The proud smile climbed onto her face without any help from her. Seeing her son-shine, the boy she’d sacrificed everything for, display his concern and compassion for her made her heart swell.
“Dad and I make much better friends than spouses.”
“Because you have feelings for Dr. Henderson?”
She shook her head. She didn’t want James to lay any kind of misplaced blame at Adam’s feet.
“No. I’ve only been seeing Dr. Henderson since the beginning of the school year. Dad and I were divorced for quite a bit before that. I know you want us to reconcile, but that is never going to happen. James, I’m not gonna ask you to be okay with that. I am, however, asking you to respect our decision to remain apart. Can you do that?”
“I can,” he spoke without hesitation. “I just want you to be happy.” He drew a circle in the air. “Speaking of happy, you didn’t look happy when I found you scrubbing the floor. If it’s not Dad, is it Dr. Henderson that has you manic cleaning?”
She lifted a finger and shook her head. “Still not gonna give you the details of my business. Just know that whatever is going on, the thing that always keeps happiness planted at the center of my heart is my son-shine.”
“Ma, I’m fifteen. How long you gonna keep calling me that?”
“Until I draw my last breath. That okay with you?”
With a huge grin on his face, he leaned over, grabbing her up in a big hug, rocking her until they knocked over the bucket of sudsy water sitting on the floor next to her.
“I’mma let you handle that.” He jumped up in one smooth motion making Janae curse his youthful knees.
“You better get down here and help me, boy.”
“I’d love to,” he called over his shoulder as his foot hit the first step of the stairs. “But I gotta get ready for the variety show and make sure all the costumes are on point.”
“James…”
“Make sure you don’t take too long. You know you still gotta get cute before you head out.”
She tried to stifle the laughter building in her chest. He was funny, but she wasn’t about to tell him that and risk being the butt of his jokes forever. Instead, she launched a wet sponge at his head. But again, his youthful reflexes worked against her, and he ducked down just before the gauzy missile could make contact.
“Love you too, Ma” was the last thing she heard besides his laughter and his quick and heavy footfalls.
She cleaned the spilled water, still smiling from her son’s antics when she put her supplies away.
“That boy is right about one thing,” she huffed. “I do need to get cute. Even if I’m mad at Adam, I’ll be damned if I’m not looking irresistible when he sees me. It serves him right for being an insufferable lout who got on my last nerve.”
Yeah, that’s what she was telling herself. That’s the lie she was going with because for damn sure the last thing she was going to admit was that she wanted to look good because she knew it would please him. Nope, she would never admit that.
Janae sat in her seat trying her best to get comfortable. She wanted to blame the discomfort in her stomach on the new pair of black jeggings from Torrid that made her ass look great. But since she owned at least three other pairs in the same size, but different colors, she knew that wasn’t the truth.
She slid her gaze across the large room from her seat at the front left of the auditorium. This was a school function, one he’d plannedwith her. There was no way Adam would miss it. Try as she might, though, she couldn’t find him in any corner of the room.
“Looking for someone in particular?”
Janae nearly jumped out of her seat when she heard Cree’s voice close to her ear.
“You scared the shit out of me, Cree.” When the heads of the early arrivals scattered throughout the room turned, Janae lowered her voice and spoke through clenched teeth. “You play entirely too much, woman.”
Cree ignored Janae’s mom voice and gave her a coy smile instead. “I called your name twice, but you were so busy looking for a certain interim superintendent that you couldn’t hear me.”
Janae thought Cree was embellishing until she saw Vanessa bob her head in agreement with Cree. That revelation scorched her cheeks and made Janae slither down in her seat.
“I take it you staking out the auditorium for him means things still aren’t great between you two?” Vanessa’s voice was soft with compassion, soothing Janae’s embarrassment.
“I just don’t know how we got here. Everything was going so well, until it wasn’t.”
Vanessa wrapped her arm around Janae’s shoulder, giving her a comforting squeeze. “Have you at least talked to him?”
