Page 272 of When a Soul Cries

Independence.

Security.

A fresh start.

For the first time in a long time, I wasn’t wondering where Halo and I would be sleeping next month. I wasn’t deciding which bill could wait. I wasn’t afraid that one bad day could take everything from us.

This was home.

But maybe having my own home didn’t mean I had to shut everybody else out of it.

Maybe accepting help didn’t erase how hard I’d worked.

Maybe being independent didn’t mean refusing every hand that reached toward me.

That was the part I was still learning.

Rome had helped me stand back up, but he hadn’t asked me to stay down so I would need him.

He’d given me room to stand on my own.

And tonight, he’d made something else clear too.

He wasn’t trying to rush me.

But he wasn’t going anywhere either.

I stopped near the bottom of the stairs and looked toward the second floor where Halo was sleeping.

The scary part wasn’t that Rome was getting too close.

The scary part was that I was starting to realize I didn’t want him any farther away.

Sugga opened her front door before I even made it up the walkway.

I stopped with Halo balanced against my chest and stared at her. “Damn. You got cameras on us or something?”

“I got windows, fool.” She pushed the storm door open and immediately reached for Halo, not even bothering to acknowledge the look I gave her. “Gone ahead and give me my baby. Y’all done lost y’all damn minds. I ain’t seen my baby in weeks.”

“It ain’t been no damn weeks,” I argued, shifting Halo higher against me.

Sugga’s eyes never left the baby. “I wasn’t talking to you.”

Halo squealed the second she saw her, both little arms stretching toward Sugga. That was all the invitation my mama needed.

“There go my Sugga baby!” She snatched Halo out of my arms like I’d been holding her hostage, covering her little face in kisses while Halo giggled and grabbed at her cheeks. “Look at you! You done got bigger. What they feeding you over there?”

Behind me, Sol laughed.

I glanced over my shoulder and caught her standing beside my truck with Halo’s overnight bag hooked over one shoulder. She was trying to hide her smile, but she wasn’t doing a good job.

That smile had been fucking me up all morning.

Hell, everything about her had.

She had on a fitted matching lounge set for the drive, simple but hugging that little waist and those thick hips enough to keep catching my attention. Her curls fell loose around her shoulders, her face barely touched with makeup. Every time she smiled, something in my chest pulled tighter.

Sugga finally spotted the overnight bag.