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CHAPTER 6

AVERIE

The sound of feet running through my house had become my favorite alarm clock. Before I could even stretch good, Kaiden burst through my bedroom door with Khari right behind him.

“Mama!”

I groaned and reached for my phone on the nightstand. It was only eight twenty-two.

“It ain’t even nine yet,” I moaned.

Kaiden ignored me and climbed in the bed anyway.

“Ms. Kyenna said she was going to make breakfast for us,” Khari said.

“How do you know that?” I peeked from under my cover to look at her.

“She texted Kaiden,” Khari said.

I was still on the fence about sharing my kids with her. No, she never gave me a reason not to trust her with them. Khari loved her. It was just me being a little protective. They were all I had left of Rah. It was now my responsibility to protect them. The last few weeks had been hard for all of us. My son tried his best to be the strong big brother, but I caught him crying in the shower twice. Khari didn’t understand death the way we did.

“Alright,” I finally said. “Both of y’all go brush your teeth and wash your face. We’ll leave in an hour.”

Saturday mornings used to be my day. Rah would’ve picked the kids up from school on Thursday, and I wouldn’t see them until Sunday night. It didn’t matter what we were going through; he got his kids. All three of them. I sat on the side of my bed thinking about what I was going to get into while they were gone. I had finally decided to go back to work next week. I just needed the time to grieve and make sure my kids were okay. Getting up from the bed, I headed to my bathroom to get myself cleaned up. Afterwards, I headed to the laundry room to grab Khari’s favorite pajamas that I had just washed.

At an hour exactly, my kids were waiting for me in the living room. Originally, I was going to have Shameek come and pick them up. I think it was time for me to face going to that house if my kids were going to be there. Kaiden grabbed both of their bags as we headed out the door. As we drove over, I prepped myself to face Kyenna. We hadn’t talked at all. Besides the slick comments after Rah died. He made sure we never got close to Kyenna. I never understood why he was so protective of her and not us. Maybe it was just my broken heart overthinking.

“Can y’all please be on your best behavior?” I asked, as the gate opened for us.

“Yes ma’am,” Khari said.

“Kaiden…”

“Mama, I am not about to be disrespectful. I know better. I just want to be close to my daddy.”

Before I could fully park, Khari was pulling at the door handle.

“Girl, slow down.”

One of the security guards opened the door for us. I stood there just looking at the house. The last time I was here, I had got the news that Rah was dead. Just standing here, taking it all in. All the years we spent together trying to get it right and none of this was mine. Khari walked up and grabbed my hand, knocking me out of my trance. As we approached the door, it popped open. Kyenna appeared in the door smiling, as Khari ran up and hugged her.

“Hey, Kaiden,” Kyenna said.

“Hey,” he replied, stepping inside the house.

For just a second, Kyenna and I stood there. Like we were waiting for each other to say something first.

“You can come in. I know this is a big adjustment for all of us,” Kyenna said.

She turned around and walked in the house, leaving me standing there. I took a deep breath and walked in, closing the door behind me. My kids were nowhere in sight. I’m sure they had gone up to their rooms and forgotten all about telling me bye. This was my second time in the home, but I did remember where the kitchen was. Like she promised them, she was cooking breakfast. Now, I knew Mr. King and them had chefs. Why was she standing in the kitchen cutting up fruit when she could have just snapped her fingers and had someone else do it?

“Look, I’m not your enemy,” Kyenna said, handing me a mimosa. “And no, there is nothing in it. Had you been Raya, maybe.”

We laughed before it got quiet again.

“Thank you,” I said.

“You don’t have to thank me.”