“Morning,” Niomi says, her smile tentative as her gaze flicks from Celine’s face to mine. “You sure you guys don’t want to?—”
“Don’t worry about him.” Celine waves her hand in my direction dismissively. “Sit and talk tome.”
I send Niomi a wryly amused look and gesture to the seat between Celine and me at our round table. “You heard her.”
“If you’re sure.” With her hair scooped up away from her face and her makeup light, Niomi sits. A Kelly-green pant suit makes her appear bright and fresh in the late morning sun.
“Very sure.” Celine grins, folding her hands beneath her chin. “We can swap stories about my father.”
For the next hour, we sip our bellinis, eat a delicious brunch and keep each other thoroughly entertained. When the subjectof Celine’s future comes up, Niomi doesn’t hesitate to ask questions and weigh in.
“I’m not sure what I want to do exactly after graduation.” Celine shrugs. “I have a few months to figure it out. My mom has some connections atTeen VogueandMarie Claire, but I want to earn my way, not get opportunities because of who I know.”
“You earn your way by being good at what you do,” Niomi says. “We don’t have a good ol’ boy network. We have each other, and any time we see a chance to pull another sister up, we should. Believe me, the folks who get opportunities because their dads are the CEO or because their grandfather was a founding member, are not questioning if they deserve it. Most of the time they believe they’re entitled to it. It was theirs before they even asked. So take every advantage.”
I smile, not wanting to add to Niomi’s sage advice. I know what it means to Celine to have a woman, a Black woman, traveling the path she sees for herself in many ways. I like seeing them form their own bond, outside of me.
“As a matter of fact.” Niomi pulls out her phone. “Let’s exchange numbers. I have a lot of contacts. Maybe there’s an opportunity out there that could be your next step. Your first step.”
“Seriously?” Celine asks, her owlish gaze trained on Niomi’s face.
“Absolutely.”
We only have a few more minutes to discuss Celine’s plans before she stands and prepares to go speak.
“I think it’s time.” She adjusts the Miss Finley sash across her dress. “I gotta sing for my supper, or brunch rather. This won’t take long.”
She glides off, picking her way through the tables and approaching the stage.
“She’s incredible, Touré,” Niomi says. “You should be really proud of her.”
“I am. Not sure I can take much credit for it, but yeah. She’s something else.”
“Not take credit?” Niomi scoffs. “That’s your daughter. I don’t know Annette, but there is a lot of you in Celine. The drive and ambition. The curiosity. The reserve with just enough humor hiding underneath.”
I want to believe it; believe that I had a part in shaping the amazing young woman taking the stage. I sneak my hand under the table to find Niomi’s, linking our fingers on my knee.
“Thank you for the things you shared with her. She needed to hear that, and hearing it from you gave it just that much more weight.”
“I meant it. I wouldn’t be where I am now had it not been for so many people helping me along the way.”
“Same.” I raise my bellini. “Here’s to reaching back and paying forward.”
“I can toast to that.” We clink glasses just as Celine reaches the mic.
“Good afternoon,” Celine says, spreading her smile around the room. “I’m a senior and as, you may know, this year’s homecoming queen.”
The applause and whistles that follow draw a happy laugh from Celine before she goes on.
“I’m not up here to give a speech. They asked me to just share a few words. I want to encourage you to be ever curious.”
She looks out to the audience and finds me, holding my stare. “My father taught me that. He’s the most curious person I know. And don’t let anyone impose their limits on you. Dad, you taught me that, too. When you shake off other people’s expectations and pursue your own, it will take you far. It took my father far.”
She looks down for a second and then back up, her eyes finding mine again. “But now I’m glad he’s home.”
Home.
The word, the almost reverent way my daughter says it, tolls in my head, a bell bidding me in from distant lands to a place that is warm, welcome, waiting. If my first bookElsewheredepicted my travels and the lessons the world taught me as I pursued my ambitions, maybe this book should examine the time I lost; a cautionary tale of, not only the reward of chasing our dreams with such focus, but if we’re not careful, the perils. The lessons of not taking family and friends for granted. The joy of finding those things and people I neglected still here waiting for me. The grace of coming home in time to reclaim the things that almost slipped away.
