I WAKE IN MAMA’S BED, ALONE. THE DOOR IS closed, but I can hear them arguing beyond it. Raheem says something about being responsible; Mama says something about needing time. I leap out of the bed as the front door slams.
I burst out of the bedroom to find Raheem alone in the kitchen. He stands with his arms braced against the counter.
“Where’s Mama?”
He straightens up. “She’s not here.”
“What do you mean, she’s not here?” On a morning like this she ought to be lying on the sofa, still halfway sleeping it off.
“She just left.” Pause. “Said she went to look for a job,” Raheem adds in his lying voice.
My heartbeat slows. “A second job?”
Raheem looks away. “Maxie, I’m sorry—”
“She lost her job?” I drop into a chair at the table. “Again.”
“Seems that way. Look, it’s going to be okay.” He sits across from me. Smiles as best he can to reassure me.
“Why were you lying before? Where did she go?”
Raheem makes a fist on the tabletop. “She has to find a job, so. . .”
“Where did she go?”
“I don’t know,” he admits.
Moment of panic. “Is she coming back?”
Raheem leans over and touches my hand. “It’s not like that,” he says. “She’ll be back. I think probably she went to George’s.”
“Oh.” George’s Liquor Cabinet. “Did she take all the money? You didn’t let her take all the money, did you?” I would have hidden our cash last night if I had known it was going to go like this.
“I didn’t see this coming,” he says. “I don’t know how much she took. Just don’t worry about it, okay?”
How do I not worry? I look at the cupboard doors, wishing we had done more shopping last week. I look at the front door, wondering how long before they pin up the yellow notice that means pay up or lose the apartment.
“Stop,” Raheem says. “I’m going to take care of it. I’ll take more hours. Get a second job if I have to.”
“Me too,” I say. “I can drop out. I’ll get a job and—”
“Maxie, for God’s sake.” Raheem bangs his fist on the table. “Stop saying that.”
“But—”
“We’re gonna get by,” Raheem says. “We always do.” He runs a hand over the back of my head, tugging a section of hair on the way down. It’s all he’ll ever say or do to show he’s worried too.