Page 243 of When a Soul Cries

And that was when the last little piece of guilt I’d been carrying finally let go.

At first, I had hated that I hadn’t made it back before everything fell apart. I kept thinking if I’d gotten home sooner, maybe I could’ve stopped the eviction.

Now I was glad I hadn’t.

Because knowing me, I would’ve found some way to keep Sol right there in that same rundown apartment, thinking I was helping.

Instead, she and Halo were standing in Eastview.

Sometimes shit didn’t work out the way you wanted because it was making room to work out better.

That was all I needed to know.

“Come on,” Sol said, reaching into the back seat for Halo.

Halo immediately started bouncing when Sol unbuckled her.

“Yeah, yeah,” I muttered, opening my trunk. “Everybody excited except the unpaid moving company.”

Sol rolled her eyes.

A few minutes later, I followed her through the front door carrying another box.

The second I stepped inside, I stopped.

“Damn, bitch.”

Sol turned around.

I slowly looked from the dark wood-look flooring to the clean neutral walls, white trim and big windows letting sunlight pour into the living room. The kitchen sat open to the main space with white cabinets, simple modern finishes and enough room that Sol wouldn’t have to squeeze around furniture just to move through it.

“This is nice.”

Sol smiled.

I stepped farther inside, deliberately inspecting the corners.

“You ain’t got no roaches or nothing in here.”

“Zari!”

“What?” I leaned sideways and peeked behind the kitchen counter. “I’m checking. We upgrading.”

Sol bent forward laughing.

Halo squealed because her mama was laughing, then took off across the empty living room on her little legs.

“Look at her.” Sol’s entire face softened.

Halo hurried toward the windows, stopped to slap both little hands against the glass, then turned and ran back across the room, her fluffy curls bouncing around her head.

Her little footsteps echoed because there wasn’t anything in the room yet to absorb the sound.

For a moment, Sol and I just watched her.

This baby didn’t care that there wasn’t a couch.

She didn’t care that the walls were bare.