Sametra's face filled the screen first, Summer on her hip. “You sure got up there quick to leave us.”
Kennedi propped the phone against her carry-on. “Don't make me cry before I board.”
“Too late,” Halo said from the other side of the screen. “You look beautiful, by the way, Momma. Colorado agreed with you.”
“It did.” She smiled. “Y’all agreed with me more. I’m going to miss y’all so much.”
“We are coming to visit, don’t even worry. Are you ready to face the music?” Halo asked.
“As ready as I can be. Still scared, but all I can do is be honest.”
“Yeah, because he definitely deserves to know.”
Truthfully, she knew she should’ve told him, but fear didn’t move with logic or fairness. It moved with instinct. And right now, it was trying to protect her heart and her baby from the possibility that Rolani Pracher had moved on without her.Them.
“I’ll tell him,” she said finally. “I will. I need to make sure I’m not walking into anything I can’t handle.”
Halo shook her head, smiling despite herself. “You journalists, I swear. Everything’s a story.”
“This one’s the biggest story of my life,” Kennedi said softly. “I can’t afford to get it wrong.”
The rest of the call passed in laughter as she waited for her flight. Kennedi let herself enjoy it, knowing she was about to leave it behind. Sametra got to talking about her pregnancy with her newest addition, Summer, whom Kennedi had fallen in love with over the past few months.
“Summer tore me like a sheet of paper. She got that big ass head from her daddy.”
“Mimi, don’t scare the girl. You knew that man had a big head when you married him.”
“I did, and that’s exactly why he had to pay for Momma to get snatched back together again.”
Kennedi’s eyes went wide. “You had that surgery?”
“Brand new, baby. I can drop it like a bag of ice with zero resistance.”
Halo dissolved. Full tears, hand over her mouth, unable to speak. Sametra told that story to anyone who would listen and meant every word of it. Kennedi held out for about four seconds before she went, too, and then she asked for recommendations before she fully caught her breath.
“You call me the minute you need to talk,” Sametra said as they called for Kennedi to board. “I don’t care what time it is. You hear me?”
“I hear you, Ice box.”
Rolani sat across from Giovanni in his office, listening to him go on about expansion plans and community outreach. His mind kept drifting, the way it had been since last night. He hadn’t meant to watch her vlog. It popped up on his timeline while he was scrolling to pass the time. But since he had, he’d been replaying the words in his head.
New beginnings.
Transitioning back home.
For a brief, reckless second, he wondered if he was supposed to be part of that sentence, if maybe she had left space for him somewhere in those plans. The thought irritated him more than it hurt. She hadn’t called. Hadn’t texted. Hadn’t said anything to him directly. Only told the world she was moving on to whatever was next. That was on him for even thinking he’d be included.
“Yo, you even with me right now?”
Rolani’s eyes snapped back to Giovanni. “Yeah, man. I’m here.”
“You sure? ‘Cause you've been somewhere else for a minute.” Giovanni leaned back in his chair. “What’s good with you?”
“I’m straight. Got a lot on my mind and plate.”
Giovanni studied him for a second before letting it go. “Aight. Well, listen. I got run something by you. I’m bringing somebody on to help us with media and storytelling for Idle Hands as a whole. Build the brand the right way, control our narrative, all that.”
“Okay. What’s that got to do with me?”
