Keisha waits for me inside the airport. It’s a relief being able to avoid fighting with the LAX crowds while waiting for a rideshare to pick me up. The lines of cars waiting to inch closer to the curb are like honking cattle. There’s always some kind of drama, someone in a massive SUV stopping at the perfect angle to fuck up everyone else’s day for the following 1.25 minutes—which might as well be an hour in airport-induced anger.
“Babe!” Keisha sings while pulling me into a hug. I can feel her bump against me, a month bigger than the last time I saw her. There’s no way she’s still fooling people. The coconut scent from her hair brings back countless memories. It’s comforting to be in her emphatic embrace, whether she is feeling sorry for me or not.
“I missed you,” I say.
“I missed you too,” she says. “Let’s get you home.”
I’m not sure Los Angeles feels like home anymore.
~
In the house, Keisha and Kellen let me get settled into the guest room. Keisha has already made it cozy for me with my favorite toiletries set up in the bathroom, one of my favorite scented candles with a warming tray on the side table, and two extra blankets waiting at the foot of the bed.
An hour later, my suitcase is mostly unpacked, a basket of laundry sits on one side of me, and half a closet is full of what I had washed right before we left. The candle is warming already, filling the room with linen and vanilla notes that I love but don’t smell like home anymore. It’s obvious what’s missing.
Opening Liem’s suitcase, I peek at all the items he claimed weren’tnecessities. His favorite hoodie, a book, two pairs of glasses. I feel like I’m overstepping when I take out enough of his clothes to find the ring box. I open it, sighing all over again when I see the size of the diamond. While he should have checked it, I’m sure he meant to keep it close in case his luggage got lost.The irony.
Natalie’s note is no longer stuffed in the lid. He must have discarded it in our morning rush before the flights. I don’t like imagining him reading it, but at least I softened the blow before he did.
I close the box and place it back where I found it. Before packing anything back in, I lift his hoodie to my nose and inhale his scent.
The notes of oak and rain mix with the sweetness of the vanilla candle, and I’m back in Brooklyn in a second. Calm and cozy, Liem sitting on the floor next to me, teasing me for finally appreciating his scent the way he enjoys mine. I’m starting to get it now. He’s still a nerd, but he’s onto something.
God, I miss him. I decide to keep the hoodie against my nose for a bit longer.
“What’s that?” Keisha asks from the doorway.
I lower the hoodie from my face casually as if I was doing something completely normal. “Liem and I accidentally got our suitcases mixed up at the airport. This is his.”
“Accidentally.” She quirks a brow, implying I stole it.
“Tell your face to hush. We have the same case. I grabbed the wrong one in a hurry to catch my flight.”
“Sure, babe, sure. Tacos for dinner?” she suggests. The baby must make her think about food as much as I do.
I can’t believe how much her belly has grown. There’s nothing like a pregnancy to bookmark exactly how much time has passed. The tracking of weeks, months, adding more emphasis to a timeline that already consumes my life.
“I’m not the boss here. Whatever baby wants, we get,” I say.
“Well, baby wants jalapeños and mustard on potato chips right now, so you better not let her decide.”
The word hangs in the air. “Her?”
Keisha’s mouth drops open. She wasn’t supposed to say that, but I’m happy she slipped.
“You’re having a girl,” I coo. Going to her, I wrap her up in as big a hug as my future niece will allow. The idea of a little Keisha giving her the same shit she gives me warms my heart.
Keisha’s teary smile is infectious when I let her go. “I’m sorry for what happened in New York, but I am very glad I get to have you here for this.”
I’m happy I’m here for this part as well, even though my only regret from New York is leaving.
~
It feels good to be at brunch with the girls again.
Our friend group started in college, and while we’ve all gone in different directions over the past few years, we’ve stuck to our quarterly meet-ups. I cherish my time with all of them, whether I feel out of place or not. Our couple, Lupe and Harlow, Whitney, Junie, Keisha—all of them growing, achieving, succeeding. I spend my morning listening to their stories, proud and impressed, even when I show up brunch after brunch with nothing to share.
While Lupe and Harlow split a story about the newest maintenance drama on the house they closed on the week before I left, I sneak a sip of Keisha’s untouched mimosa while my mind drifts to Brooklyn again. The last time Liem and I went out for drinks . . . The way he kissed me before having a single sip. The way he kissed me after more than a few sips. The way he kissed me when I left, thinking he would never see me again. It was like kissing three different men. One sweet,one sensual, one heartbreakingly unattainable. Gaining the trust and affection of someone as enigmatic as him is the only accomplishment I’ve had since our last brunch.
