“He did not specify.” Barker adjusted his glasses. “Business with the apartment buildings is a bit more complicated. I’m in contact with the city and will help officiate the transfer of property deeds, permits, and so forth into your name.” He folded his hands. “That’s quite a big responsibility. I’m sure the city would be very eager—especially in the case of the Bluffs complex—to purchase the land from you.”
“And do what with it?”
“Knock the buildings down and turn them into condos, I’d imagine. The land is valuable. That would be another rather large windfall, young man, if I may say. Congratulations.”
I nodded vaguely, thinking the tenants who would have to move out wouldn’t see it that way. Butholy shit.
I signed where Barker needed me to sign, and he shook my hand. “We’ll be in touch.”
I sat in the quiet of my kitchen for a long time—until the shadows started to creep across the floor—thinking about what Nelson had done. I replayed every conversation, every phone call. There weren’t many and few that had meant anything.
Except one. When I’d demanded to know where he’d been while I was rotting in foster care. His response echoed in my head.
We’re here now, aren’t we?
He was right. Becauseright nowwas all anyone was guaranteed…and the easiest thing to forget.
Part IV
Twenty-EightShiloh
July
Bibi knocked on the bathroom door. “You ready, honey?”
I stared at my reflection in the mirror.
Am I ready?
I’d been preparing for this night for years. All those late nights, working by a single light bulb in the garage until my muscles ached and my eyes burned. Countless trips to the post office to mail off orders, saving every penny…
I let myself smile. A little one. “I’m ready.”
I smoothed down my bright-yellow dress and gave my hair one last inspection. Letitia was a wizard. She and the rest of the family had arrived a few days ahead of the grand opening, and she’d spent an afternoon giving me boho braids—small, less polished, loose ends, with strands of color woven in here and there. I loved it. I loved that she was here with me to see this. Letitia had opened her own shop too; she knew what tonight felt like better than anyone.
I let out a shaky breath and went out.
Except for Violet who was at Baylor in Texas, everyone I loved was gathered in the living room. Uncle Rudy, Aunt Bertie, Letitia, Bibi, and Ronan, who looked devastating in charcoal slacks, a fitted white button-down, and a dark blazer. His uncle had left him a pile of money,and he’d bought some new clothes. He hated shopping but said it was worth it to make my night as perfect as possible.
“I don’t need anyone thinking I’m the bouncer,” he’d said.
“That’s ridiculous,” I’d teased. “You’d obviously be my arm candy.”
My family, each dressed up for the occasion too, burst into excited—and excessive—crowing and cooing over me when I stepped out of the bathroom. Ronan stood quietly among them, the look on his face worth a thousand compliments.
“I’m so glad you’re all here,” I said, hugging and kissing them. “You too, Mama.”
My mother smiled thinly from her seat at the dining room table, apart from everyone else. She looked beautiful in a deep-maroon dress, but her eyes were glassy. When they’d arrived this morning, I’d bent to kiss her cheek and thought I smelled alcohol. And when I’d introduced Ronan as my boyfriend, her face had frozen, a million thoughts behind her eyes. She’d only been courteous to him since.
“Let’s get on now before I burst with excitement,” Bibi said. My grandmother looked beautiful in a purple dress with bright-yellow flowers and was wearing her favorite wig—the one she said made her feel like Oprah.
“Yes, let’s!” Aunt Bertie said. She beamed at me. “I am dying to see all your hard work come to life, sugar.”
“Two entrepreneurs in the family,” Letitia said and high-fived me. “Black Girl Magic, for real.”
My smile was so wide, I thought my face would split, the happiness trying to burst free, but I couldn’t let it. I was still scared to feel so much. As if that were tempting fate.
A few days after high school graduation, I learned that the city was going to lease me the laundromat space. The next weeks passed in a flurry of activity, remodeling it and getting it ready. I had my start-up bank loan but quickly learned that $50K sounded like a lot more money than it was.