Page 114 of Plus One

“You saw me this morning.”

“That was hours ago. You could’ve changed.” But she was smiling through fresh tears.

Jasmine caught Maurice’s eye and winked. She knew. Maurice shouldn’t have asked her advice about jewelry three months ago. Since then, she’d found an excuse to leave Nashville every other weekend. That she lasted this long without telling everything was either a miracle or a testament to how much she wanted this moment for her mother.

“Uncle Mo!” Ezra’s voice preceded him as Cassie and Taurion appeared in the doorway, the four-year-old already making a beeline for Maurice.

“Little man!” Maurice scooped him up. “Where’s your fire truck?”

“In the front room! I parked it!”

“Good parking job.”

Cassie hugged Monique, then stepped back to look at the spread taking shape in the kitchen. “What can I do to help?”

“Nothing. Y’all just relax.” Monique wiped her eyes. “Dinner’s almost ready anyway.”

The next hour was beautiful chaos. Too many people in too small a kitchen, everyone talking over each other, Ezra “helping” by reorganizing the pots, Justin telling stories about the Belgian team he’d be joining, Jasmine teasing him about learning the language.

Taurion pulled Maurice aside while Cassie was wrestling Ezra away from the stove. “You doing it tonight?”

“How does everybody know?”

“Jazz can’t keep a secret. She told Cass. Cass told me.” Taurion grinned. “For what it’s worth? About damn time.”

After dinner, after the dishes were done and Ezra had crashed on the couch and Cassie and Taurion had taken him home, after Jasmine had retreated to her room to FaceTime friends and Justin had gone to finish packing, Monique found Maurice on the porch.

“Walk?” she asked.

“Yeah. Let me grab my jacket.”

“Justin!” Monique called from the front door. “We’re going to the park for a bit!”

“Okay! Take pictures!” Justin hollered back. “And Ma? Don’t cry about the flowers. You do that every year.”

“I do not!”

“You literally do!”

She muttered something unflattering about smart-mouthed children, but she was smiling when she took Maurice’s hand.

They walked the four blocks to the park, hand in hand, the way they’d been doing for months. Their routine. Her introducing him to her world. Him pointing out things she’d stopped noticing.

May in Chicago felt like years away from that cold January. They nodded in greeting as they passed the Rodríguezes, who were always in a heated debate whenever they passed, but they held hands doing it.

The park was quiet, and most families were already home for dinner. The magnolia grove glowed in the golden hour light, petals drifting down like pink snow.

Monique raised her camera, but Maurice caught her hand.

“Wait.”

“What?”

“Just… wait. For a second.”

She lowered the camera, studied him. “There’s that face again.”

“I have something to say.”