She just turned back to the stove.
By late afternoon, the yard had gone lazy with food and heat and full bellies. Somebody had put Frankie Beverly and Maze on. Kids ran through the grass with popsicles. My father had loosened enough to start exaggerating old stories. My aunt Denise had switched from correcting plates to correcting people’s life choices more generally.
And everywhere I turned, somebody had something to say about me.
“Baby, you glowing.”
“Talia, look at your skin.”
“Oh, she happy-happy.”
I threatened each one of them with violence, which only made the laughter louder.
Micah was beside me under the shade umbrella near the deck steps when my mother called from the kitchen that they were out of ice. My father tossed money in our direction before I could even think of volunteering anybody else.
Micah caught it one-handed.
“I got it.”
I reached for my bag. “I’m coming.”
The look my mother gave me should have embarrassed me more than it did.
It didn’t.
In the car, the air conditioner came on hard enough to make me sigh. Micah backed out easy, one hand on the wheel, the other resting near the console, and looked over at me once.
“You all right?”
“Yeah.”
Then I laughed softly. “You’re doing good.”
“With your people?”
“With my people.”
He smiled a little. “That sounds like a progress report.”
“It is.”
“And?”
“And my aunt Denise already likes you, which is concerning. She normally takes longer to be charmed.”
“That right?”
“Yes. You should worry.”
He laughed, and I liked that too much.
We got the ice and came back with the kind of ease that only meant more because it had been hard-won. Every little thing between us felt placed now. Nothing vague. Nothing blurred around the edges. Even the quiet sat differently.
That was the gift.
The evening softened after that. We ate. We laughed. Micah ended up in a heated dominoes game with my father and Uncle Raymond that taught me more about his competitive side than I absolutely needed to know in one sitting. The children liked him, which mattered more than adult approval half the time. He stayed useful, warm, fully himself.
And I stayed easier.
