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“Where do you want it?” she asked as she took it.

“Anywhere except wherever MJ tells you.”

“I heard that!” he called from the hallway.

Penelope laughed and stepped closer to the tree.

For the next hour, the house was exactly how I liked it. Music played from the speakers, everybody talked over one another, and the tree slowly filled up with ornaments. Maylee insisted on putting the star on top, but she couldn’t reach it, so Tahari got the ladder and stood beside it while she climbed up. With these high ceilings, Mama always made sure to get the tallest tree that she could find.

“Don’t let me fall,” Maylee told him.

“I got you.”

He watched as she carefully stepped up. She placed the star on top and stepped down. We all stood back to look at it.

“Okay,” I said. “Now it’s perfect.”

MJ tilted his head, and I pointed at him.

“Don’t,” I quickly said.

He held up both hands and then shook his head. I knew that he wanted to argue that the tree was crooked, but he kept his mouth shut. Mama asked me to turn the living room lights off so we could see the tree lit up. I switched them off, and the room glowed with warm white lights. For a moment, everybody got quiet.

“Now that’s nice,” Daddy said, breaking the silence.

I looked over at him. He was sitting beside Mama, holding her hand while he looked at the tree. She leaned against his shoulder, and he kissed the top of her head. I took a picture before either of them noticed.

“Send me that,” Mama said.

“I will,” I said with a laugh.

The smell of dinner had been coming from the kitchen for a while, and when Mama checked the time, she started to get up, but Daddy caught her hand.

“Where are you going?”

“To check on the food.”

“Sit down. I can check on them ribs.”

Uncle Sha turned toward him so fast that I almost dropped my phone.

“Nah, nigga.”

“What?” Daddy asked.

“We all seen The Temptations. Blue’s ass went to the kitchen and never came back.”

I covered my mouth to stop my laugh from escaping. Uncle Sha stood up and pressed a hand to his own chest.

“I’m not about to be standing in here singing, ‘I’m really gonna miss you, my buddyyyyy… I’m really gonna miss you, my frienddddd.’”

He dragged the last word out while closing his eyes like he was performing in front of a whole audience. Aunt Tori bent forward while laughing.

“Sha, stop!”

Maylee fell against the couch, and MJ doubled over beside the tree. Daddy stared at Uncle Sha for a second before he started laughing too.

“Man, get the fuck outta here!”