“Don’t go.”
I stopped, but I didn’t turn to face her.
“I’m sorry, Shanet. I really am. Once I finally got out of that state I was in, I felt like it was too late to reach out to you, like I had ruined your life enough. I thought that if you found even a glimpse of happiness from being away from me, then I should leave well enough alone.”
“How could someone ever really be happy without their mother?”
“I couldn’t tell you. I never had nobody. My parents kicked me out as soon as you were born. If it wasn’t for your daddy leaving me this farm, I wouldn’t have a thing to my name.”
“I never knew that.”
“There’s a lot I never got a chance to tell you, but I want to. I’d like you to stay for a while. Just to give us a chance to get to know each other. You think we can do that?”
I finally turned to face my mother. Both of our faces were wet from tears. I didn’t know if we could fix all that was broken between us, but I was willing to try. I missed my mother, and I needed her in my life.
“I’d like that.”
“You are not aboutto chicken out now, are you?” Sakani asked.
“Man, who even says stuff like that? I’m a grown ass man. Do I look like I’m about to chicken out?”
“Well, the strong jaw flex look you have on your face right now makes me think you scared.”
“That’s because I’m trying to think about what I’m going to say.”
“Start withI’m sorry.”
“She doesn’t like those two words.”
“Well, you should have prepared a speech or something because we here now.”
“Sakani, just get out the car. Let’s go.”
“Now you want to be mad at me? If you needed help with your speech, you should have asked ahead of time. I just came along for backup. This ain’t even my scheme.”
“I don’t even know why I brought you. I thought you would be of some help, but you ain’t no help to me right now.”
“Just wait until she see this cute face. She gon’ forget all about what you did to her.”
“If it works, I’ll take it.”
We got out of the car and walked up to the door of Shanet’s family farm. They lived on a decent plot of land. If I grew up in a place like this, I would’ve never come to the city, but I knew she had her own issues with her mother. Still, this was the most peaceful place I had ever been, which was why I understood her running away.
I knocked and waited for about a minute. Nobody answered. I knocked again. Same thing. I didn’t even hear anybody moving around on the inside.
“Come on. Let’s look around,” Sakani suggested.
“Sakani, we can’t just walk around people’s property. Let’s wait until somebody comes to the door.”
“Okay, well, you stand there and wait. I’m going to walk around and see what I can see. It is nice out here.” He walked around to the right side of the house, and as soon as he did, he smiled. “They back here. Come on.”
The porch wrapped around the whole house. I walked to the corner and could see Shanet’s hair blowing in the wind. She was wearing a coat to keep her warm but sunglasses to block the sun. They were working in a garden that I could tell was well taken care of.
Shanet and her mother were working side by side. I could hear their giggles as I came off the porch and followed Sakani in their direction. I hoped that laughter meant they were working on everything that kept them apart for so long.
“Hey, Dr. E, you miss me?”
Sakani jogged toward Shanet and her mother. I walked behind him because there was nothing I could do to keep him away from his favorite youth counselor. Sakani had made a bond with Shanet so strong that I may as well shut up when it came to those two.
