"You too, Daddy.” I mumbled into his shoulder. "Sorry about the other day."
Since I left in a temper, we spoke a couple of times but talking on the telephone wasn’t my father’s style. He preferred dealing with people face to face when there were issues to be resolved.
"Where’s Mom?” I asked, stepping back as if I didn’t know she was in the kitchen. The delicious smells were a giveaway.
"Where she always is," Garth said as my father pointed toward the kitchen doorway.
As I approached, I heard Anna-Lise’s voice and then my mother’s. She laughed, a sound I hadn’t heard in months.
"Gina." Her smile dimmed, but she came toward me wiping her hands in a towel. She hugged me and I wasn’t sure if what I heard was a sigh.
I ignored it and clasped my arms loosely around her.
"Where’s your boyfriend?"
My annoyance meter rose immediately and as I met Anna-Lise’s eyes over Mom's shoulder, she waved at me.
I responded in kind. “Hey, Lise."
Mom released me and I answered, “In the living room."
"Oh.”
I swore I heard disappointment in that one syllable. She’d probably been hoping Kofi had disappeared off the planet.
"You can help us with the dishes," she said, while making a beeline for the stove.
Mom was a gifted cook and I wondered how Anna-Lise was coping with her visits to Garth’s place on her food delivery trips.
She was territorial about her children and I figured the only reason she tolerated Anna-Lise was because she had a long history with Garth. Anybody else would have been getting the same treatment she'd dished to Kofi, unless they looked like the Chus.
"You could say hello to him.
"
My words were unexpected and we both felt the force of them.
She nodded and turned toward the doorway.
I was as deflated as I usually was after one of our long-distance conversations.
While Mom was gone, Anna-Lise and I chatted. This was part of what made it great to be home—being among people I was comfortable with and feeling as if I belonged. Half the time, I felt like the legal alien I was when living in Florida. We didn't have a lot of family there and although I had Chase, being in Miami sometimes felt like being at sea in a small dinghy. Starting something with Kofi had changed that, but I still didn't look forward to going back to a place where I had next to no family and fewer friends. But Kofi would make a difference.
I was smiling like an idiot when Mom walked back into the room. I'd been about to ask Anna-Lise if Mom hadn't been getting on her nerves yet, but of course, this wasn't the time or place.
Mom walked into the kitchen with the attitude of a drill sergeant.
"Anna-Lise, reach for the Pyrex dish in the cupboard. Gina, set the table."
I did as she asked because this was part of what being home meant. This kitchen used to be my favorite room in the house, aside from my bedroom. It was where I'd gorged on the delicious meals and treats she prepared and it was where she taught me about life. This was also the place where our family spent many evenings playing board games and talking, before life intervened and we got too old to be contained within these walls.
I had hardly finished setting places for everybody before Mom and Anna-Lise were moving dishes between the stove, countertop and table. Mom was a dynamo in the kitchen and when she forgot about trying to run everybody's lives, she could be pleasant company. When she had changed into a witch, I did not know or perhaps I did, if I cared to bring it to mind.
Christopher Chen.
His name brought his face into focus and monopolized my thoughts. My life had taken on a rollercoaster quality when his mother and mine decided we were going to be a couple.
"Roy!"
