She sighed the kind of sigh that only a black woman could muster. In the weighted breath, Ethic heard all her worries dissipate into the air. He hated that every black woman he knew carried too much on them. They were like magical beings that were expected to play 10, different roles every day, often switching them at the drop of a dime, without ever missing a beat. He often wondered how they did it. How they pulled it off… The single motherhood of it all, the nighttime student of it all, the homemaker of it all, the lover, the friend, the chef, the nurse, the maid of it all. He knew she was a part of that magical, melanin club, because all black women shared that same sigh. He hoped his girls never had to learn it. She ruffled her shoulder-length hair and he watched it fall back into place. Each, thick layer trained to fall at the nape of her neck, because he suspected she was also a part of the ‘wear a head scarf to bed’ club that black women had invented. She was a sister, through and through, and Ethic drank her in. She was falling apart; and although he could see the devastation quietly creeping into her stance, sagging her shoulders and causing her chin to quiver, he still marveled at her. She was a mess, her life was a mess - because of him - but she was like a walking piece of mystique, as he wondered how she was holding it all together.

“Where do you work?” Ethic asked.

“What?” she responded, thrown off by the intrusiveness of his question.

“You need a ride, right?”

He felt obligated to fix something in her life. The car he owed her, the ride he owed her. It was the least he could do.

“At a hospice center in Auburn Hills,” she answered. “It’s too far. I can’t expect you to drive me 30 miles; and even if you do, I don’t have a way home, so…”

“Let’s go,” he said. “I’ll make sure you have a way home, don’t worry about it.”

She frowned, in confusion.

“Come on, guys, back in the car. We’re going to drop my friend off here and then we’ll get ice cream before we go to the movies. That cool?” Ethic asked.

“Yeah!” Eazy shouted, as he ran out the door. Ethic looked at Bella. “Yeah, I guess,” she moaned, not thrilled with the idea.

“No, you got your kids with you. It’s really not necessary,” she said.

Ethic held open the door for her. “Get in the car,” he said, nodding towards his truck.

“I don’t even know your name,” she said. “I come up in here, bitching and complaining, after you agree to fix my car for free, and you still gon’ help me?”