Chapter 10

The kiss was soft, loving, and meaningful. “CJ, in a couple of months, you’ll be able to declare yourself an adult. You wanna come stay with me?”

“What about until then?”

“You can come as often as you want.” She kissed each of CJ’s burning cheeks. “But until then, it can’t be official.”

He looped his legs over Mimi’s. “We could start that now?”

“Only if I go pay for another night.”

“Why?”

“It’s 10:40 and checkout’s 11:00,” Mimi said. “We’ll need another day if you wanna do what you did to me last night.”

They agreed Florida had to wait until the time was right, and NY could wait at least another day. Mimi tossed the flimsy dress over her beautiful body and left the room. Thirty seconds later, CJ started missing her.

It took three days to get back to New York. Mimi had convinced CJ that they wouldn’t be in Delaware long enough, but they found a place and time in Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey to make love.

CJ spent the first night home at Mimi’s, and she wrote him a note to take to school with him. They were used to her signature because Mimi had been signing CJ’s report cards, late excuses, and absence notes for years.

While CJ was at school that first day, Mimi went to see her sister, Tabitha. She was wrecked, drinking before noon, and stoned on pills. CJ had been right, his mother hadn’t noticed he was gone. The phone was disconnected already, and Mimi found unopened notices from Orange & Rockland. The power would be shut off in a few days.

Mimi told Tabitha that CJ would be staying with her but didn’t bother suggesting rehab. That would have only led to a fight and greater resistance. She loved her sister, wanted to help her, and would have done anything in her power, but Mimi had been down that road enough times to know Tabitha wouldn’t get help until she wanted it. She prayed Tabitha wouldn’t wait until it was too late, the way their father had.

Thirty years later, CJ was jerked back from the memories of his road trip by a sweet, tiny voice. “Grandpa.”

Savannah was a mirror image of her mother, Caroline, when she was seven. “Yes, honey?”

“Are we going to take Sam for a ride?”

“That depends.”

“On what?” Savannah asked.

“Go tell Grandma Mimi that Grandpa has a fast car and the time is right for racing in the streets. See what she says.”

It could have been in any of the states they made love on that trip, but Mimi insisted it happened their first time in North Carolina, so they named their daughter Caroline.

His mother had never been able to show CJ the love a boy needs, and his father had shown up only to disappear again, but CJ still had Sam, and he still loved Mimi as a big sister, a friend, an aunt, a mother, and his one and only true love.

Savannah’s black curls bounced as she ran back. “Grandma Mimi said the highway’s bright, and we’re headed for the sea. She’ll be right out.”