Out we went, locking up the shop behind us. With a fleeting kiss, we parted in front of my parents’ stoop. Well, she parted. I leaned against the rail and watched her, waving when she looked back.

I didn’t go inside until she was gone.

The din of my family met me as I closed the city noise out behind me. Marcus and Dad sat silently at the table—Dad with his paper, Marcus with his phone—and when I entered the room on my way to the noisy kitchen, they gave me identical nods. The kitchen was a bustle of motion and sound. Kanye rapped “Gold Digger” from the portable speaker next to Edie’s thigh on the counter as she shimmied her shoulders. Jett laughed from the stove, pushing dinner around in a pan as Kash and my mother engaged in a rap battle in the breakfast nook.

Mom was winning. And when she got to the prenup part and shouted, Eighteen years! Kash broke down laughing so hard, he lost on the spot.

“Thank you, thank you,” Mom said, curtsying before expectantly holding her knotted hand out to Kash.

He flipped through his wallet, retrieved a five, and laid it in her palm. “You earned that,” he said, kissing her on the cheek.

Mom flushed, giggling. “Beating you at rap battles since 2002.”

Kash shook his head. “You’re the reason we can’t play Sorry, you know.”

She shrugged, tucking the fiver in her back pocket. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, Kassius Bennet.”

Laney laughed. “She gives a whole new meaning to the word.”

Jett snorted. “Her sorry comes when she flips the board.”

“You’re the reason we’re all so competitive,” I said with a smirk. “Except Dad. He’s thrown every game he ever played.”

“That’s because your father knows something very important,” Mom stated matter-of-factly, pausing for dramatic effect. “If Mama ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy.”

Laughter filled the room. Mom stepped into me to give me a hug.

“My boy, how are you?” she asked sweetly. “I can’t believe you managed a meeting with Floral! You make magic without even trying, don’t you?”

I wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “Anything for you.” I kissed the top of her head.

Jett transferred a pot of rice to a serving bowl and handed it to Laney. “You’ve pulled some stunts, but a prospect for a magazine article? I’m impressed.”

“They want to come by next week and scope the shop out. Tess and I are working on an installation tonight.”

“I bet you are.” Kash made a lewd gesture at me from behind Mom.

I gave him a look.

“You two are working so hard,” Mom fussed, letting me go to look up at me. “You’re at the shop every morning before it opens and every night after it’s closed. You really deserve some time off your feet.”

Laney snickered, heading to the dining room. “Oh, I’m sure they’re getting plenty of time on their backs.”

“I don’t see how,” Mom said, completely unaware. “I’m going to make you stay home to rest one of these days—you watch me.”