By the time the main course was shared, Michelle had apparently won the honor of locking Keiran down for conversation. The other cousins who’d been trying drifted away, defeated. Her cousin had even managed to snag a seat next to him at the table they’d commandeered. Cherisse was on Keiran’s right, eating her curry, watching on amused as Michelle tried to find out how they came to be boyfriend and girlfriend—Michelle’s words. When Michelle drifted off to get a drink, Keiran turned to her.

“Sorry about that. I didn’t know if I should correct her about the labels.”

“I haven’t been anyone’s girlfriend in a while, so it’ll take some getting used to,” she admitted. Sean had soured the entire experience for her, and while a tiny voice at the back of her mind cautioned her to not rush into anything, she didn’t mind trying it on.

“I haven’t been anyone’s boyfriend for some time, either.” He reached over for her hand and brought it to his lips to brush over her knuckles.

“So, it’s true?” Her mother’s voice cut into the moment. Keiran withdrew his hand, and Cherisse faced her mother. The entire table had gone quiet.

“Okay, then. Like up yuhself. You’re an adult,” her mother said before walking away.

“That went better than expected.”

“The calm before the storm,” Cherisse declared, returning to her food. She ripped a piece of paratha to scoop up some curry duck, pumpkin, channa, and aloo to stuff in her mouth. Perfuckingfection. Her mother’s passive-aggressive shit wasn’t going to get to her. Cherisse licked her curry-stained fingers, noticing the way Keiran’s eyes briefly dipped to the fingers in her mouth before refocusing elsewhere. So damn easy.

Later, they could escape to have some private time. She wondered if it would be as frenzied as ever or tempered by emotions and feelings and shit. She was eager to find out.

“Let’s go dance off this food,” Remi suggested.

It was a great plan, sweat out some of this food. Otherwise, she’d be too sluggish for what she’d planned later. She was going to get her some birthday sex, and no curry was going to get in the way of that. Some guests were already up and dancing. She smiled at her parents, who were showing off their fancy footwork for everyone. Her mother made her want to scream many times with her overbearing ways, but they were so in sync up there.

“My parents are making us look bad, with their nauseatingly being all in love and stuff.” Remi’s parents were also out there on the floor. The song shifted to a slow tune. “Oh geez, here we go,” Remi grumbled good-naturedly. Sure enough, her parents were being all lovey-dovey. Remi’s father, with his giant self, smiled at her equally tall mother. The look in his eyes was the equivalent of the heart eyes emoji.

The Daniels made an adorable picture. With that bald head, dark brown skin, and bulky build, Roy Daniels was a good-looking dude, and Remi’s mother, Shalini, looked gorgeous with her sleek black bob swinging about her round face and the short kurta she wore with jeans. They also made Cherisse seek out Keiran, who looked troubled again, but eventually his gaze swung to her, and his eyes cleared.