All three texts come in at the same time.

Linc: I am

Dom: I am

Shane: I am

I put my phone away because I don’t have time for these jackasses. They’ll get the full story soon enough. For now, I’m going to check in on my parents.

They still live in the house I grew up in, and every time I drive up this street, no matter how hard I try to resist, my eyes always drift over to the house of the girl that wrecked me. Her dad moved after she left college, so at least I don’t have to deal with possibly running into him.

When I walk up the pathway to our front door, I hear Deborah Cox’s “Nobody’s Supposed to Be Here” crooning from the open window so I already know they’re in there cleaning. I let myself in to find Mom dancing in the kitchen while she mops the floor and Dad singing along while he vacuums the living room carpet.

This has always been a Saturday morning tradition in my house. No matter how tired my parents were from working long-ass shifts the night before, as soon as Kylie and I heard the old-school R & B or gospel music playing, we knew it was time to get up and clean. Dad said he and Auntie used to do the same with my grandparents when they were growing up and my mom was happy to pick up the tradition.

Mom twirls in a circle, mop in hand, and startles when she sees me.

“Kai, sweetie. I didn’t hear you come in.”

“Sorry. Didn’t mean to scare you.” She waves me off as she walks over to pull me into a warm hug.

She tries to get my dad’s attention, but she’s drowned out by the vacuum and he’s focused on his vocals.

“Xavier!”

He freezes and turns the vacuum off. “Lisa, baby, you know this is my part.” He turns around with his hand extended to her but then sees me. “My boy!”

“Hey, Dad,” I say as he smacks my hand and pulls me into an embrace.

“What are you doing here?”

I turn to my mom with the bag I carried inside held out to her. “I went to T-Mart and got you Sachima, Mom.” She beams a megawatt smile at me before snatching the bag out of my hands, patting me on the cheek, and running back to the kitchen. Dad’s smile follows her the whole way.