A surge of emotion got trapped in my throat. I was expecting gifts from social media followers and kind internet strangers. But, as usual, this neighborhood stepped up and supported itself. The lot was far from being a park or even an idea of a park. Weeks of work would need to go into pulling it all together, plus constant maintenance and caretaking.

Yet people could already see its potential, this splash of greenery the size of a postage stamp.

I set my phone down. Alexis was watching me closely and smiled as soon as our eyes met. I love you, I mouthed.

I love you too, she mouthed back.

I hugged Juliet tight. I was starting to get homesick for Philly, and I hadn’t even left yet.

“Aunty Tabby movie?” she said again.

“All right, kid, let’s do this,” I said, pulling up my Instagram and starting the video. It was short and to the point, with me expanding on the videos and “before” pictures I’d been posting, what the block had in mind and some of the supplies we were raising money for. Juliet’s face was sweetly enraptured, eyes starting to get heavy.

Her head lolled against my arm. She was still awake but starting to fight it, and I inhaled the peace of one of the quiet moments I’d missed so much of. She was only five years old, and I’d been living elsewhere for all of it. Time was flying by—my backpack was getting lighter even as my family continued to change and evolve every day.

Guilt was a strange beast. I carried so much of it for the lies and harm I caused my family. Carried so much of it for feeling like I’d abandoned them ever since I graduated from college. I was forever an outsider, yearning to be let in but wary of the consequences.

“Is she asleep?” Alexis whispered.

“Almost,” I said. We were nearing the end of the video, and I was talking about Tenth Street.

“I don’t share a lot about my personal life on my platforms, but I’m enormously proud to call South Philly home. I have known some of the people on Tenth Street undertaking this project for most of my life.”

Alexis and I shared a grin, both of us sipping lemonade from Linda’s collection of funky, bikini-themed glasses.

“This neighborhood is a special place,” I said. “And everyone there means a lot to me.”

Watching it back now, I heard the note of hesitation in my voice and saw the hint of pink in my cheeks. I couldn’t resist stealing a look at the far wall—the one I shared with Dean’s house.

The video ended and Juliet had gone dead weight in my lap. Eric swooped in and scooped her up from my lap. “I’m gonna take her up and let her sleep for a bit in your bed, if that’s okay?” he whispered.