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“Let’s do it!” Jasmine said with a little hop. “You’ve given me all new excitement about my decision to open a wellness clinic.”

My heart was full because that was all I was here for. Well, the check too, but yeah. “I’m so happy that I could help you see what you needed wrapped into what you wanted.”

A Few Days Later

Brunch With the Bestie . . .

It was Sunday! Sundays meant mimosas, tequila sunrises, chicken and waffles, eggs, bacon, grits, and gossip with my best friend, Sasha. This had been our tradition since our days at UNCG. The only time we couldn’t keep the tradition in person, naturally, was when I moved to New York. We may not have been able to physically be together, but we had video brunch bestie dates.

“You know that no one can fire you if you actually take the day off that you said you were going to take off,” Sasha said before she put a piece of strawberry in her mouth. After she finished it, she continued. “Memoree Layne, you do realize you own the company, right?”

Here we were, at our favorite brunch spot in SouthPark, and all she wanted to do was fuss about an email that I wanted to send. She acted like it was such an inconvenience in our semi-sober morning. “Sasha, I know I own the company. With that being said, the owner wants to respond to a few emails from clients with questions.”

“You and those damn clients need boundaries. Give me one day this week that you haven’t done something for The Lighted Layne.” She tilted her head to the side when I picked up my drink and sipped from it. “Yep, that’s what I thought.”

My eyes rolled up to the sky. “That is not uncommon for someone who owns a business. You act like I got a laptop on the table or something.” I sucked my teeth. “Um, if you got a call right now about a sick kid, you would be gone.”

“First, my Sundays are off-limits and blocked. The only way I would get called is if every doctor at the practice was unavailable,” she quipped. “With fifteen doctors in the practice, I highly doubt that will ever happen. See, I have boundaries, and I enforce them. You should try it.”

I chuckled. “Whatever! I have boundaries that I enforce. One of them is not telling my best friend to fuck off so me and The Lighted Layne can live. See! That’s boundaries right there.”

Her head fell back as laughter escaped her lungs. When her head came back down, her middle finger came up. “Luckily, that’s not one of my boundaries. Girl, fuck you.”

We both laughed at our silliness. I reached across the table and grabbed a strawberry from her fruit bowl. That was when I saw her. Her skin was a caramel brown. Her beaded ponytail hung down her back.

She couldn’t have been any older than six, if I had to say. That was the age when curiosity trumped manners. She stared at me unapologetically. Unlike most adults, she didn’t know or care that it was rude to stare. Her mother was too engulfed in her conversation with the woman who sat across from her to notice her daughter was in a world with me. I gave her a slight smile, to which she gave me a tilted head and even more curious eyes.

“Who the hell are you looking at?” Sasha asked before she followed my gaze. “Oh, a curious Georgette.”

It was at that moment that the little girl’s mother paid attention to her daughter. When she followed her gaze to me, she tapped the little girl’s hand. “Skylar, stop staring. It is extremely rude, lil girl.”

Skylar’s eyes left me and landed on her mother. She stared at her for a beat before her stare came back to me. When she stood from her seat and walked my way, I surmised that she would come close instead of staring. Her mother looked like she wanted to jump out of her skin. I lifted my hand to let her mother know that she was alright.

Who I now knew as Skylar stood next to me. “You’re pretty. What color are you?”

I snickered under my breath a little. Sasha covered her mouth to stop the mimosa that she’d just drank from coming out of her mouth. Kids ask the darndest things.

Her mother jumped up. “Oh my God! Skylar! I am so sorry, ma’am.”

“I promise, she is fine,” I told her mother. When she started to reprimand Skylar, I lifted my hand. “She’s curious, and that’s alright. I don’t mind.”

My attention shifted to Skylar. “Thank you for the compliment. You’re pretty too.” My hand reached out and touched her hair. “I love your hair. My mama used to do my hair like that when I was a little girl. What color do you think I am?”

“Um, you said your mama used to do your hair like mine. Only Black girls wear beads, so you’re Black?” She framed it as more of a question than a statement.

“Right, I’m a Black woman,” I confirmed. The perplexed expression told me that my words didn’t align with something in her mind.

A hand went on one of her little hips. “But you white like my teacher, and your hair is white like hers. That’s your hair?”

Embarrassment coursed through her mother’s face before she slapped her hand over it. I understood why. I also knew that it was best to educate than to allow speculation. When her mother’s hand came down, I gave her a reassuring look.

With a giggle, I responded. “Yes, this is my hair, and yes, it is blonde.” I shifted in my seat to face her head-on. I wanted to make sure I took my time with this. “Have you ever heard of something called albinism?”

Her pretty face scrunched at the word. “Albinis. No.”

Me, Sasha, her mother, and the other woman at their table lowly chuckled at her mispronunciation of the word. She was close.

“Well, everybody’s body makes this thing called melanin,” I told her.