Page 116 of Right Side of Paradise
“I’m your man.” The confidence in his tone left nothing up for debate. “And I’ma always take care of you, Harlow. My dad doesn’t speak for me. He’s dramatic as fuck and wrong. He knows that, but this is how he’s processing it. Iwantyou spending my money and I need you here with us. You hear me?”
What I heard was the wild hammering behind my ribcage, but I nodded. “I hear you.”
“I know you still have to tell your mom. Just know I’m not going anywhere. Whether they really are getting back together or not. I’m not letting you go.”
“I know,” I whispered, leaning in to kiss him. “I’m not letting you go either.”
“Even when it’s not easy,” he added, pulling me onto his lap.
On instinct, I relaxed against him. Something about his embrace made me forget everything else. His warmth became my warmth. His calm became my calm. He poured into me with the simplest touches.
We were going to be alright.
So, I kissed my name above his brow and echoed his promise, “Even when it’s not easy.”
A Crying Shame
Sunday, July 13, 2025
My mother looked at peace. That permanent smile she wore was a little brighter and the twinkle in her eyes was impossible to miss.
She didn’t know I knew about her reunion with Brock, and my stomach was tied up in knots, not knowing if he’d already told her about yesterday. He could barely walk into his hotel room last night, but there was no telling what he’d done when he woke up this morning.
That left me working with a whole lot of nothing. Between the sweat on my palms and the moisture gathering behind my knees, I was gonna slide off this damn massage chair and embarrass myself in this nail salon.
“You mighty fidgety today.” Cadence, Lyric’s older sister, studied me through the curtain of her dramatic lashes as she rubbed the mango sugar scrub over my feet and up my calf. “Chill, girl. This is supposed to berelaxing.”
A tight smile was all I could offer. “Sorry.”
“Mhmm.” She narrowed her eyes at me, before looking at my mother who was the picture of calm, but said nothing else.
My heart was still galloping, and my throat was dry by the time we made it out to my mom’s car afterwards.
She had the A/C blasting, ready to put the car in reverse when I settled my newly manicured hand over hers. “Mom, can we talk before we leave?”
Her serene smile fell when she looked at me. “What’s wrong, sweetie?”
“I need to tell you something, and I need you to listen.”
“I’m listening.”
“Last night, I saw Brock?—”
“Oh, honey, I was gonna tell you about that. Nothing’s set in stone yet, but life is too short not to try.”
My lips twitched. This woman didn’t even make it three seconds into “just listening” before she was cutting me off.
“He told us about that, but that’s not what I want to talk about.” I held her hand. “Mom, please just listen and I’ll explain whatever you want me to after. Okay?”
There were already questions in her eyes, and the lump in my throat grew bigger. I couldn’t remember the last time I feltthis nervous to tell my mother anything. We didn’t have secrets between us. But…
Keeping my eyes on her wood grain dashboard, I told her about Rico. And Soul. And Christian. And to her credit, she let me talk. But when I looked over at her, her mouth was open like she wanted to say something, except the words got stuck in her throat.
“Mom?”
“Harlow Evangeline Westbrook, you better be joking.” There was an edge to her voice I’d never heard before. My posture straightened when she snatched her hands from mine and stared through the windshield.
“I wouldn’t joke about something like that, Ma. And I wanted you to hear it from me instead of someone else.”
