I stood in the foyer, the chandelier sparkling, scattering fairy light everywhere.
“Where you been?” Tommie said. “Things are happening here.”
I clomped into the kitchen.
Had Buddy just broken up with me? And the two of us not even dating?
I grabbed a rooster oven mitt and set the dish on it, then swung around to meet Tommie. She was nose to nose with me. I took a step backward.
“Personal space,” I said.
“That smells real good.” Tommie breathed in deep, closing her eyes.
“It’s made with—”
“Love,” JimDaddy said. He stood in the doorway. “Who you talking to, Evie?” His voice wasn’t more than a whisper. And had he . . . I looked closer . . . had he been crying?
What should I do with my hands?
What should I say?
“Tell him,” Tommie said. “Tell him I’m here.”
Momma appeared behind JimDaddy before I could speak, and it was clear she was in no mood to be messed with. You know those old cartoons that show smoke rising from a character’s ears? That was my mother now.
“What’s going on here?” I said, like I was the parent.
Baby Lucy came into the kitchen next. Scooting. She flumped on her bottom to sit herself up and grinned. I could see a bit of one tooth showing through her gums.
My mother and stepfather were silent. Not acknowledging each other.
Baby Lucy crawled over to Tommie and cooed at her.
Tommie grinned. Twisted a baby curl around her ghost finger.
“I been cleaning all day,” Momma said, “and your JimDaddy here come home and plopped on the bed like I hadn’t just made it.”
We all looked at him. Even Baby Lucy. And Tommie.
JimDaddy didn’t say anything, just sank into a chair.
“I been watching your sister.” Momma looked burnt around the edges.
I wasn’t sure what to say.
JimDaddy let out a huge sigh. A big, huge, gigantic sigh.
“Tell him I’m near,” Tommie said. She’d drifted to him when I wasn’t paying attention.
“She’s mad at me ’cause of me missing the girls,” JimDaddy said.
If he woulda shouted at me, I wouldn’t have been more shocked.
“Your girls?”
“Is he . . . ,” Tommie asked. “Is he talking about me?”
“Are you talking about . . .”
“His family what passed on,” Momma said. She got this funny look on her face like maybe she understood just how bad that sounded.
“I can’t get away from the sadness,” JimDaddy said.
Momma didn’t say anything and neither did I.
“Daddy,” Tommie said. “Daddy.”
She slid to her father, and Baby Lucy watched Tommie go.
“I don’t mean to feel this way,” JimDaddy said.
And Momma said, “Jim, I know that. I understand losing the love of your life. I get it. But you close up when you start your mourning. And the mourning’s been going on since we started dating. I can handle being in second place. But you’re cold to me. You ignore me. That’s what I can’t bear.” Her voice was like melted chocolate, so soft and velvety and kind. Plus sad. Momma, I could see, was sad too.
She laid a hand on his shoulder. “You gotta let me in,” she said.
But JimDaddy, he didn’t say anything. Not one word at all.