Kyra looked skeptical. I couldn’t tell her I’d gone underground, been declared dead by the government, and even had a funeral. I was supposed to have been relocated, but no one gave a shit about a nigga like me, so I figured as long as I stayed out of Cali, I was good. Just like Kyra had come back from the dead, so had I. We had more in common than she knew. We walked along the ocean after we let Aisha ride her little heart out.

“Who’s hungry?” I asked Kyra and Aisha as I spread out the blanket I’d bought from a stand. I also had a big bag of snacks.

“Me! Me! Me!” Aisha shouted, jumping up and down.

“A picnic?” Kyra raised her eyebrow, but I could tell she was surprised.

I had picked up some grapes, mango salad, cheese, apple cider, and some wine glasses. I set up our little picnic, then began feeding Kyra grapes one by one. She was finally trying to relax.

Aisha started throwing the grapes at me, and I threw some back. “Food fight!” she yelled. “Food fight!” She laughed until she was bent over. Even Kyra joined in and laughed.

Afterward, we went to a different stand and bought cotton candy and soda. Aisha resumed holding my hand and made sure Kyra and I held hands, too.

Aisha got so excited watching people walk their dogs. “Mom, can I have a dog and put some cute clothes on her?”

“No, we have a baby on the way. No dogs right now. You can put cute clothes on your baby sister.”

“Okay. But once my baby sister is bigger, Rick said he’s going to get me a puppy.”

“Did he?”

“Yes, but Mom, look!” Aisha was pointing at the setting sun which looked like a big ball of tangerine. “Wow! Who put that there? The sun is awesome!”

“Yes, that is a beautiful sunset, baby,” Kyra said. “I haven’t seen Aisha so happy since . . . since . . .” Her voice trailed off.

“Since Marvin.” I completed her thought. I remembered Marvin, her late husband and Aisha’s father. I had hooked up with Kyra while she was still married to that dope fiend nigga.

“Are you happy, Kyra?” I asked.

“For the moment, I am.”

“Baby, it could be like this all the time.”

She didn’t say anything, yet she continued to hold my hand on the way back to the car. On the drive back to Angel’s, Aisha fell asleep.

Finally, we made it back to the baby shower. With Kyra’s arm around my waist, and me carrying a sleeping Aisha in my arms, we went back inside the house. Kay and Angel were still sitting in the living room. They nodded, looking happy that we were looking as if we had worked things out.

“You can take Malik’s room. Aisha can sleep with Jahara,” Angel said.