Original subtitles

- I'll take your plates.

- Thank you so much. - Was it good?

- It was.

- I know it is. - As usual--

- There's more, there's more!

- Praise the Lord.

- Hey, Ma, is there any more of that coffee cake left?

- Yes, Calvin. There's one last piece.

One last piece.

- Why does he get to get the last piece of coffee cake?

- Because her name is on my birth certificate.

- Floyd, you weren't even thinking about no coffee cake.

- Oh, so now you know what I'm thinking?

So besides raising baby boy over here,

now you a psychic, too.

- You know what? You're a great guest.

If you want the coffee cake, you can have it.

- No, no. Don't nobody want your little pity piece of cake.

- Okay.

- At least let me ask twice.

- Too late.

- [loud crash sound]

- Calvin? Calvin, go.

- And now, crumb snatcher two and three

are back there tearing up your mommy and daddy's stuff.

- ELLA: Don't call my babies crumb snatchers.

Guest 45678, can you ever go home?

- CALVIN: I'll go check on them.

Calvin, Jr., Christian!

Oh, and don't touch my cake.

- Man, boy, don't nobody want your little funky piece of cake.

- Mm-hmm.

- ELLA: Where's my sugar?

Where's my sugar? I'll drink black coffee.

Floyd, don't eat that.

- Hm? You want a piece?

- Okay, Floyd, listen, cut him a little slack.

You know he just went through a divorce.

- So?

- So? You don't know how he might be feeling.

- I know what I be feeling.

- Ella, don't do it.

I can't help him, I gotta ask.

You've already met him. Oh, don't do that.

And Floyd, how would you be feeling?

- Give us free.

- I should've listened to myself.

My sugar bowl, where's my sugar bowl?

- Look, I'm just joking, alright, Ella?

But look, if I can find me a woman that could cook

a cake like this, this good,

I would think about getting married.

- It's okay, it sounded worse than what it is.

- ELLA: I'm sorry.

I came back, I went to look for some sugar, and...

- Why are you here?

- Will work for food.

- Oh, please. Calvin, Calvin, Calvin,

so, how's everything?

- It's going pretty good, actually.

- Wonderful. That's wonderful.

- Yeah, I just landed this big client

I've been wanting for months.

- With Miranda, Calvin? With Miranda.

- Oh. That.

- Yeah, that. Y'all getting everything sorted out?

- No, divorce is tough.

- Wait a minute, you're not considering

going back to her, are you?

- Floyd-- - No, I'm just saying, Ella,

I mean, is she coming, is she going?

- I just don't know how to move forward.

I mean, Laura has some ideas.

For one, she thinks that we should make a schedule

so everybody knows what to expect.

- I'm sure Miranda's gonna love that.

- Well, schedules are important.

They help manage expectations.

- Yeah, the only thing is Miranda's going to manage

to go upside Calvin's head when he get to mentioning

Laura's ideas.

- Trust me Calvin, you are on the right track.

- FLOYD: Yeah, trust me Calvin, you might want to keep

that conversation between you and Laura, alright?

And the sooner, the better.

So when Miranda comes to pick up Christian tonight,

you might want to snatch that Band-Aid off, alright?

And don't go mentioning your new woman to your old woman.

- Floyd, Miranda is just going to have to get used

to the fact that Laura is going to be there.

- You know, I'll talk to Miranda tonight about making a schedule.

- And?

- And, I'll leave Laura out of it.

- What?

- Or not. I'll decide later.

You know, I just didn't think this would be this tough.

I thought we would be together for life, like you and Pops.

- Calvin, it's not your fault, alright?

You're not the first person to go through divorce,

and you won't be the last. This could happen to any couple.

If they're lucky.

- ♪

- Hey, y'all better be cleaning it up back there.

- [knock on door]

- Hey. - Hey, you look nice.

Where you going, to church?

- It's Tuesday. - The club?

- Calvin, it's Tuesday afternoon,

I might just want to look nice for my baby.

- I'm sorry, your what?

- For my baby, Christian. Some days I'm a soccer mom,

other days I'm the hot mom.

- Oh, you know what? That reminds me--

- Huh? - Soccer days.

I want those to be my days.

- Um, I'm not gonna miss my baby's soccer game,

I love seeing him bump his little head on the ball.

- Okay, but are we gonna go separate or together?

- Together, that's what co-parenting is,

you do things together.

- Yeah, see, I don't want him to get confused

and think we're getting back together, Miranda.

- Listen, he's not going to get confused,

he knows that that's not going to happen.

I've talked to him, and explained to him

what co-parenting is.

- Okay, but yeah, but we don't even know.

- Well, we just figured out one thing,

that we will go to soccer games

together. - Separate.

Okay, look here, check this out.

- Okay.

- The days and the events are color coded,

that way we know who's going to where and to what.

- Uh huh, look at you, getting all organized,

I'm impressed. Great job.

Okay, but wait, hold on, what is this "LD"?

- Oh, those are Laura days,

those are the days that she'll be with him,

I mean, this was kind of her idea, so.

- Calvin, you must have bumped your head,

and you don't even play soccer.

Laura days... Where is Christian?

- There we go. Game going.

No, she didn't.

No, she didn't.

- This is all he's gonna get.

- I know you in here.

- Are you preparing for The Last Supper?

- I just picked up a few things.

- It look like you picked up the whole store.

- Quit being silly, Floyd.

- I know I smelled, is this a,

are these your famous lamb chops that Curtis loves so much?

- Yes, sir.

- Wait, with the peach jelly, too?

- The very same.

- Oh damn, Ella. - What? What?

- Curtis forgot y'all's anniversary again?

This makes the third year in a row.

Look, you gonna have to forgive him, Ella, alright?

- Floyd...

- I'm sure Curtis is going to make it up to you.

- Our anniversary is not for months, now.

- [Floyd sighs]

- I was worried, 'cause I, I thought my boy

was about to get dragged. - No. No, no, no.

- But seriously though, what is all this for?

- Floyd, I was thinking,

Curtis and I need to do more stuff together.

- So being with each other all day every day ain't enough?

- Floyd, that's not what I meant.

Curtis and I need to do more intimate things,

we need to nurture our marriage.

- Oh, you mean like going outside

with the birds and the bees, the flowers and trees and stuff?

- Look, nurture, not nature.

- Oh.

Well, you know, we was supposed to watch the game today,

and of course you're invited.

- As romantic as that sounds, Floyd, no sir.

Curtis and I are going to have an intimate dinner with no TV.

- And do what? - Talk.

- To who? - To each other.

And you...

Floyd, you're going to be our server.

- That don't sound like fun.

- It's fun for me.

- Alright. Happy wife, happy life, I get it.

- Yes. Open that for me, please.

And Floyd, we are going to, excuse me, excuse me,

we're going to discuss our love languages.

- Hey, hey, hey, hey, I don't need to hear all that,

y'all can keep that intimate stuff to yourself,

little language and stuff.

- And I bought a couple things.

- You gonna have to stay out the nasty folks store!

- The nasty folks store?

- Nevermind.

- Right, this is going to help our love language,

this might help. A game, intimacy.

- Cool, so you got some scratch-off games.

- Uh, no, a game.

- Some lottery tickets?

- A game, Floyd. A game.

- Oh, well you know, my love language is money.

- Oh, the love of money is the root of all evil.

So Floyd, go home, and get your server outfit together.

- You serious? - ELLA: Yes.

You be back here around midnight.

- Oh, wow. Really? - Oh, yes.

- Oh, what you do for a friend.

- Mm-hmm. All of the doors will be locked.

You will not get in!

- Miranda wait, just hear me out.

- This was supposed to be a discussion between us,

not you, me, and that home-wrecker.

- She's not a home-wrecker. Miranda, wait.

What's the most important thing right now?

- What? - Answer me.

What's the most important thing? - Our son.

- Shouldn't we want what's best for him,

no matter what the source?

- Yeah, we should.

- Then hear me out.

- Fine.

- Look, this is not just about the schedule.

There's just so many approaches to raising a child

that I never knew about.

I think you and I just automatically jump

to how we were raised.

- And what's wrong with that?

We turned out fine. At least I did.

- I'm not saying that there's anything wrong with it,

I'm just saying that there's other options.

Let's explore some.

- Okay, like what?

- Well, for example, you have Christian on a strict bedtime.

- And?

- And sometimes you have to let kids test and explore

consequences to come to logical conclusions on their own.

Let him stay up and deal with the consequences

of getting up early.

Then, he'll start going to bed on his own, no more tantrums.

- Okay.

So, do you plan on coming over in the morning

when he's throwing a fit because he's tired?

- Miranda, I have no problem with that.

That's parenting.

- Okay, what else?

- You won't let Christian play football.

Even that's a sport that he'd much rather play.

- Well, that's because it's our job as parents

to make decisions to keep him safe, that's parenting.

- Okay. You also-- - You know what?

I thought this was supposed to be a discussion

about how we can improve.

Not an attack on, you know, on me being a mother.

- I'm not trying to attack you,

it's just that, you know, Laura thinks that--

- Oh, here we go with Laura again!

I am done humoring you.

I don't give a damn what Laura thinks, okay?

And, you know, quite frankly, let's just not do this,

this whole co-parenting thing,

because you and Laura? You can go to hell.

Where's Christian?

- Really, Floyd? - What?

- I don't know why you keep checking, checking, checking

your watch.

- I just thought he would have been here by now.

- Curtis is not coming, I don't know where he is,

but he's not coming.

I've had dinner, and I've started with dessert.

It's okay, he didn't even know.

I prepared this dinner, Floyd,

because of what you said earlier.

- What? What did I say?

- What you said to Calvin.

When you said, "Divorce can happen to anyone,"

and that it wasn't Calvin's fault.

I don't agree with that.

- So you don't think it's his fault?

- I think that marriage takes two people

willing to work hard at keeping things going.

It's when someone stops trying that the marriage fails.

- So what does this have to do with Curtis?

- Everything.

Curtis and I need to put more effort

into keeping our flame lit.

- Fine, Ella. Let me ask you this,

what can I do to make sure that y'all's evening

turns out to be great?

- Well Floyd, we're gonna play this game,

I tell you what. I'm gonna show you how it goes.

- Okay.

- So, you choose a card.

So it says here that we start, ooh,

by staring into each other's eyes.

- Hm. - ELLA: For one minute.

So we stare, we stare, we stare,

we're supposed to do this quietly.

- Uh. - ELLA: Quietly, hush.

- Okay, alright. - ELLA: Hush.

Floyd.

- If Curtis was here, he probably would tell you

that you got something on your cheek right there.

- Floyd, if you not gonna be serious,

then you just need to leave, okay? You're not helping.

- Okay, alright, I'll tell you what,

let me ask a question, then.

Let's see here. Alright.

When did you first know that you loved him? Hm?

- Oh, I first knew I loved Curtis

the first night of the county fair.

- Really?

- Yes. It was so amazing. It was a wonderful night.

Curtis spent like $35-- - Curtis?

- ELLA: Showing off. Showing off.

Trying to win a stuffed alligator for me.

- So that was the first night y'all met?

- The first night. I knew I fell in love.

- Wow.

- ELLA: Pick another.

- So nice... - ELLA: Pick another. It was.

- Alright, here we go.

Have you ever considered ending things?

Well, we already know the answer to that,

so there's no need to answer that.

- Yeah, no, well actually, I did.

Pick another one.

Pick another one.

- BOTH: I'm sorry.

- You go first.

- I should've never yelled at you like that.

I'm trying to remember that, you know,

this is hard for you too.

- Thank you.

And I'm sorry for yelling at you, too.

Bottom line is we still have these boys

that we gotta take care of. - Exactly.

I mean, they're already dealing with us splitting up,

we shouldn't add arguing to the mix.

- No.

- And I have to tell you, you are a really great mother.

And I'ma always care for you. - Thank you.

- So are we gonna give this co-parenting thing a try?

- Yeah.

But, there is just one little thing.

- What?

- So, you know how you were talking about

that whole like let the boys stay up,

test their boundaries, come to their own conclusions--

- Yeah.

- I told them they could stay up all night, okay?

So I'm gonna go get my purse,

and I'll see you later, because it's your night.

Good luck!

- You just gonna leave like that?

- Oh, absolutely. It's parenting.

- I got it. - [door shuts]

- I got it.

- You were considering ending it with Curtis?

- Yes. Well...

- I mean, come on now,

y'all are Black love, personified.

If it doesn't work out with you two,

then the institution of marriage is finished.

- Floyd, it was shortly after Calvin was born.

I was exhausted, overwhelmed,

and on my own most of the time,

because Curtis was away at the firehouse.

And when he was at home, I didn't feel like

he helped me out as much as I needed him to.

- Well I mean, being a firefighter's hard work, Ella.

I mean, I remember those times. I mean he was working exhausted.

- He got a break.

He got to come home, relax, recuperate.

You don't know how many times I stood over Curtis

on those long nights with Calvin,

and I just watched him sleep.

I just wanted to slap the drool off of his face.

- Well, I'm glad you restrained yourself.

- ELLA: I mostly did.

Curtis probably doesn't even remember this,

but one night I went off. - You went off?

- ELLA: I did. - Just one night? Really?

- Yeah. This one night,

I left Curtis and Calvin. And I went to bed.

I got in bed, I just laid there,

I was too upset to sleep.

I just kept thinking,

"I might as well be doing this by myself."

And then, I finally fell asleep

thinking I would just get me a few hours in at least.

But when I woke up, it was 10 o'clock in the morning,

and I panicked, and I began to run into the room,

and I saw Curtis and Calvin in that rocking chair,

and I was like...

I also noticed that Curtis had cleaned up,

sterilized the bottles, he even did some laundry.

- So my boy did good, huh? - ELLA: He did good.

But most importantly, he let me sleep.

And everything began to look better that morning.

And I've never looked back. Ever.

I just needed him to help me.

Yeah, I was gonna leave him.

- Well, I'm glad you didn't.

I'm sure he is, too.

You know what?

This game is gonna be fun for y'all.

Now, you know my boy's competitive,

so you know he's gonna win.

But uh, even if you lose, I still think you'll win.

- I win. I win.

- Ella! Hey! Where are those cards?

- ELLA: What?

- FLOYD: I want to take them on my date tonight!

I met this woman at the Elk's Lodge, right?

She can cook, and she favors my momma.

- ELLA: She favors who?

- She favors my momma!

She's even got all her front teeth!

- ELLA: Well Floyd, she might be the one!

- FLOYD: Found it! I found it, Ella!

Tell Curtis I'll holler at him tomorrow, alright?

Hey look here-- - ELLA: He's sleep.

- I'm sure you put him to sleep--

- ELLA: Oh yeah. - Nasty.

I think I finally figured out my love language.

My love language is pot roast.

I'll see y'all tomorrow.

Don't get pregnant!

- ♪

- ♪

- ♪