“He’s cute,” I said.
Jojo smiled, all softness. “He looks like Rawley, but he eats like me.”
I laughed, the knot in my throat loosening a little.
We rocked, slow, letting the night settle around us.
After a while, Jojo asked, “You scared?”
I stared out at the sky, then nodded. “Yeah. Always. My dad—he’s never really seen me. Not the real me. I’m just a fuck-up in a suit, a name on a ledger. If I go into that call and fall apart—”
Jojo cut me off. “Then don’t fall apart. Make him see you. The real you.”
I snorted. “Easy for you to say. You have a family that actually wants you around.”
He shook his head, still not looking at me. “I have a family now. I had to fight for it. You did, too.”
I looked down at the baby. He was awake, eyes wide and luminous in the dusk, one fist clutching the edge of Jojo’s shirt.
“I want him to have a family,” I said, voice low. “I want him to have a home.”
Jojo nodded, then pulled a blanket up over the baby’s face. “Then build it. One brick at a time.”
We sat together, the porch swing creaking, until the chill drove us inside.
I found my way to the bedroom, shucked my jeans, and crawled under the covers. Macon was already there, reading with one hand behind his head, glasses perched on his nose. He set the book down when I climbed in, then slid an arm around me, pulling me close.
“You good?” he asked.
I curled against him, hand protectively over my belly. “Yeah,” I said, and I meant it.
He kissed the back of my neck, then shut off the lamp.
I lay there in the dark, listening to his breathing and the soft patter of the baby’s feet against the inside of my skin. For the first time, the prospect of facing my father didn’t terrify me.
I was ready.
When dawn rolled around, pale and insistent at the window, I woke before the alarm. The house was still, the air full ofpossibility. I rolled over, kissed Macon awake, and went to the kitchen to start the coffee. There was a note from Jojo on the fridge:“You’ve got this.”
I smiled, tore off the note, and shoved it in my pocket.
Today would change everything. I could feel it.
But for once in my life, I wasn’t afraid of being seen.
