Then he walked to his car, got in, and drove away.
I stood there in the middle of the street, my hands still shaking, my heart still racing, the smell of blood and gasoline and victory thick in the air.
Mama walked down the porch steps and put her arm around my shoulders.
“I like him,” she said.
I looked at her.
“Yeah,” I said quietly. “Me too.”
I followed Mama back inside, my legs still shaky from the adrenaline.
The living room felt smaller now, like the walls had closed in while I was outside beating Destiny’s ass in the middle of the street.
Mama was still laughing—that deep, wheezing laugh she got when something tickled her so bad she couldn’t breathe right.
“Lord have mercy,” she said, wiping tears from her eyes. “I ain’t seen a beat down like that since your Aunt Tabitha caught Uncle Earl with that woman from the casino.”
I couldn’t help but smile.
“Mama.”
“No, baby, I’m serious.” She shook her head, still grinning. “You and that man put on ashowout there. Whole block gon’ be talking about this for weeks.”
I went to my room and came back with the Macy’s bag that had her stuff in it.
“Here,” I said, handing it to her. “I got you something.”
Mama looked at the bag like I’d just handed her a live grenade.
“Truth, you didn’t have to get me nothing.”
“I know. But I wanted to.”
She opened the bag slowly, pulling out the robe first—deep burgundy with black trim, the kind of robe that cost more than she would ever spend money on.
Her eyes went wide.
“Baby,” she whispered. “This is?—”
“Try it on.”
She didn’t need to be told twice.
Mama shrugged off her house robe right there in the living room and slipped into the new one, tying the belt at her waist with careful fingers.
She ran her hands down the fabric, her face soft in a way I hadn’t seen in years.
“This is real soft,” she said quietly.
“I know.”
“Truth, this must’ve cost?—”
“Don’t worry about it.”
She looked at me then, her eyes sharp again, assessing.
