“How is that possible?” I said with a laugh. “We talk every single day.”

“I know we do,” she said with a sheepish smile. “But it’s different when you’re home. Don’t you think?”

I kept the breezy grin on my face. The people in this house comprised the biggest fans of my scrappy career as a freelance videographer, always on the road. And we were in almost constant communication, from phone calls to video chats and a continual stream of text messages. When they wished I was home more—or home permanently—I didn’t let it bother me. Because it didn’t. And because they knew staying here wasn’t my destiny.

“I think I love being around my family in all different ways,” I said lightly. “And that includes video calling you from the Las Vegas strip or showing you the sunset in the Grand Canyon.”

Alexis wrinkled her nose. “Okay, that is pretty fun.”

I squeezed her close. “But I hear you, and that’s actually why I’m—”

“Aunty Tabby is here.”

The tiny force of nature that was my niece, Juliet, barreled into my midsection. I stooped down, hefted her up as she laughed.

“Is this my favorite person in the whole wide world?” I asked, kissing her cheek.

She pointed at her chest with a serious look. “It’s me.”

“It is you,” I said with a wink. “And who taught you to call me Tabby? This is new.”

My brother-in-law, Eric, stepped out of the kitchen. “Aren’t you a sight for sore eyes.” He grinned. “Aunty Tabby.”

“Ha, so it was you.”

“Kids these days,” he said. “Who knows where they pick up annoying yet cherished nicknames for their aunts?”

“Mm-hmm,” I smirked. I shifted Juliet higher on my hip as she began telling me a story from the day before and walked into their brightly lit kitchen. Their fridge hadn’t changed much since my last micro visit except that even more of their daughter’s art hung from an assortment of mismatched magnets. There were a few faded pictures of Alexis and Eric when they were younger; a few random postcards I still loved to send from the road; a happy picture from my graduation from UCLA, which was my dad’s first time on an airplane.

Eric and Alexis had been together since their senior year of college at Temple University, and over the years he’d become more of a close friend than an in-law. He was a tall, broad-shouldered Black man with a shaved head and a perpetually kind expression. He and Alexis were both teachers at the public elementary school nearby—he taught kindergarten and Alexis taught third grade.

Juliet had a smile like Eric’s and a laugh that sounded just like my sister’s. She had thick, curly hair; light brown skin; and, at five years old, already loved dressing herself in mismatched patterns.