She purses her lips. “Two questions, and you move the chair back,” she says, glancing toward the empty space in the center of the office.
He laughs, tipping his head back. “Deal. Why a statistician?”
“I’m good with numbers,” she retorts, shrugging.
He sucks in air through his teeth, looking down. “That’s unacceptable.”
Jahlani scoffs, unscrewing the top of her water before taking a sip. “What?” she asks, raising her shoulders to her ears. “That’s it. I like math. I enjoy it, and you didn’t say there was a criterion for answering,” she says, setting the bottle down and wiping the corner of her lips.
His eyes close partially, and he leans forward. “Jahlani?—”
She holds up her hand, silencing him. “What’s your other question, Hayes? We’re wasting time.”
He gives her another pointed look before rubbing his fingers across his jaw. He slouches back, seemingly deep in thought, and Jahlani fights the urge to laugh at how seriously he’s taking this.
Is she really that interesting? Is she really worth getting to know?
Letting out a heavy exhale, she resumes clicking on her laptop. Her eyes flick to his momentarily before dropping back to her screen as she tugs on her ear.
“My favorite color is green,” she murmurs, turning it around to show him the first half of the lesson. “So, we spoke about Bayes’ Theorem?—”
“Were they happy to see you?” he asks, shifting forward in his seat.
“What?” she asks, blinking slowly, taken aback by his question.
Roman scratches his wrist, staring at her intently. “Were they happy to see you? Your family.”
She starts to shake her head. “I don’t—I’m sorry. What?” she repeats, tilting her head.
He clears his throat, moving his laptop to the desk, and clasps his hands together. “The day we met, you said you didn’t know if they would be happy to see you. I want to know if they were,” he says, his expression somber.
Jahlani blinks, unsure of how to respond or react becausehe remembers, and better yet, he wants to know the outcome of hersilly little family reunion.
“Why?” she asks, sounding breathless.Why do you care?she wants to ask.Why do you remember?she wants to scream.Why are you made like this and why is it affecting me so much?
Her mind drifts back to Teryn’s graduation celebration—the sun burning bright, the music pulsing, and the chatter loud between her relatives. Even through the night, spirits were high and the conversation persisted. She went through most of it unscathed by their interrogations and statements. She spent most of the evening apologizing for not keeping in touch, promising to do better. Her mother barely said a word to her and ignored comments from relatives asking if she was happy to have Jahlani home. That hurt more than anything.
That, after all these years, her mother was still the same detached, nonchalant person she’d left behind.
Her cousins were different. Jahlani remembered Trent, the older twin by seven minutes, as the comedic relief. Laidback. He could hold a conversation with just about anyone, but the person she saw the other night was nothing like that. Trent was taller, muscled out, and dark all over. His expressions were deflated, and she spent all evening trying to figure out what was wrong. He was good. Deflecting, smiling, spinning the conversation back to her, but his eyes were wide and glistening. Unnatural.
And then there was the case of Teryn.
She straight-up ignored her the entire night. But Jahlani figured she deserved it for ignoring them all first.
“Some more than others,” she says quietly. “It went exactly how I knew it would.”
He nods slowly, drumming his fingers on his knees. “Hmm.”
“What?” she asks, sitting up straighter. “What’s that for?”
“Nothing. I just … I think it’s impossible to be around someone like you and not feel some form of joy,” he says, his gaze unwavering. Jahlani feels her muscles relax as she searches for any signs of ridicule.
She swallows, looking down at her fingers. “How do you do that?” she asks, pulling at the skin surrounding her wrist.
“Do what?”
She looks up at his face. “See the good in everyone. Think that everyone is worthy of such high praise.”
