Detroit, May 1963
“Let’s sit out on the porch.” William nodded toward the front windows where the evening flirted with twilight.
“Go on,” came Mrs. Rich’s voice from the head of the table. “Bianca and I’ll wash up. J.J., don’t you slink off now. You know you need to clear this table first.”
Nora had eaten dinner at William’s house five times in the past four weeks. William’s mother was a perfect hostess, and Nora could tell the older woman was trying to make her guest feel at home. Bianca had warmed to her a little but was still guarded. J.J. hadn’t said word one despite William’s efforts to get him to talk.
“Holler when the coffee’s done, Mama,” William said as the screen door closed behind him.
The setting sun was warm, the slight breeze was cool, and the night was young. Nora settled herself in a creaky wicker chair and folded her arms across her stomach. She could make out movement and voices in the shadows of other porches. A laugh echoed down the street.
“I thought you’d want to sit on the swing.” William settled himself on one end of the faded green swing hanging from the rafters. He patted the spot next to him and Nora joined him. Encircled by his arm, she felt more relaxed than she had in a very long time. In less than a minute, her eyes were closed, her head rested upon his shoulder, and their breathing fell into sync with the gentle movement of the swing.
The sudden sound of footfalls tearing up the front porch steps startled Nora to attention.
“J.J. here?” The voice was raspy and breathless.
“He’s inside, Arnold,” William said.
Arnold rapped at the door. “J.J.!”
“Just go on inside.”
The boy disappeared into the house. Nora’s heartbeat was just returning to normal when another voice drifted out of the shadows beyond the yew bushes.
“Will Rich, how you been?”
William extracted himself from Nora, leaving her side suddenly cold and empty. “Not bad, Derek. You?”
The men exchanged a handshake. Then Derek looked toward the swing.
“This is Nora,” William said.
Nora stood and held out her hand.
Derek shook it, but he was looking at William. “You must be outta your mind,” he said.
“Oh?” William said. “And why’s that?”
“You gonna get yourself in a heap a trouble, Will Rich. And not just you.”
Nora shrank back a step, but William gripped her arm and pulled her to his side. “No trouble,” he said.
“You watch,” Derek said. “You watch. You shouldn’t be messing around with no white girl.”
“My girl ain’t none of your concern.”
Nora’s tight muscles loosened a little.
“Your girl is everyone’s concern,” Derek said. “Your girl is gonna get someone killed.”
“Derek!” Mrs. Rich said as she came out the front door with the coffee tray. “I haven’t seen you in weeks. How’s your mother?”
Derek’s no-nonsense demeanor changed instantly as he took the tray from her hands, set it down on a wicker table, and kissed her on the cheek. “She’s good, she’s good. She was asking about you the other day.”
“I have to get up to see her soon. So busy with work, you know.”
“I know it,” he said cheerfully.
“Give her my love.”
“Will do, will do.”
Mrs. Rich went back into the house, and the smile melted from Derek’s face. He leaned in toward William. “Listen, man. I’m telling you this as a friend. You playin’ with fire.”
At that moment, Arnold and J.J. burst through the door and hurried down the stairs.
“J.J.!” Bianca shouted from the house. “Get back in here!”
But the boys were gone. Derek drifted off into the night in the direction Arnold and J.J. had run.
William squeezed Nora’s shoulders and gave her a quick kiss on the forehead. “Never mind that.” He stirred cream and sugar into Nora’s coffee, and they sipped in tension-laden silence.
“You called me your girl,” Nora finally said.
“Yeah.”
“I like that.”
“Yeah?”
She nodded behind her mug. Nora followed that “my girl” a few steps down the road. Dates, kisses, professions of love. Then she stopped. Where did they go from there? The path into the future with someone like Michael Kresge was wide, well marked, and lined with well-wishers. The path with William Rich was a gauntlet.
“Should I stop coming here?” Nora said. “I mean, I don’t want to make trouble.”
William took a moment to think. “Derek’s just watching out for me like a good friend should. In this neighborhood, the only white people you see are cops and landlords and people from the bank who are repossessing your car. He thinks it’s safer to stay separate. I get where he’s coming from.” He took a long gulp of coffee. “I just don’t think separate is the answer.”
“What is the answer?”
“If anyone knew that, don’t you think we’d a tried it by now?” William put his mug down on the tray and took her hand in his. “Actually, I think this here is the answer.”
Nora smiled at him. “That’s easy to say.”
“Folks just need to see it work.”
He put a warm hand to her face, the same hand on which she had written her name and phone number two months before. He leaned in. She met him halfway. When their lips touched, nothing else mattered.
“I want it to work,” she said when the kiss ended.
“Well, that’s a start then.”