Chapter 40
MAYA
Lilith
Where are you Papaya?
Hanna Banana
I told her to wait but…you know what that’s like
Papaya Maya
Just finishing up and about to head out now, my mom is already outside
Lilith
MOVE THAT SWEET ASS THEN
Better yet….
Hanna Banana
Don’t…
Papaya Maya
Hanna just take her phone away?
Lilith
SEND NUDES
Specifically that SWEET ASS
Papaya Maya has left the “My Girls” group chat
Hanna Banana Added Papaya Maya to the “My Girls” group chat
Hanna Banana
Nuh uh
Lilith
What were you going to do? Leave and then…what would you say when you got here?
Hanna Banana Changed the name of the chat to “A Fruit Basket for Lilith”
Hanna Banana
Happy?
Lilith
Niiiizzzeee
It’s time to hit the road, I have a sexy apartment to woo you both with!
Papaya Maya
…I was already wooed, but now that you’ve mentioned the digs…
Maya smiled to herself and slid her phone into her back pocket. This was it. Her mom was going to drop her off at Lily’s, and the three of them were going to make their way to Providence. To the “grand reveal,” as Lily put it.
“You ready?” Maggie’s voice came from the front doorway.
Maya thought her mother looked more at ease, and she was grateful to her over the past couple of weeks.
Especially after seeing how Hanna’s mother had reacted.
It broke Maya that Hanna had seemingly had all of her worst fears confirmed, especially how the conversation had gone yesterday during her ‘goodbye’ talk.
Maya had held her for the rest of the night before coming home in the morning to have one last breakfast with her mom.
Over the last couple of weeks, Maya had thankfully had great conversations with her mom, helping her see the validity of her relationship.
Maggie had initially worried that Maya was experimenting or latching onto the other two women as a means to soothe the pain of her own family being pulled apart by the divorce.
“I don’t think we are pulled apart Mom, I think we’ve just changed,” Maya had told her mother, who looked immensely relieved and grateful for that shift in perspective.
“And even if it seems like I have acquired two lovers instead of one for the sake of a found family, would that be so bad? I love them and I am loved. They make me happy, they make me feel safe, they make me feel seen.” Maya had said these words in a serious tone, but her cheeks burned with how hard the truth in the words made her smile.
“It's just, it was so hard for you in Boston, being different, being Black.” Her mom had looked into Maya’s eyes with such sadness, but there was also an understanding she and Maya had never confirmed out loud before.
“You’re my baby girl, and I love you more than anything, and I never want anything to hurt you, you know that?
I felt like okay, so your life would be a bit more challenging for something as dumb as the color of your skin, but now–I just want you—”
“You just want me to be ok.” Maggie had made this clear to Maya, unlike Hanna’s parents.
Maggie smiled in confirmation. “I am okay, Mom,” Maya assured her.
“Being different is ok. Sure it has been hard, but I love my brown skin, I love me, just who I am. You and Dad always made sure of that. I’m okay. More than that–I’m happy.”
And then they’d hugged, and her mother had cried, and whispered “thank you” into Maya’s ear. That felt heavy, but there were no more words needed, all they had needed in that moment was each other, the feeling of home.
“Maya? Where are you right now? Let’s go!” Maggie said, moving back into the house and gently nudging Maya’s shoulder, bringing her back to the present.
“I was just thinking how funny it is that I’m kinda going to miss this house that I basically haven’t lived in. But more funny to me is that I have that feeling like I am going to miss home, like when I first moved out for school,” Maya said.
“Well, it's not like this is your last time here, you can come back whenever you want. Maplewood will be your home too.”
Maya looked into her mom’s topaz blue eyes, beaming.
“Playlist?” Lily said from the driver’s seat of her brand-new electric SUV. She’d insisted they needed something for the “whole family” that was good in the snow, and she flat out refused to ‘fulfill the Subaru stereotype’ since they were already U-Hauling.
“Got it,” Hanna said from the front seat.
They were all in, packed to the brim and sitting in Lily’s driveway.
Diana and Maggie stood in front of the car, having just hugged each of them.
Hanna had been watching Diana and Maggie sadly, but then, in a very unexpected turn of events, her father had arrived to say goodbye to everyone.
He had since left, but Maya could tell the gesture had meant everything to Hanna, and so it meant everything to her and Lily.
“Can we at least get an hour into the drive before you turn on your investigative podcasts about what goes bump in the night?” Maya said from the back seat. Lily laughed and Hanna feigned offense.
“I’ll have you know that I only listen to ethical true crime.”
“Whatever that means,” Lily said. “Alright girls look alive, they’re waving.”
Maya shifted to look around the front seat where she could see the two moms waving through the windshield. She smiled and waved back, as did Hanna and Lily.
“Alright ladies, wait till you see the final place I got for us,” Lily said, starting the car and sliding the gear into reverse.
“Ah, we’re on the lease too, right?” Hanna asked.
“No, I took all that personal information from you and had you sign that paperwork so that I could steal your identity and run for mayor,” Lily said, turning to back out of the driveway. Even though the car came with a backup camera, Maya noticed Lily still liked to check.
“Mayor, huh?” Maya said, shaking her head.
“Yes, to answer your question, you are both on…the deed.”
Maya felt the floor give away from her. “The—what?”
Lily reached the end of the private driveway and swung the car onto the path that would lead them to the main road.
She beeped the horn and everyone gave one last wave to Maggie and Diana at the end of the driveway.
As they pulled away, Maya saw them hug. It was sweet that Diana was going to be there to comfort her mother.
She knew Maggie was going to have a tough time with her gone.
“Lily, the what?” Hanna repeated, bringing Maya back into the shock she’d previously felt.
“Yeah well, one way my mom has continued to grow her wealth? Real estate, baby. And look, if we are going to share a home, I want it to be something we actually share, something that benefits all of us.”
“Lily, but—” Hanna began, her voice revealing the same nerves that Maya felt.
“We already agreed on the rent. That will just go towards the mortgage.”
Maya rolled her eyes, “But we didn’t help with the down payment! We can’t buy you out if something—”
Lily cut her off. “Stop! I’m trapped. We’re U-hauling. You both are stuck with me. I don’t expect any of the down payment money, but this way we all build equity for ourselves.”
“Lily—”
“I don’t know, look, reparations? Am I allowed to make that joke?”
“Holy shit,” Maya said, and she found that couldn’t find anything to say beyond that.
“Okay so no, not a great joke, but let me do this okay? I love you both, and I’m invested in us, okay? This hasn’t done anything to hurt me in any way, so win-win, it's done.”
There was silence in the car.
“U-hauling huh? So you’re admitting to it?” Hanna said.
Maya and Hanna had been so distracted with their own personal affairs, Maya kicked herself for not looking at the paperwork more closely.
“Fine, fine, but know that I don’t expect to be a kept woman,” Maya said.
“Mhmm speak for yourself,” Hanna joked.
“Listen, this place will be ours, and I wouldn’t have done it if I wasn’t sure that I want you both with me. And this way, if something does happen, neither of you feel like you have to stay because of finances. This way we’re all financially equal when it comes to our home.”
Maya took a beat to digest, and then she felt immense gratitude to Lily, not simply because she had quite literally bought them an apartment, but because of the thought process behind it.
“Okay,” Hanna said.
“Yeah, okay,” Maya said, smiling. It truly felt like she was leaving one home to find another. Thinking back to a conversation she’d had with her mother long ago in the car, she closed her eyes. Your home is where you are loved, completely, totally, deeply.
Maya sighed and sat back in her seat and said, “Yeah, let’s go home.”