He nodded, more certain this time, like he had decided to keep going whether it got easier or not.
Then he left.
I stayed where I was for a minute after that, the board still lit, Miles holding both versions of himself without asking which one mattered more.
Auntie Rhonda’s front door was open before I cut the engine, like she’d been expecting me down to the second and didn’t see the point in pretending otherwise.
“Don’t sit out there like you’re waiting on permission,” she called from inside, her voice carrying through the house with the same authority it always had. “If you’re here, you’re here.”
I grabbed my keys and stepped out, the late morning air still cool enough to hold on to the night. Jerome’s SUV was already parked crooked along the curb, one tire flirting with the edge like he trusted the street to adjust around him.
Inside, the house felt full in a way that had nothing to do with how many people were in it. Music played low somewhere deeper in, cabinet doors opened and shut unevenly, and Simone’s voice rose above it all, already midstory.
“You cannot tell me that man thought that was going to land,” she said, one hand braced on the counter as she leaned in, her expression doing most of the work.
“I’m telling you, he believed in himself,” Jerome replied from the table, stretched out in a chair like he’d claimed it for the day. “Confidence will take you far.”
“Not if you’re wrong,” Marcus said, standing just off to the side with his arms folded, his tone even but precise.
I stepped fully into the kitchen, letting the door fall shut behind me.
“Look at you,” Simone said, glancing over her shoulder. “On time and everything.”
“I said I’d be here,” I replied, setting my keys down near the edge of the counter.
“That doesn’t always mean anything,” Jerome added.
“It does today.”
Auntie Rhonda moved between us, sliding a mug across the counter without looking at me. “You want coffee, you pour it yourself. I’m not your waitress.”
“I know better than that,” I said, reaching for the pot.
“You better,” she murmured, adjusting something on the stove before turning just enough to give me a once-over. Her eyes lingered for half a second longer than necessary, like she was checking something I hadn’t said out loud.
“You all right?” she asked, quieter now.
“I’m good.”
She held my gaze just long enough to make sure I meant it, then nodded once and kept moving. “We leaving in fifteen,” she announced to the room. “If you’re not ready, you’re explaining yourself to me and I’m not in the mood to listen.”
“That’s a threat,” Simone said.
“That’s a promise.”
I heard Nova step into the house without knocking, the door easing shut behind her. I didn’t have to turn right away to know it was her. When I did, my eyes dropped out of habit, catching the details before anything else. She had on a pair of Dunks I hadn’t seen her wear yet, one of those newer hemp pairs, the kind with that soft, textured finish that didn’t crease the same way leather did. The color sat somewhere between sand and something warmer, neutral enough to go with anything, but intentional in a way that told me she didn’t just grab them on her way out. She rarely did.
The dress was a hoodie, oversized in a way that looked intentional instead of borrowed, the kind that hit just above her knee and shifted when she moved like it had already learned her pace. The sleeves were pushed up just enough to show her wrists, and a bunch of bracelets covered both of them.
She stepped fully into the house, nudging the door closed behind her with the side of her sneaker, her bag slipping off her shoulder and landing on the nearest chair like she’d been there all morning.
“Coffee still good,” she said, reaching for a mug without looking at me yet, “or are we pretending it is out of loyalty?”
Her voice settled into the space easy, familiar, like it belonged there. For a second, I let it. Then I remembered exactly what today was going to require of me. And who I had brought with me.
Auntie Rhonda didn’t look up. “Taste it and find out.”
Nova poured a cup, took a sip, then tipped her chin once in approval. “All right. You did something with this.”
