Love glanced over, then reached out and tapped her knee gently. “Listen,” she said, voice low and steady, “you go in there, hold your head high, and don’t let him see you sweat. Strut in there like the girl I raised you to be, even if you shaking on the inside.”
Yana looked at her and nodded. “Okay.”
Love smiled. “Shoulders back. Chin up. Show him you know who the hell you are. You are Yana Melendez! The prettiest, smartest, and brightest girl in all the school. He’s a fool to not make it work out with you. He’s gonna regret it one day soon, just watch.”
They pulled into the school, and Yana smirked and started gathering her things. “You always got a speech ready, huh?”
“Only when it counts,” Love said. She pulled up to the front curb of the school and put the car in park.
Yana opened the door, paused with her hand on the door handle, and looked at her again.
“Can I ask you something?”
Love’s grip on the steering wheel loosened. “Of course.”
“Are you and Dad . . .” She hesitated for a moment. Her eyes flickered toward the school entrance, then back at her mom. “Are y’all getting back together?”
The question didn’t surprise Love, but she wasn’t prepared to answer it in this moment.
“No.” She answered slow and honestly. “We’re not.”
Yana’s mouth twitched, like she wanted to say something but wasn’t sure how. Then she mumbled, “I figured. I know about the baby.”
This caught Love off guard. “How?”
“I heard you and Auntie Quiyanna talking. I saw a weird text on Dad’s phone one time at dinner. I just . . . put two and two together.”
“I didn’t mean for you to find out like that.” Love swallowed hard, and shame prickled at the back of her neck.
“It’s okay,” Yana said quickly. “I mean, of course it’s notokay, but . . . I get it. I just want you to be good. I don’t need y’all to stay together just to say you did. I think you’re strong for leaving.”
With that, she pushed the door open. She placed one foot on the pavement, then turned to her mother and continued.
“But I also think you should take your own advice sometimes,” Yana added, looking over her shoulder. “You said walk in there like the girl you are, even if you’re shaking. That’s what I see when I look at you.”
Love let out a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding. Her daughter’s confirmation of her strength gave her something she hadn’t realized she needed.
“Thank you,” she said, holding back a tear.
Yana smiled then stepped out. She paused before closing the door.
“I love you, Ma.”
“I love you more,” Love said and blinked the tears away.
Love sat there for a moment and watched Yana disappear into the school building. She reflected on her daughter’s silent strength, her own heartbreak, and the day still ahead of her. Then, she put the car in drive and pulled off toward the studio.
Today, she had a film to make and a man who’d once walked out of her life to face.
“Alright y’all,” Malcolm shouted, voice projecting as he clapped his hands together in the middle of the studio. “Listen up. We’re doing something a little different today.”
Everyone quieted down and shifted their eyes from wardrobe racks and makeup touch-ups to their executive producer.
“My goal is to make this movie feel as real as possible. We need the audience to capture the emotion as if they are living in it. So, I booked a short trip for us. We’re flying to Detroit, specifically to visit the Aretha Franklin Amphitheatre.”
A few murmurs of excitement rippled through the room.
“It’s where one of the most pivotal scenes in the book takes place,” Malcolm continued. “And I want y’all to feel it. Smell it. Stand in the same spots. Let it sink into your bones before we shoot.”
