[tense music]
[Cyndi gasps]
- Oh my God. - I'm free.
[laughing]
- I'm bringing Jennifer in because I need help
with a lot of things around the house.
- [Jennifer] Cyndi wants me here all the time.
- Do you wanna close the door over there too?
- [Jennifer] I'm starting to feel smothered.
- No men over. - Okay.
- If you're going to the store, ask if I need anything.
I am the boss so she needs to buck up.
- My mom says, "Hi, Jen.
I'll be home if you wanna come by and see the kids."
- Well, you've been looking forward to that.
- [Jennifer] My mom has full custody of my kids
and can make it really difficult to see them.
I'm at her mercy.
- I think I can be a little less demanding of you.
- I don't understand why everything's gotta be so hard.
I just wanna be with my kids.
- To be honest, you know what it seems like?
- What?
- Like this is base camp number one for the struggle.
Like, the revolution ain't gonna be televised.
You know what I'm saying?
- For me, this is an opportunity to do something
I've been thinking about for a long time,
which is to have someone come
and move into my house as a transition out of prison.
- This is covert, top secret, above top secret.
I'm gonna go meet my ex, Lavina.
I didn't think you was gonna come meet me.
I know what everybody's gonna think.
Getting back in touch with Lavina is like,
the first step to the wrong direction.
But we gonna roll them dice.
- We might wanna interview someone else to move in.
- (bleep) no, not yet.
Maybe you should move in to our house.
- Aaron's trying to bring in someone
who's already been a big trigger for him.
Like all I heard was bad things.
"This person's the worst person in the world.
They like, ruined my life."
You don't see that that's also like,
potentially a concern to move into the house?
The mission is not simply to have someone
who's dealt with the prison system be here,
it's to have people who wanna
change the prison system be here.
My guy connected me with this guy named Don,
and I just wanna see if you will meet with him.
- I understand fully that it's Dave's house
and he doesn't need my permission
to move somebody else in or out.
It's kind of a no-starter for me,
having somebody move in from the joint.
So, I'm kind of at David's mercy.
[dramatic music]
- I'm Daniel. - I'm Cathy.
We're getting ready to move an inmate into our home.
- How are you? - Hey, I'm Daniel.
- You can stay here, we're not gonna charge you rent.
- No alcohol or drugs.
- I know if you use, you don't stand a chance
of getting anything right.
- Deven's been arrested.
They found needles and some powder in this car.
- No, you turned your back on us!
I had nothing to do with your decision to go out
and find drugs and get yourself caught
and thrown in jail again.
- Here we are, one more time.
- I wish that Cathy and Daniel and my grandparents
could be there for me.
- The things that you are doing are breaking people's hearts.
Eventually you're gonna break the heart so much
that they're just not gonna want anything to do with you.
- That halfway house will help him
a whole lot more than I can.
And they will keep him on the straight and narrow.
[dramatic music]
- I'm very concerned that Mark is wasting our time.
The behavior is escalating and it's not getting better.
Mark has not been here.
Maybe I should call his probation officer.
- I don't like to see a young black man going to prison.
I think he's addicted to the streets
and it's hard to break out of that.
- You're not following the rules.
You supposed to be here, sleeping here at night.
All right, you're gonna have to sneak in the house.
I mean, you're gonna have to sneak up in here.
- Oh, hell no! What are you doing?
And you got a ladder?
What the hell y'all doing?
And he has two women in my house.
- Move the (bleep) out the way, (bleep)!
On the hood, bro, watch the (bleep) out, bro.
- Hey, hey.
Move, Analisa, (bleep)! - [Mark] Watch out!
- [Vada] Mark think we punks.
- [Analisa] I don't think Mark is interested in any help.
- You're welcome to do that.
It's time to go.
[dramatic music]
- Hey, do you think you can help me with the sink today?
It's been sitting like this for days.
- Yeah, I was gonna leave with a friend for just a little bit.
When I come back, I can help you.
- So far, Jason sucks as a roommate.
He's been sneaking people in and outta the house
when I'm at work.
He sits around all day.
And now I have $100 missing.
Really, it's been nothing but a nightmare.
- You know we're together.
You're (bleep) just getting all up in our business?
- Listen.
There's a guy I know of named Tyler
and he wants to be with a girl named (bleep).
I haven't seen your girl in a couple weeks.
(bleep) [men grunting]
- Jason, hey!
Oh my God.
You're the one who broke the law, got thrown into prison,
you made the choices that got you here today.
Take your sorry and you can shove it right up your ass.
[dramatic music] [cell door slamming]
[tense music]
[music intensifying]
- [Emily] Hey. A lot, unfortunately.
[dramatic music]
I've asked Jason to move
and he's giving me a hard time about it.
He's constantly had people coming and going
in my house when I'm gone at work.
He's not supposed to have anybody here I don't know about.
Yesterday, he sends me this message
that some guy's gonna come over here,
he's gonna bring him tools to fix his guitar,
even though I have a whole basement full of tools
he's had no problem digging through and using before.
So, you know, I just had a feeling something wasn't right.
Next thing you know, I see some tall girl
with dark hair coming out with all kinds of bags
with another lady who has a bag in her hand
and then some guy and they leave.
If you're so legit, Jason, then why didn't you tell me
that they were coming with this guy?
I don't know if it was my stuff.
Possibly something of mine has been stolen.
I am more than ready to kick Jason out of my house now.
I can't stand him, I want him outta here.
I do not wanna leave and go to work
with that loser in my house.
I'm gonna go upstairs, I can't be around him.
Yeah, you laugh.
'Cause you know what? He's acting--
- "You lied to me.
You had somebody over and I didn't (bleep) know."
- Shut up, you look like an idiot.
- It's all (bleep) you make up. - You are an idiot.
- You exaggerate (bleep). - No, I don't.
You sit on your ass in your (bleep) bedroom
doing nothing all day, you're a lazy (bleep).
- Is my rent paid?
- Don't matter. - Did I pay extra?
- You weren't supposed to have people here.
And you know what, Jason? You're an idiot.
- Wah. - Yeah.
You know what? You're an idiot because it's your life
that is getting (bleep) up by it.
I gotta get away from him.
- I'm supposed to deal with you and your dogs?
- That ain't my problem.
14 felonies, Jason, doesn't say you're a genius.
It says you're a loser.
- Is that what it says? (bleep), man.
[tense music]
I'm preparing myself mentally for what's about to come.
I have nothing to be ashamed of
since I've been outta prison, nothing.
But if Emily's still thinking about kicking me out,
[tense music]
- Since visiting with my mom and kids,
I really have been struggling being here.
While living at Cyndi's house,
I have really taken time to put Cyndi as a priority,
but I really need to make
getting my kids back my priority,
my first priority, my only priority.
I don't know what my next step is.
I just know that something needs to change.
[Cyndi laughs]
- [Jennifer] That's funny.
- Jenny hasn't been spending a lot of time here.
[Jennifer coughs]
Sometimes she'll come home late to sleep
and then is up early and gone again.
- So, I have a part-time job I got.
- Awesome!
- Yeah, like I'm being productive, so.
- This part-time job, what kind of a job is it?
- So, I'm a field agent for an insurance company.
- They pay pretty good too?
- They pay decently, yeah.
- So, what does this mean moving forward?
- I don't really know yet,
but I'm gonna continue working towards getting my kids back,
staying sober.
- Finding a place?
- Finding a place.
I don't know where yet, but...
- Are you planning on moving out then,
sooner than expected or?
- I don't know.
I can't answer that right now, you know?
These last couple weeks, especially with getting the job
and working, and trying to be more involved with my kids,
I have thought so many times I want to move out.
And I plan on moving out of Cyndi's eventually.
I just don't know quite when.
[dramatic music]
[tense music]
- I woke up this morning making sure everything was okay
because last night, we put Mark's clothes in the street.
I come out and Mark is sleeping in my car.
And I don't know what frame of mind Mark is in right now.
And based on the last few days,
he can't be trusted mentally.
- Your stuff is all in the bag, your mail and everything,
your weed, you don't have anything left in that room.
- [Vada] No, I don't think you're in the right
frame of mind to enter my house.
- Mark wanted to come in and look for his things.
He made it seem like we were stealing his stuff.
I didn't want anything he had in his room.
So, at this point, "No, you can't come in."
The less interaction we have with Mark, the better.
- [Analisa] What are your plans? - (bleep) his plans!
[Mark laughing]
You getting soft, (bleep) that (bleep).
[Mark laughing]
You been shooting (bleep) ever since the day you came out.
You don't want no (bleep) help.
- When I was caring, you was blowing that (bleep) off
like it was (bleep) paper and salt.
- The one person that was on your side
ain't on your side no more.
And that's me.
I really don't care where Mark is going
as long as he's outta my home at this time,
because it's too toxic.
When I heard him saying, "I'm bringing the hood over here,"
that's when I went and got my phone
and dialed 911 without hesitation.
Well, don't worry about it, the police on their way.
Yes, could you send the police?
[address bleeped]
We have an unruly person at our home
and he's making threats to hurt me and my family.
It's an emergency.
[dramatic music]
[tense music]
[kettle whistling]
- I got your tea.
There's peppermint and then the other one is orange spice.
It's been a few months since I dropped Deven off
at the sober living house.
- Knock, knock.
- Let's go see. - Hey, there.
- Hey, come here. - How are you?
- And we invited Penny over to see what is happening,
where he's at, that kind of thing.
- Okay. How are you guys?
- We are good. How are you?
- Oh, my goodness.
[Daniel chuckles] - Uh oh.
- [Penny] How much time you got? [laughing]
- [Cathy] At least a couple hours.
- You dropped him off at the sober living house.
- Yeah.
- I think he was there for about 10 days
and then he left there because he decided
that he just had to go see this girl
in Oklahoma. - Oh, no.
Not a girl. - Oh yeah, oh yeah.
- [Cathy] Okay. - So, he did that
and he's been arrested four times in Oklahoma.
- [Both] Four times in Oklahoma.
- And he was put on probation in Oklahoma.
- Right. - All was good.
Came home from court and the next thing I knew,
he had been rearrested.
I think probably, he'll go to prison in Oklahoma,
but he's also got cases in Colorado and Texas.
And then there's something hanging out in Kansas.
- Kansas? - Oh yeah, Kansas too.
Since he got outta prison in Colorado,
Deven has been arrested seven times.
I know that this last arrest,
he's in there for theft of a car.
- So, this has all been since I dropped him off?
- Yes, ma'am.
I think there was some burglaries involved.
I think there was some-- - Burglaries?
- Yeah, if you're doing drugs
you've gotta have money to buy the drugs.
I don't have contact with him right now.
I chose not to because I know me too well.
I know that if I see that phone number come up...
- Uh-huh. - That sooner or later,
I'll think, I gotta give in and I gotta talk to him.
And once I give in, he wraps me around his finger.
And so, my belief, Cathy, right now, is that...
Mm.
Is that if I put a pillow under his ass,
he'll die.
The only chance he has to live right now
is if I just back off
and he has to do it between him and God.
- I feel sad because I don't wanna see Penny
go through this,
but at the same time, I'm angry at Deven
for putting Penny through it.
- I believe you're doing the right thing.
Just, I mean, pray, give him to God and...
- [Cathy] Let it go.
- Let him struggle. - Yeah.
If I want this young man to live, this is what I need to do.
- 'Cause he's truly one of those
that no human power is gonna save him.
Only God can do that. - That's right.
- He's gonna have to find him now.
- Yep.
- I hope somebody comes along that has the words
that will cause Deven to open his ears up and listen.
I don't know who that might be
or what those words might be for him,
but I hope that person comes along
and I hope they say the words that he wants to hear.
[dramatic music]
[tense music]
- I'm just packing up.
I got a call from a friend who said,
"Hey, man, I got a place for you to stay.
All you gotta do is help me remodel it a little bit,"
and I can have Lavina move in with me.
Yeah, I'm moving out today.
I think it's a great opportunity for me
and Lavina to have a whole space to ourselves.
I haven't even had a chance to talk with David yet.
This just came up, he said he needs some help
and he's gonna offer it to somebody else,
he just gave it to me first.
So, I was like, "Yeah, let me get that."
So, when David gets here, I guess I'm finna ask him,
or finna tell him, you know, this is what it is.
This just popped up
and it seemed like a solution to potential conflict
that didn't need to happen.
And so, it's an off ramp and I'm taking it.
Hey, hey, what's going on, man?
- Hey, what's going on? - So, check this out.
Come on in. - Yeah.
- So, a friend of mine called
and just offered me a really good opportunity.
- Okay. - He's got a house
that he's remodeling that's already almost done
and all he needs is somebody to help him
with some of the final touches.
But if I help him, then I can live there for rent free
for about six, seven months.
And with you wanting to move Don in
and me wanting to move Lavina in, we can go there,
he can come on in here, you know what I'm saying?
- Oh.
This isn't like, you feeling like I was
pushing you out or something?
I wasn't trying to say you had to leave with the Don situation.
I was just trying to figure out how to
keep the mission going and find some kinda compromise.
I'm shocked and surprised that Aaron's moving out.
If he's gonna be in a good place, that's good.
But I'm surprised by how fast it's happening.
I mean, Aaron's gonna have to live his life.
I don't know how this is gonna go.
Hopefully, he and Lavina can stay sober and stay good.
But worst case, things fall apart.
You know, relationship doesn't work.
Things get hard.
People start using, you know.
- I know you weren't trying to push me out,
but I do know that it's something that you wanna do.
And it's something that you feel is important to do.
I also feel very strongly about it the other way.
So, for me, this is like, a way to kinda solve all that.
You know?
David and I were friends for basically two years
while I was incarcerated.
Working on criminal justice reform
and really pushing issues that we're both passionate about.
And I'd like to get back to that friendship,
but living in this house together
seems to be driving us apart
and we're going in different directions.
Things weren't exactly how I thought.
And I'm sure that they weren't exactly
how you thought too, with me moving in.
But I still think it was a great opportunity
and I appreciate it.
- My head's kind of all over, but good luck
and yeah, let's be in touch, right?
- All right.
- I mean, it's a little abrupt.
Yes, it's a little, it's fast.
[tense music]
- Could you send the police?
[address bleeped]
It's an emergency.
We have an unruly person at our home
making threats to hurt me and my family.
I am a very patient person.
I wasn't gonna call the police,
but Mark is totally outta control.
[siren wails] [intense music]
He's causing this kind of chaos, that's way too much.
[siren wailing]
- [Vada] Yeah.
- Today, we had a young man, we was hosting him.
We left a message with him yesterday
that he can't live here anymore based on his behavior.
- Then, as time went on, he started making threats
to me and my family. - [Analisa] Oh my God.
- He was on the phone.
"Y'all come over here and come take care of these people."
- He was gonna hurt us.
- Yeah. I don't know about what it means,
but I'm not taking no chances.
- [Analisa] Man, that's so foul.
- Oh, I have a picture of him.
- My purpose and my intentions were to really help him.
And it's sad because now, he has to suffer the consequences
for his actions.
And it's just sad that it just didn't work.
That's how I feel.
- All right, thank you, sir.
- All right.
Mark should understand the actions that he's taken
can lead him back in prison.
- My mom calls me and says, "Mark slept in the car."
- I was watching Mark, he was on live.
He wasn't talking to nobody, he was afraid.
He didn't know what to do.
He was just like, he didn't know what to do.
It was like, I seen him.
I'm torn because when I saw the interaction
between Vada and Mark, I saw something click in Mark,
I saw through him.
And what I saw was this scared little boy
who ran out of bluffs, and his bluff was called,
and it just hurt my heart,
because I know that he doesn't wanna go back to prison.
- He shouldn't have made them threats.
That's gonna teach his ass to keep his damn mouth closed.
All them (bleep) and (bleep) he been calling you, and Deahja,
everybody think, "Oh, Vada cool, Vada cool."
I'm listening, I just ain't saying nothing.
- Like I said, Vada be the last one to blow up.
It's all over.
Vada is officially done with Mark
because Mark threatened, not only my mother,
but myself and Vada.
Once you show that you are going to harm the family,
Vada has to go into papa bear mode and protect his family.
- It's his own fault, he made that choice.
I didn't make the choice. - He's a scared child.
- I can truly understand that.
- He doesn't know how to live out in society.
- Everybody was being nice to him.
People willing to help him on a consistent,
willing to help him get out of the funk that he's in.
And he done threw all of 'em in the (bleep) ditch.
- What's gonna happen with Mark going forward
is in the parole officer's hands.
After that, I don't know what's gonna happen.
- He came to the right house if he wanted help,
but he came to the wrong house if he wanted to talk (bleep).
[dramatic music]
- There's been so many threats from Emily at this point
about kicking me out
and I realized that I need to take those things to heart.
What's up Mike, how you doing, man?
- [Mike] What's up, man?
- [Jason] There's a guy named Mike that I met.
Thanks for having me. - Yeah, yeah, for sure.
- He saw some artwork I did on my Facebook.
He offered me to get interviewed for a job
for a graphic designer at his company.
- Come on in. - Appreciate the time.
- Yeah, yeah, have a seat wherever.
Having a good day?
- Yeah, I'm having a great day, actually,
you know, I'm pretty blessed
for all the positive things that have been happening lately
and a few stumbling blocks here and there
that I have to persevere through, but you know,
I think for the most part, you know,
things are going pretty good for me, so.
The last time I had an actual job interview, or even a job,
would've been sometime in the early 2000s.
I'm pretty sure George Bush was president back then.
- There's kind of an authenticity
in your work that I really like, um.
I immediately kind of had a visceral response to your work,
which I really like.
The one that specifically,
I think it's the first one that I saw on your page
is this one.
- It's called "16th and California."
- I love that, I love that piece.
And that's painting, right?
- Yeah, it's an oil painting. - Is it?
- Yeah, I actually painted that in prison.
Funny thing is, after I was done with it,
it was in my cell for a while,
and the guards would come in to shake down my cell
and they would never get any farther than that painting.
They'd stop there and they'd compliment,
or say something about the painting
and then my cell wouldn't get searched, so.
- I mean, I love that.
- I was an only child growing up
and I didn't have a lot of time to spend with other kids.
I spent a lot of time around adult company
and I had a lot of energy.
And I think my mom harnessed some of that with
crayons, markers, and books.
When you spend a lot of time by yourself as a child,
you get creative.
You find ways to entertain yourself.
- Technology's moving so fast.
What I need is somebody in a design position
that's going to just learn what's out there.
So, is that something you feel proficient enough in that,
to sort of be like, "I'll dive in"?
- You know, there really isn't a photo editing program
that I don't know, that I can't at least within minutes
navigate my way through.
- I want you to come on board,
- Man, that's, I appreciate it so much.
- First step on a thousand-mile journey, my friend.
All right? - Yes, sir.
- All right, brother.
- This job could be a big thing for me.
The chance means a lot to me.
And you know, I really just gotta stay on my toes
to not blow it.
Thank you, man. - You got it, buddy.
You got it, you got it. - I'll talk to you Monday.
- All right, talk to you Monday. - All right.
- Have a good one. - Thank you, man.
Now that I got this job, I'm hoping that Emily sees
that I'm not necessarily the person
that she keeps trying to portray.
I'm hoping that maybe she lets me stay at the house.
We'll see how that goes.
[tense music]
- I've decided that I'm gonna move out of Cyndi's house.
I'm packing up my (bleep) right now
and I'm scared of what her reaction's gonna be.
I'm scared of what she's gonna do.
I'm scared what she's gonna say.
I am just so afraid.
- [Cyndi] Knock, knock.
- Oh, well, thank you.
- What are you doing?
- You know, I really appreciate you giving me a place,
you helping me out when I first got out.
Dealing with my, you know, crazy self.
It's hard to tell you things sometimes, but I need to go.
It's time, you know?
[tense music]
- I didn't expect you to be leaving so soon, I guess.
Are you sure it's, uh, wise?
- I need to do what I need to do, you know.
That's it, you know?
- [Cyndi] Hmm.
When were you planning on letting me know?
- Well, you know, once I got done packing here.
- You were avoiding it, weren't you?
- [Jennifer] Yeah, it's hard to tell you things sometimes.
- This is just a shock.
Where are you gonna be staying?
- I'm gonna stay with my brother.
My brother's is a lot closer to my kids than Cyndi's
and that's why I'm gonna stay there.
And I know that area hasn't always been the best
for my sobriety, but I am definitely ready
and I'm ready to stay sober and I'm confident
and I'm ready to go back to my old county
and I'm just, I'm ready to do this, I'm ready.
- What really makes this so much different?
- This is obviously, you know,
something that I was working towards.
- I don't think this is the right decision.
I wish Jennifer the best,
but sometimes the things she does
doesn't make any sense to me.
I think she's got a very good chance of relapsing
by going back to her old ways.
- I just want to be with my kids.
- I understand, I'm just, you know, I'm like a mom,
I'm a little worried. - I know, um...
I know.
I know that if I ever need to come back,
you would be willing to take me back.
- Of course.
If you're fighting with your brother
or wanna get away from your mom, whatever the case.
Yeah, you've always got a place here.
- This decision has been really hard
and I'm grateful for Cyndi,
but me moving out has nothing to do with her.
I'm making this decision for me and my children.
- Okay, drive careful.
I love you. - Love you too, I will.
We'll be in touch. - Okay.
It's okay.
I am gonna miss her.
This is the companionship that I've wanted all along.
I got kinda used to that.
Real close friends are hard to find.
Now it's just back to me and Max
trying to figure things out on my own.
[pensive music]
- Emily. - [Emily] What?
- I got some, couple things up at the store for breakfast.
Come on down for a minute.
Since I got the job, I decided to go down
and pick up some breakfast and extend the olive branch.
I'm gonna tell Emily the good news
and hopefully she's as ecstatic as I am.
- [Emily] What?
- So, I got a job yesterday.
Kinda waiting for the right one to come along
and I got a really good job as a graphic design assistant.
It's gonna pay pretty well, I think,
and it's gonna be something that I enjoy doing, so.
- Well, that's good.
It's too bad it didn't come a little quicker.
He's had months to get a job
and a lot has happened in those months
that's not a positive.
And I've went through a lot of stress for him.
You shouldn't always have to be the one that
sacrifices for somebody, you know, for their (bleep) ups.
- I mean, I guess I'm trying to figure out like,
you're really serious, you know, I have to go.
Or I mean, I just I'm trying to figure out,
feel out the situation.
I just want you to appreciate the gravity of this.
I haven't had a job for 20 years.
I just need a place to be, to go to
that I can come home, take a shower, go to bed,
get up in the morning, go back to work.
[tense music]
- Okay, I understand and I'm trying to be
sympathetic to your situation, I am.
How much time do you think that you need?
- I need 30 to save some money at the most.
And I would say it's not even gonna be that.
- And you will let me know if someone comes over
or you want someone to come over?
That's all I'm asking. - Yeah, yeah.
- All right.
I'll give 60 days.
I can do, I can do that.
- All right, thank you. - You're welcome.
- I mean that sincerely, thank you very much.
- I'm only allowing Jason to stay because he's got a job.
It'll keep him on a schedule.
You know, he'll be able to save the money
to get his own place and be on his way.
- You know, you did let me move in here,
don't think that I'm not grateful for that.
You know, it's just, I'm not very good
at making good decisions, so.
[gentle music]
- I understand your world better than you've ever thought I have.
- My intentions have never been to screw you over
or make you feel uncomfortable.
I just have lived a completely different life for so long
that it's hard for me to know anything but that.
And I need to be more respectful
and not get into feelings so much.
I apologize definitely for my part in that
and I know better, so.
But I appreciate you letting me stay here, okay?
All right? - Okay.
- You good?
All right, thank you. - You're welcome.
- All right.
- I think this is a turning point for Jason.
I do have hope for his future based on our conversation today.
- Thank you. - You're welcome.
- Even though things have been extremely rocky
between me and Emily, if it wasn't for her providing
her house to me, I'm not sure exactly where I'd be.
In all reality, I should be really grateful to Emily
for providing this place for me
to transition back into society.
I'm moving forward and making progress and I'm doing good.
I will continue to get my life in order.
[gentle music]
[bright music]
- I see you got all the seasoning out for your barbecue.
- We gonna have this barbecue and enjoy ourselves.
- It's been three months since we've seen Mark, um...
This didn't work out the way we expected it to.
- Hi, Mama. Hey, Vada.
- What's up, Deahja?
- Ooh, what y'all making?
- He's putting some ribs on.
We was up here talking about Mark.
I still have hope for Mark and I'm continually
and fervently praying for him.
I haven't conversed with Mark for three months,
but the parole officer told me he's not in jail.
- Now that Mark's gone, how do you feel?
- I hope that Mark is in a good spot.
- My hopes is for him to have a future,
and a life, abundant life.
I have learned that bringing someone into our home
and not knowing who they are-- - [Vada] Yeah.
- I would've better vetted them.
If I got a chance to speak to Mark again,
I would talk to that little boy who's broken
and feels abandoned, and let him know that I understand.
I don't think helping Mark
and having him in my home was all for nothing.
I hope in some way, we did plant a seed
and we will continue to root for him and support him.
[tense music]
- Hi, how you doing?
Uh, can I just get a regular black coffee?
- [Barista] Sure. - All right.
Going to meet David.
I just wanted to meet up with him and see how he's doing.
I feel like now I'm stable
and I'm ready to put in some effort
and take some baby steps towards getting back to the work.
Hey, what's going on man?
- Doing good. How you doing? - Good.
- Good to see you. - Yeah, good to see you, man.
Long time, no see. - Yeah, you too.
So, it's been a couple months since me and Aaron talked.
Can I just get a small chai?
I'm curious how he's doing.
You know, I feel like we left on kind of mixed terms,
so, I'm hoping that we're good like we were
when we were living together.
- [Aaron] What's been up man? How you doing?
- Yeah, doing good, hanging in there.
- Yeah? - Yeah.
Yeah, how you been? - I've been good, man.
Working, learning how to, you know, do walls and spackle
and all that kind of stuff I can't stand.
[laughing]
- Breaking out some walls sometimes too?
- Right, right. Yep.
- You and Lavina still doing good?
- Yeah, we're doing great. - Awesome.
- She's still rocking it.
She's still killing her recovery stuff
and she's got a new job now.
I mean, we haven't been fighting or nothing.
I mean, it's entirely different situation
when we're both, you know, like this.
I'm happy, definitely.
Living with Lavina, obviously different
than living with David.
- Thank you so much. - Appreciate it, thank you.
It feels good.
It feels like, you know, most of my friends
that I went to school with are married with kids
and they live with their wife, and you know,
so, it's a good thing.
I just wanna say, you know, thank you.
I really mean that.
You know, this life that I'm living
and everything I'm doing right now,
it's really possible because of you
opening your house to me and letting me stay.
That just helped me build this firm foundation.
So, I got mad love for you, man.
- I really appreciate that, man.
- It's a lot different than living at David's.
It's not headquarters for any movements.
But sometimes I miss that a little bit though.
I miss that.
The purpose, the constant purpose
that's beating in the background.
I mean, yeah, things ended differently
than both of us thought it would, but I mean,
we still worked on a lot of things for a couple years
and I'd like to see some of that through.
I would like to carve out time to still work with you,
team up, you know what I mean?
And kinda see this mission through
and see what kind of role I'd play if you'd be willing to.
- Oh, of course.
No, I mean, yeah, let's find a time
and we can get you plugged in.
You're amazing, it's gonna do great things
and man, we'll be building the team soon.
- We gonna do it, we gonna do it.
- Yeah.
It is a special moment to like, end and begin a friendship
on being like, we made the impossible possible.
You know, we got someone out of prison and ready
and into the movement and it feels good to have a friend
and to keep building that friendship.
We'll be in touch. - All right.
It's great to see my friend.
I miss his passion and his just great spirit
and demeanor too, so.
- Despite some of the conflict that happened there,
we're still friends, so, that feels like motivation
to be like, "Hey, you're on the right path."
[gentle music]
[tense music]
- It's been about a month since Jen moved out.
I'm excited to see her.
I miss her around the house.
- [Jennifer] Here she is.
- [Cyndi] Hi!
- You look good. - [Cyndi] Hi!
- [Amarii] Hi. [Jennifer laughing]
- This is Amarii, this is my oldest.
- Amarii, I love your hair. - Thanks.
- Seeing Cyndi is great.
Hi! - Good to see you.
- Good to see you too.
I feel good, I'm very happy to see her.
We can go sit, it's nice out,
do you wanna just sit on the deck over here?
- Yeah, that's fine. - Okay.
- Nice bike.
- Did you wanna go and show her how you do-
- Some of your stunts? - [Amarii] Kind of.
- Okay.
He's over there doing his wheelies.
He's pretty talented.
- I mean... [laughing] - Whoa!
- I mean, that's-- - That's just part of
being a boy, I guess. - I guess.
- How's the job going?
- It's going good. You know, I'm still sober.
I'm seeing my kids, I'm working towards getting custody.
And saving money, and looking for a place, and...
- Yeah.
That's great. - Yeah.
- Glad to hear it. - Yeah, it's actually,
yeah, it's really good, it's good, it's really good.
- I'm glad it worked for Jennifer
to move out when she did.
Seeing her so happy makes me happy.
Makes my heart happy.
- I'm just thankful for everything
working out, you know.
And I'm so thankful for you and I'm so--
- I'm glad I could help, I really am.
- I'm so thankful for everything that you've done and...
- You're giving me goosebumps. [Jennifer laughs]
- You really played a big part, you know,
in my life, you really have.
And I probably wouldn't be here right now
if it wasn't for you taking me in, you know?
There was nobody that was willing
to open their doors to me besides Cyndi.
- I'd do it again.
[laughing] - I know you would.
Yeah, I mean, she's always gonna be a part regardless,
she's always gonna be that part in my success story here.
[Cyndi laughs]
And she's gonna be a part of that forever.
You know? Always.
Well, I wanna give you a hug.
- So help me up here and I can hug you back.
[uplifting music]