Page 80 of Hot Tea & Bird Calls
The fuchsia sculpture’s progress finally pleased Skye. She smiled and came up with a boilerplate, “I am. Enjoying nature, reading outdoors lately.”
“You’re your mother’s daughter.” Gael’s shoulders shook in a chuckle. “She liked being on her own more than hanging out with me when we started dating.”
Aisha laughed along with him. “The earth’s a resplendent thing.”
“Iwas resplendent in my twenties.”
“How did you know?” Skye asked as her mother playfully nudged her father in the arm. The question intrigued her parents, taking note of them leaning forward, brows ticked. “When you were in love? How’d you know you found the one?”
“You never asked that before.” Gael’s eyes sparkled like he wanted to pick on her, but again, conscious, kind parents. Going the sincere route, he explained, “I didn’t know at first. I was a twenty-one-year-old punk who thought I was a prize. Aisha came along—fly, well-read, so intelligent, she got into debates with Walter and won every time. She pulled me in closer and closer until I looked around and realized I couldn’t picture a life without her.”
Skye crossed her legs upon her bed, heart hammering. She’d heard a few renditions of this story, yet never with that level of adoration. “Cosmo told me something similar. That when he met Soraya, he realized life before her was black-and-white.”
Her parents shifted uncomfortably, typical of a Cosmo mention. While years helped repair their relationship, he primarily kept Skye and Luce current on his life. Anything Aisha and Gael heard came second-hand.
Brushing at her sleeve, Skye asked, “And you, Mama?”
Though unrelated by blood, Aisha reflected Luce’s shrewd temperament. “Your father proved early on that he excelled as a partner. Not a boss, not an untouchable head of a household, not a master. He makes me feel safe without stifling me. When two people are equals, able to be their full selves together, they can weather anything.”
From Skye’s phone, an alarm chimed. Ten minutes until she’d visit the Vales. “Sorry to head out so soon. I’m meeting Celene.”
“You two looked comfortable in Larkin’s Toast Festival videos,” her mother said, faking a hair tuck behind her ear to get Skye to laugh. “We already trust you, but Luce liking her is a big accomplishment.” She cringed, adding, “Luce walked all over June.”
“’Cause June let her,” Gael surrendered, his hands to the air. “Glad you let that go to friendship. Luce is not the one to contend with.”
Skye agreed with an exaggerated nod. “I receive that.”
After giving salutations to her parents, Skye touched up her hair in the bathroom. She’d applied more makeup, as seeing her parents was always a nice occasion. Appropriate for seeing her girlfriend, too.
Skye hopped in place, her gleeful whistle echoing on her bathroom’s tiled walls.Girlfriend, wow.
She’d miss Celene terribly until her return to Yielding in another week, but she’d leave that cloudy feeling for later. It was time to work on her own love story.
For the firsttime since she’d been given the go-ahead, Skye let herself into the Vale residence.
Considering she and Celene saw each other every day, she’d inevitably been formally re-introduced to Elise. Elise had squawked and squealed, hype to embrace Skye like they were long-lost friends. Truthfully, she hardly remembered Elise from her youth; she’d been too wrapped up with Celene, often seeking any reason to explore on their own.
Thus, Skye recognized Elise’s voice at top volume when she slid in through the unlocked glass doors. Fat raindrops hit her in the short trip from the driveway, dampening skin through her top. She shook at her clothes and hair, then froze at a sisterly standoff. Ajay hovered in the middle of the shouting match, blocking Elise.
It took 4.5 seconds to pick up on their ever-present point of contention: the house.
“I swear to god, you’re the most controlling person on the face of the planet,” Elise lashed out, nothing close to the singing, sniffling thesbian who welcomed Skye days prior. Her vibrant ponytail flicked like a flame as she jabbed a harsh pointer in Celene’s direction. “Why won’t you let this go?!”
Celene didn’t flinch. Arms crossed, feet primly together in stark composure. “This is a great act, Elise, but I’m over it.”
“An act?! An act,” Elise blustered as a mini human tornado, arms flailing. “Where are your morals? Your fuckingfeelings? Why do you hate us?”
Ignoring her, Celene turned to Skye, who shivered at the sudden attention. “Mavis, our realtor, dropped by while I was on a call today. She’d brought an appraiser for a tour, and Elise dismissed them both.”
Oh, shit. Skye strayed as closely as she dared to Celene. Something innate told her an angry Celene Vale wasn’t too touchy-feely. She evoked a rose—sharp, thorny, appealing from a safe range.
Ajay piped in with a possible rationale, but Elise yelled around him, “This house is as much mine as it is yours. You can’t decide for the whole family.”
“I was put in chargebyDad,” Celene shot back a clear reply, much more chilling than Elise stomping around. “How convenient of you to want it after the renovations happened. I hired contractors, tended to the yard, got all the new furnishings and deck—that’s all me. Even Ajay contributed more than you.”
“Whoa, now. Don’t include me,” Ajay muttered.
“It’s true. So be it.”
