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Lloyd didn’t push the issue. He just changed the subject to one of the donors who wanted to expand the foundation’s entrepreneurship grant, and within minutes we were talking numbers. That was one thing I liked about Lloyd. He knew how to talk to me without every conversation circling back to Rah.

“What they are proposing is not enough,” I told him.

“Three hundred thousand ain’t enough?”

“Not if they want to spread it across twenty businesses. That’s fifteen thousand each before you even get into administrative costs. What is somebody supposed to do with that if they’re trying to open a brick-and-mortar location?”

“You’d rather fund fewer people?”

“I would rather actually help ten.”

“You know a little something, huh?”

I smiled and took a sip of my wine as the crowd toward the entrance shifted. I didn’t have to see who walked in. The King family had a way of changing the energy in any room. Shameek and Nikki walked in hand in hand. They looked so cute together. Nikki wore a fitted emerald colored dress that hugged her body perfectly. Her hair was pinned up with a few pieces framing her face. Shameek had cleaned up good, too. His locs were pulled away from his face; he wore a black tuxedo with big diamond cufflinks. My eyes stayed on them a little too long. Then Shameek and I made eye contact before I looked away. Lloyd was still talking about the grant proposal, so I forced my attention back to him.

“I think we should match whatever the foundation contributes,” I said.

“That would get you closer to what you want.”

“Exactly. If they put up three, we put up three. Now we have six hundred thousand and enough to actually change somebody’s life.”

“You know you’re going to end up chairing this committee,” he said.

“Absolutely not.”

“You just redesigned the entire program in four minutes.”

“I’m good!” We laughed.

We continued talking until Lorraine called everybody towards their tables. Lloyd had been seated with several attorneys and judges closer to the front. I was at the King family table. As I moved away from him, he lightly touched my elbow to let the server carrying champagne pass between us. That was it. Barely a touch, but when I looked towards the table, Shameek was watching. Nikki was sitting beside him, talking to Pops as I made it to the table and took my seat next to Jaharee.

The program started, and for the next hour I kept my attention where it belonged. Pops spoke first. He talked about the foundation’s beginning and the neighborhoods where he and Lorraine were raised. Then Lorraine got up and spoke about the scholarship program. Lastly, Jaharee introduced this year’s recipients. Then they played the video of Rah. I knew the shit was coming because I had to approve the video. Still, seeing my husband’s face stretched across three giant screens almost took me out. His voice filled the ballroom from an interview he had done last year. I stared straight ahead while my throat dried up. I was so glad nobody touched me. The video ended with Rah laughing, his head thrown back the way it always did when something was really funny. The applause thundered through the ballroom. For the first time in a long time, the tears that filled my eyes didn’t feel completely sad. I was so proud of him.

After dinner, the formal part of the evening loosened up. The DJ took over, the lights lowered, and the people started networking and dancing. I looked across the room to see Raya snatching a drink off the server’s tray. I had forgotten that she was on the guest list. I guess the bitch did benefit from having a connection to a King. She was seated towards the back of the ballroom. Averie was smiling and mingling with a few of the people at her table. Tonight was going great. Lloyd had found his way back to me.

“I’m surprised you’re still here,” he said.

“Why?”

“You normally be gone after the speeches.”

“That was when Rah was here to disappear with.”

The words came out before I thought about them.

“Damn, you’re right. I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay. Really, it’s okay.”

Someone I knew came over and pulled me into conversation. Lloyd stayed beside me, adding to the conversation when it made sense. Having conversations with him came easy. We had more in common than we thought. That was probably what caught Shameek’s attention. I felt his eyes before I found him. He was standing across the ballroom talking to one of Pop’s longtime friends. His attention wasn’t fully on the conversation, though. It was on me. This time I stared right back. His eyebrow raised slightly, which made me turn away.

Ten minutes later, Lloyd had me laughing about one of the members trying to quietly change the wording in a contract after everybody had agreed to the terms.

“Kyenna,” Shameek said.

“Yes?” I turned to him.

“Pops is looking for you.”