Cadence settled between us, legs swinging, and we took off to Spin Girl Spin on Main. The place hadn’t changed a bit, and the nostalgia made me smile. The Diner was just two blocks away, and I couldn’t wait to share this moment with them. All the moments, in fact. I texted Lola and told her to pull some properties for me to look at.
Kareem dropped us at the curb, and Cadence skipped toward the front door before either of us could catch up.
The studio was a small storefront, mirrors on every wall, a row of folding chairs along the back for the parents. Mostly mothers, a couple of grandmas, and one other dad on his phone. Every single one of them clocked me when I walked in. It was probably the fact that they’d been watching Skye bring Cadence here alone, and now here I was.
I didn’t care. I took the chair next to Skye and watched my daughter line up at the barre in a purple leotard, glasses still on, completely out of step like every other kid in the room and not the least bit bothered by it.
“She’s not very good,” Skye whispered, grinning. “Like, not even a little.”
“She’s the best one in here.”
“Ducane, she’s facing the wrong way.”
“Best one in here, like I said.”
Skye laughed quietly and bumped her shoulder into mine.
“I think our girl’s gonna be an intellectual, but I have to expose her to it all. I want her to know?—”
“Sky’s the limit,” I said, cutting her off.
“Yeah. Exactly.”
“Thank you,” I said.
She turned toward me.
“For what?”
I watched Cadence stumble through another plié before I answered.
“For choosing her. You were twenty-two. Pregnant. Alone. You carried the weight of every decision by yourself.” I swallowed. “Nobody would’ve blamed you for making a different one.”
Skye’s eyes filled. She didn’t wipe them.
“I’d make the same choice a hundred times over,” she said. “She’s my everything, Ducane.”
“I know. That’s what I’m thanking you for.” I finally looked at her. “I’m still mad. We still have a long way to go, you and me. But before any of that, you need to hear me say it. Thank you for not letting them take her. Thank you for her whole life.”
She nodded, slowly, and looked back at our girl.
We sat quietly for a while, watching Cadence murder a plié.
“You should know some things about her,” Skye said eventually. Softer now. “Since you’re here for good.”
“Tell me.”
“Her birthday’s August fifteenth.” She smiled a little. “That’s the house code too. Backwards. For whenever you need it.”
August fifteenth. I locked it in.
I’d spend the rest of my life making up for every birthday I missed.
“She’s left and right-handed both.” Skye watched her as she talked, handing her to me one piece at a time. “She’ll color with one hand and snack with the other and not even know she’s doing it.”
“And she hates peas.”
Skye glanced at me, caught off guard.
