Her mom chimed in. “Maddon, get Imani’s bag and put it in the guest room. I better call Trinity because I won’t be going to church today. My baby’s home.”
Imani turned. “Guest room? Why can’t he put them in my room?”
Her mother hunched her shoulders. “You didn’t tell us you were coming and Maddon has a house guest staying in your old room, which is now my new guest room. The poor soul is having a bit of a time. Anyway, that room is larger.”
Imani was ready to protest.
Felicia shook her head and wagged her finger. “Don’t do it. I can see your beautiful face puffing up like a fish. Don’t get all huffy because it won’t change a thing. It’ll just give you wrinkles.”
Imani was about to open her mouth to complain when her father pulled her back into the crook of his arms. Always the diplomat, his lips hovered close to her ear, and he whispered, “You’re not going to win this one. Let it go, and live to fight another day.”
Felicia did feel a little bad giving her room away. Still, that’s what happens when kids grow up and move away. Imani was lucky that Felicia hadn’t started to redecorate it yet. She turned to Maddon and Aaliyah. Her lips curved upward. “At some point, your kids are supposed to move out. Especially when your children start having their own.”
They turned toward each other wondering who their mother was talking to since neither one of them had any plans on moving anytime soon—even with a baby coming.
Chapter 3
Maddon opened the door to the guest room and dropped Imani’s bags on the floor. She brushed past him and flopped down on the bed. She toe’d off her gym shoes then proceeded to fall flat on her back with her arms raised above her head. “God, it’s good to be home even if I have to sleep in this little box because you’ve got some girl in my room.” Imani sat up on her elbows and glared at Maddon. “When did mom and dad start allowing that?”
“Calm down and stop being a brat . . . BRAT. You know damn well mom and dad would never allow shackin’ up even if it was during an apocalypse. It’s a guy I met at the airport yesterday on my way back from my business trip. He’s going through a rough time and seemed like he needed to get away.”
Imani scrunched up her face. “You let some strange man sleep in my bed?”
Maddon lifted his brows up and down then responded sarcastically. “Yep. He’s a serial killer.”
“That’s. Not. Funny. Make sure you burn the sheets.”
“We survived the night. He didn’t kill anyone. All kidding aside, our flight was delayed several hours, and during that time we struck up a conversation. After talking, he seemed cool, just going through a rough time. When we landed here, I found out his connecting flight to Chicago was canceled, and he couldn’t get home until tomorrow. So, I invited him back with me. Dad and I are both over six foot three and in pretty good physical condition. If he tried anything crazy, I think we could take him.” Maddon laughed. “So, stop trippin’. Like mom said, he’s just going through a rough time and needs to disappear for a few days.”
She twisted her lips in a wry smile. “As long as he doesn’t leave anything in my bed, I guess it's okay.”
Maddon started to walk backward out of the room. “Remember . . . what mom said.”
Imani had a blank look on her face. Her mother said a lot. “What in particular?”
“I heard her say explicitly that you don’t live here no mo! Therefore, it’s not your bed.” His throaty laugh rang out throughout the upstairs as he closed the door just as Imani threw a pillow at him. It bounced off and dropped onto the floor.
Imani couldn’t help smiling to herself as she thought about how some things would always be the same.
*****
Imani changed out of her skinny jeans and button-up shirt to take a quick shower. After standing under the hot spray for over half an hour, she got out and put on a pair of cut-off sweat pants and a thick pullover hoodie that hid all her curves. As Imani stood in front of the mirror looking at her reflection, Imani decided not to bother with any makeup. She had scrubbed her face clean and was attempting to put her coily hair up into a banana clip. Starving, Imani hurried so that she could head downstairs to get something to eat.
Before she hit the bottom of the steps, Imani could smell the aroma of bacon. Her stomach rumbled. Just as she made it the rest of the way down, Aaliyah met her at the base of the stairs holding two cups of steaming hot coffee. She handed one to Imani. “It’s about time you came down. I was about to come drag you out of that shower.”
Imani took the cup with both hands. “I so need this. Thank you.”
“Breakfast isn’t ready yet. Let’s go sit out on the porch until mama’s finished.”
Imani laughed. “Are you sure? That bacon smells done. I should at least ask if she needs help in the kitchen.”
Aaliyah was in the process of bringing her cup of coffee to her lips but
