in all his delicious chocolate goodness, naked, rubbing himself. She had to laugh at him.

"I'm funny?"

"You're a hoot, man."

She took off her nightgown and got in bed with him, planting a kiss on his lips.

"Let's do all the things tonight."

The man may be trifling at times, but at least he kept her satisfied at night.

The only problem, she still loved her ex and he was again back in the picture.