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“I’m just saying… it might look better by the window.”

MJ pointed at him.

“Thank you!”

“No,” I said. “Both of y’all can go outside.”

Tahari finally got the lights untangled and held them up.

“Can we put these on before somebody decide to move the whole damn house?”

I took one end from him, and he smiled at me. Things had been good between us, but I still thought about what happened outside the grocery store.

Tahari hadn’t brought his mother up again, and neither had I. There were moments when I caught him getting quiet, and I wondered if he was thinking about her, but I never asked. Tonight, he seemed happy to be here. He had spent most of the afternoon helping Daddy with a few things around the house before we started decorating, and now he was laughing at my family like he hadn’t been dragged into all this against his will. I wanted him to have that.

“Mali, hold this,” he said.

I took the strand of lights while he reached around the back of the tree.

“Higher,” I told him.

He moved his hand up.

“A little more.”

He moved it again.

“Okay, now bring it down.”

He stopped and looked at me through the branches.

“Maliah.”

“What?” I asked, already knowing that he was getting annoyed with me.

“You wanna come do this?”

I giggled and then shook my head no. By the time we finished with the lights, MJ had gone to the kitchen to get something to drink. Maylee was sorting ornaments by color, and Daddy was telling Uncle Sha about his latest physical therapy session.

“I made it from the couch to the doorway,” Daddy said.

“With the walker?” Uncle Sha asked.

“Yeah. The therapist right there with me.”

“That’s what’s up.”

“I had to sit down when I got there, though.”

Daddy had a little bit of disappointment in his tone.

“You got there,” Uncle Sha said encouragingly.

“Next time, I’m going farther,” Daddy said with a smile.

I looked over at him. He was talking about it so casually, but I knew how hard he’d worked to get to this point. Some weeks ago, three little steps had left him exhausted. Now he could make it across part of the living room with his walker and somebody beside him. He still had difficult days. There were mornings when he was sore, and other days when his legs didn’t cooperate the way he wanted them to. But he kept showing up for therapy.

The doorbell rang before I could put another ornament on the tree.