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“Alright, let me stop you before you get too crazy. I know this whole no-contact situation can create a space for crazy thoughts, but, Nyx absolutely feels the same way about you. Her personality isn’t even the same now that y’all aren’t as close as you’ve been. She comes to work, finishes her work shift, and leaves. She misses you too, Jamie. You have to know that.”

“How, if it was so easy for her to just walk away from this—from me as if it didn’t matter?” My eyes traveled to the engraved potter bearing her name.

“She’s afraid, friend. And deep down, I know you’re aware of that.”

“True,” I agreed. “But I’ve never given her a reason to be afraid of me.”

“She hasn’t exactly been put in a situation to have a reason to trust someone she’s dating, either. Well, not recently. The five stages of no contact are similar to the five stages of grief, and you must be on anger right now.”

“Can you please stop saying ‘no contact’?”

“Yup,” Xi brought her hands together. “We’re definitely at anger. But I’ll change the subject before you do me like you did your mama and throw me out of your house.”

I snorted at that, “That’s not funny, Xi.”

“It made you at least partially smile, so it got the job done. Anyway, did you get your song done?”

“With a lot of prayers and a miracle only Jesus could have performed, yes. It’s done.”

“You think Nyx is coming?”

“I have no idea. I’ve trained my mind by now not to even think about it. It took too much to get here for me to let our drama be the reason it crumbles. But I can’t lie; everything is falling into place so easily, it feels like something is bound to go wrong.”

“Or, things could be falling into place because you’re finally listening and embracing the plan God had for you instead of trying to do your own thing. The things that bloom when we’re obedient are beyond our wildest dreams.”

Raising an eyebrow, I glanced at her. “When the hell did you become so spiritual?”

“This guy I’ve been dating recently is a pastor’s kid, so I’ve been going to church with him to try to earn some brownie points.”

“Ximena, you’re going to hell. You’re no better than a man.”

“It sounds like you’re worrying a little bit too much about my business and not enough about your own, sir. Anyway, have you ever considered that all this drama with Nyx allows both of you to get your shit together instead of just her?”

“What you mean?”

“I mean, the overdue conversation you need to have with your mom. I love you and you better not ever tell your brother I said this, but Jude’s right about how much you’ve allowed your parents, or at least their opinions, to steer certain aspects of your life. Having Nyx around helped you see the problem, but there’s still the matter of addressing it. At least with your mom. You’ve already cussed your father out.”

That actually made me laugh. “Shut the hell up, ain’t nobody cuss that man out.”

“I’m sure if you let him tell the story, he’d say you did.”

“You’re probably right. About that, and about how much influence I’ve allowed them to have over me. I can’t lead a household of my own if I’m allowing them to run the one I already have.”

“Oooh, does that mean a proposal is on the table?”

“Xi, don’t go there,” I grumbled, composing a message to send to my mother, agreeing to meet her for dinner. “After how I was embarrassed the last time I got down on one knee, the next woman I want to marry will wake up in the morning with a ring on her finger, and that’ll be that.”

“Well, considering you got down on one knee for the wrong woman, I’d say that doesn’t count. And you don’t have to use ‘the next woman’ in place of her name. This is a safe space. I know good and well you mean Nyx.”

“You know what, you’re right.”

“About what?”

“I’m about to put you out the way I did my mama.”

“Oop,” she tossed the pillow she’d been clutching at me. “Well, let me save you the trouble. I’ve been kicked out of better places.”

“Goodbye, Ximena.”