But I’d been feeling that way since the moment Lyrik stepped into my life.
Like his weight had caused a shift in my axis.
Ever since, I’d been out of touch with what I’d fought to maintain as my reality.
Lyrik’s dad started laughing, too, and instead of returning my handshake, he hugged me. “We’re really glad to have you. My name’s Karl, in case you didn’t hear my woman hollering from the kitchen.”
I laughed a little more around the emotion clogged in my chest.
Lyrik was right.
I would love them.
I already knew that from the five seconds I’d spent in their space.
Bustling footsteps echoed down the hall, and Lyrik was already turning around, setting Penny on the floor before he moved forward and lifted his mom in an overbearing hug.
She didn’t fight it and let him whip her around like a ragdoll.
Lyrik set her back down and slung his arm around her shoulder. “And this hippie here would be my mom, Katy.”
She resembled the rest of them the least, shorter than her daughter by probably five inches, her feet bare, her hair a light brownish blonde, long and flowy, just as flowy as her whimsical skirt and the jewelry she wore.
But her smile.
It was his.
Though it lacked that wickedness.
She smacked his chest and at the same time leaned her head against it. “Oh, hush. You just love giving me a hard time.”
“What else are you good for?” With the jibe came pure affection, and he squeezed her a little tighter, as if he wanted to reassure her she was good for so much more.
That she was everything. Because that much was blatantly clear. This was the one place Lyrik was truly free. Unrestrained and without the ghosts that seemed to haunt his every move.
She relaxed into him for a second, before she pushed away with her attention locked on me. Her smile went achingly soft.
“And you must be Tamar.” She wrapped my hand in hers, covering them both with the other. “I’m so glad you’re here.”
“Thank you for having me, especially on such short notice.”
She waved me off. “Pssh…I’m always more than ready to have company. Especially if it’s someone like you.”
A timer buzzed from the kitchen. Her light brown eyes widened. “Lyrik said you two wouldn’t be able to stay for dinner because of the show tonight, so I thought I’d whip us up some lunch. I hope you’re hungry.”
Lyrik rubbed his stomach. “Famished.”
“Good then. Come on, let’s eat.”
When Katy West cooked, Katy West cooked.
She’d made ham and potatoes and green beans, a salad, not to mention the cinnamon rolls she served hot out of the oven.
We sat around their small kitchen table, Lyrik at my side. I was pretty sure I wasn’t the only one who ate until their stomach was overstuffed, but the laughter was carefree and the conversation light and it felt so good to relax into the atmosphere.
None of them made me feel an outsider. It was only Penny sitting on her knees in her chair who peppered me with questions, which was clearly out of her own need to know every detail of everything, my favorite color and movie and book.
When we finished, I offered to help Katy clear the dishes, but she shooed us out and told me to enjoy my visit. I found myself in the backyard on the thick lawn, Penny screeching as Lyrik pushed her on the swing.
“Higher, Uncle ’Lik!”
I stood aside and watched as they played.
When she’d finally gotten her fill of going down the slide after she’d done it about fifty-two times, she called, “Duck, Duck, Goose time! Momma and Bwue have to play, too, right, Uncle ’Lik?”
She took his hand and looked up at him, that menacing, powerful boy so tall at her side, so striking and bold beneath the California sky, yet so careful with this little girl.
“Right,” he answered. He shot a grin our way, looking back after us as he let her haul him over to the grassy spot beneath the leafy ash growing proudly on the right side of the yard.
“You up for this?” Mia asked. “She can be a handful.”
“She’s wonderful,” I said.
Mia’s smile was warm, knowing, as if that was a perfectly acceptable answer because she definitely wasn’t going to disagree. We headed over to the circle Penny was putting in place.
“You sit right there…and Momma you’re right here…and Bwue…you sit there,” she said, pointing her tiny finger to the spot beside Lyrik.
“Yeah, you sit right here,” Lyrik drawled out just before he yanked my hand.
My feet flew out from under me.
And I was falling.
Right into his arms.
I yelped. “Lyrik…what do you think you’re doing? You’re so going to pay for that.”
But it was the sudden wave of joy rushing me that spun my head and weakened my knees, the ground a rumble, that buzz sizzling in the air. Everything went so rapturously light. This dangerous boy who was so incredibly good.
And I wanted to bask in it, in the excitement and thrill that drew me forward, pushing me into the open space where I had no place to hide.
Did he know?
He held me close, kissed my forehead.
So soft.
So sweet.