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2
XOLANI DIDN’T NOTICE BARRY WAS gone until she saw him on the other side of the waiting area, greeting another man. She wanted to chase him down and ask for his number, but her family had formed a tight ring of love around her.
“Oh my baby.” Xolani’s mother, Kwezi, grabbed her by the face. “You’ve gotten so skinny. I thought the French knew how to cook.”
“It’s all a lie. The only good food is soul food.” Xolani’s father, Stanley, put his arm around Xolani’s shoulder and stared her up and down in concern. “Look at her. She’s all skin and bones.”
“Skin and bones? Where?” Xolani’s younger brother, Camryn, scoffed. “She’s gotten fat. You need to lose weight, Xo. Maybe for your comeback gift, I’ll get you a gym membership.”
“You’re a hater.” Xo glared at her brother.
The boy hadn’t changed at all in the twenty-six years he’d haunted her life. He was still a thorn in her backside… a tall, oversized, old thorn, but still a thorn. Oh, how she wished she could dial back time to when she was three-years-old and begging her parents for a sibling. She’d shut her damn mouth and revel in being a happy only-child.
“Don’t listen to him.” Justine, Xolani’s friend, consoled. “You look fantastic. Like a Paris Fashion week model. And we missed you terribly.”
“Yes, we did,” Anika, Xolani’s other friend, agreed enthusiastically.
“Well, I didn’t,” Celia, Xolani’s eighty-year-old grandmother, declared. “How can you miss her when you talk to each other on those god-awful TV phones every damn night? Ruining my sleep and everything!” She scowled at Kwezi and Stanley, making it clear that they were the culprits behind her ruined sleep. “I’m glad you’re back, baby. Maybe these fools can stop the nightly phone bansheeing now.”
Despite her surliness, it was obvious that the elderly lady was glad to see Xolani, otherwise she wouldn’t have dragged her cranky behind to the airport.
With a laugh, Xolani edged closer to hug. “I love you too, Grams.”
Of course, Celia hugged her back even tighter.
After some more small talk, the group exited the airport. Someone smart had had the foresight to hire a minibus. They all piled in and headed to her parents’ home in Detroit.
Several cars were parked outside the two-story home.
“Surprise!” a full living-room of people yelled out when Xolani entered the house.
Her aunts, uncles, cousins, neighbors, childhood friends, and several unfamiliar faces were all part of the crowd. Having so many people welcome her when she’d only been gone for six months was a bit overwhelming. But it wasn’t surprising. Her family liked to do things big. Taking it all in stride, Xolani moved around the room, greeting everyone and thanking them for showing up.
The next few hours were spent partying, eating, and chatting about her time in France. People only started to file out of the house once nighttime set in.
“You have to sleep over,” Kwezi and Stanley insisted when Xolani informed them that she was going to her own house. “This is your first time in the country after so long. You have to sleep here.”
“Mm mm.” Xolani shook her head. “I want to sleep in my own bed.”
“You have a bed here too,” Kwezi insisted.
“Isn’t it occupied right now?” Xolani asked rhetorically.
Her parents had turned hers and Camryn’s childhood bedrooms into guestrooms. The rooms were currently occupied by a relative, who was having a hard time making ends meet, and his four-person family.
Neither Xolani nor Camryn minded. They’d already moved out anyway.
“I don’t want to put them out,” Xolani continued. “Besides, Cam, Justine and Anika are waiting for me to ride with them.”
But her parents still tried to convince her to stay. However, she stood her ground. Her parents eventually gave in, but it was with a lot of whining and gnashing of teeth. After assuring them that she’d return over the weekend, she got into Camryn’s car with Justine and Anika.
It was only once they were a safe distance from her parents’ home that Xolani turned to her brother and friends with narrowed eyes.
“Okay, which one of you disloyal snitches told my parents when I was getting in?” She glared at the trio in turns. “You’re the only ones I told about when I was landing, and I told you all not to tell them because I didn’t want a party. But see what happened today. One of you betrayed me. Which one of you is Judas?”
“Not me.” Justine was the first to speak. “The performance I gave when your dad called me should’ve won me an Oscar. I even cried because I couldn’t believe that my good friend… my best, best friend… wouldn’t tell me when they were coming back.”
Camryn piped up, “Well, it wasn’t me ei_”
