Meadow froze with a spoon in her hand.
Lesha noticed instantly. Her eyes softened. “It’s okay, baby. You can say it out loud. Don’t nothing bad happen when Black women speak about their joy.”
Meadow swallowed and turned back to the sink. “It’s…new.”
Lesha tilted her head. “New doesn’t mean wrong…new sometimes means overdue.”
She tapped Meadow’s shoulder gently. “You two look good together, not just physically…spiritually, too.”
Meadow paused mid-wipe. “Spiritually?”
“Yeah, his energy meets yours, your softness wraps around his hard edges, and his protection covers your cracks. That’s spiritual, baby girl.”
Lesha bumped her hip. “Plus he been smilin’ more the past few months than he has in the past few years. I been waiting on a reason for my son to stop lookin’ like he carry the whole west coast on his back.”
Meadow laughed so suddenly she dropped a fork. “You are too much.”
“I’m the perfect amount,” Lesha corrected proudly.
She grabbed the drying towel and started wiping down the counter with exaggerated precision. “Now, let me ask you somethin’, Meadow.”
Meadow stiffened playfully. “Oh boy.”
Lesha put a hand on her hip. “Is he putting it down?”
Meadow’s neck snapped. “Lesha!”
Lesha cackled. “What? I’m grown…you grown…he grown…somebody putting something somewhere!”
Meadow covered her face. “I cannot-”
“You can,” Lesha insisted, “and you gon’ tell me.”
Meadow tried to breathe. “I’m not talking about that with you!”
Lesha sucked her teeth. “Girl, please. I changed that boy’s diapers. Ain’t nothing you gon’ say that can shock me.”
“Oh my God.”
Lesha grinned, wicked and proud. “So it’s like that?”
Meadow couldn’t even find the words. She just blinked, flustered and smiling helplessly.
Lesha smacked the counter twice. “I knew it. See? I knew God wouldn’t play me like that. I knew he’d bless my son with a woman who wasn’t scared to keep up.”
Meadow wheezed. “You are actually insane.”
Lesha reached over and hugged her again - quick, warm, gentle. “I’m glad he chose you.”
Meadow’s breath caught. “He…didn’t choose.”
“Oh baby,” Lesha sighed, cupping her cheek for a second. “Men like Zaire don’t bring women into their worlds unless they already made the choice.”
Meadow didn’t know what to say to that.
“And for the record,” Lesha added, lowering her voice, “I’m sleepin’ in your room tonight.”
Meadow blinked. “What?”
