Chapter 4 #3
Jerome pushed up from his chair and clapped his hands once, like he had been waiting for an official moment to take charge.
“All right,” he said, looking around the room. “Who riding with who? Because I’m not about to be halfway to Lancaster realizing somebody got left standing on the sidewalk.”
“That has never happened,” Marcus said.
“It could,” Jerome replied. “Y’all be talking.”
“You drive like you’re narrating your own action scene,” Simone added. “We should be more concerned about arriving alive.”
“I drive with intention,” Jerome said.
“You drive with imagination,” Marcus corrected him.
Auntie Rhonda waved a hand like she didn’t have time for any of it. “Jerome, you’re driving your car. That’s already decided. Marcus, you go with him so somebody responsible is present.”
“I resent that,” Jerome said.
“You’ll survive,” Marcus replied, already reaching for his keys.
Simone folded her arms, glancing toward Nova before looking back at Jerome’s SUV parked outside like it had a reputation. “If I get in that car, I’m sitting in the back and I’m controlling the music.”
“You don’t get to control anything in my vehicle,” Jerome said.
“I absolutely do,” she replied. “Or I will spend the entire drive critiquing your lane choices out loud.”
“That feels hostile, and you better hope D has room for you or you better pull up one of those ride share apps.”
“Well I know who I’m not riding with,” Simone tossed out there as she moved toward the door.
Auntie Rhonda turned to me then, already moving the pieces before anyone else could complicate it. “Deion, you’re driving, right?”
“I am,” I said.
“Good,” she replied, nodding once. “I’m riding with you.”
That settled faster than anything else had.
Kendra glanced at me, then at Rhonda, like she was recalibrating the arrangement in real time before stepping into it. “That works,” she said easily. Of course it did.
Simone looked back at Nova again, quieter this time, not asking out loud but asking anyway. Nova didn’t hesitate.
“I’ll ride with Jerome,” she said, reaching for her bag.
Simone held her gaze for half a second longer than necessary, like she was checking for something Nova wasn’t offering, then let out a small breath and nodded.
“All right,” she said. “I’m coming with you.”
“You say that like it’s a sacrifice,” Jerome said.
“It is,” she replied.
Marcus shook his head, already heading toward the door. “We are leaving now before this turns into a full production.”
Auntie Rhonda grabbed her bag and pointed toward the hallway.
“Everybody get a move on. Now. We have breakfast waiting and I refuse to be late for something I’ve been thinking about all week.
I’m telling y’all now, if they turn breakfast over into lunch before I get my first plate done up right you will see this saint sinning all up and down Amish country, and I will be doing so loudly. ”
The group started shifting toward the door in that familiar, overlapping way, voices carrying over each other, keys jangling, Jerome already talking about his route like anyone had asked.
Nova moved with them, easy, unhurried, like the decision she had just made didn’t mean anything at all. I knew better.
Jerome scoffed. “I drive just fine.”
“You drive like you think the road is a suggestion,” Nova said, stepping past him.
Simone exhaled, long and dramatic, but she grabbed her bag anyway. “If I die today, I’m haunting all of you.”
“You’ve been haunting us,” Jerome muttered.
She pointed at him. “This is why I didn’t want to get in your car.”
Nova glanced back at Simone, a small tilt of her head that wasn’t quite a smile but close enough. Simone caught it, rolled her eyes, and followed. That decision had landed louder than anything anyone said. Nova choosing that car, choosing distance. Choosing space away me.
I didn’t react. I just noticed.
Kendra adjusted her bag and stepped toward the back seat. “I don’t mind sitting back here,” she said easily, sliding in.
I opened the driver’s door, waiting until Auntie Rhonda settled into the passenger seat before I pulled out behind Jerome’s SUV.
The drive stretched out gradually, the city thinning behind us without ceremony. Buildings gave way to longer roads, single lanes with buggies pulled by horses once we ventured off the turnpike. It was also quiet and it didn’t press on you but made you aware of yourself in it.
Jerome’s SUV stayed just ahead, steady enough to follow, Nova’s silhouette shifting occasionally in the seat behind Jerome as she turned to say something to Simone.
“They always like this?” Kendra asked from behind me, leaning forward just enough for her voice to carry.
“Pretty much,” I said.
“They seem close.”
“They are.”
Auntie Rhonda adjusted the visor, glancing at me sideways. “Been that way,” she added.
Kendra nodded, taking that in. “I like that.”
“Hmmmm,” Rhonda said, noncommittal but not dismissive.
When we pulled into Shady Maple, Kendra leaned forward again, eyes widening slightly as she took in the size of it and the vast number of cars in the parking lot.
“Okay,” she said, laughing under her breath. “This is serious.”
Auntie Rhonda turned toward her, brows lifting. “You’ve never been here?”
Kendra shook her head. “I’ve heard of it, but no.”
Rhonda looked genuinely surprised. “Well, we about to fix that today.”
Jerome was already halfway out of his car by the time we parked, stretching like he’d completed a long journey instead of an hour drive.
“Y’all took too long,” he called.
“We followed you,” I replied, stepping out.
“That sounds like a personal problem.”
Inside, the place moved with its own kind of momentum. People flowed in and out of lines for the buffet, plates in hand, conversations overlapping in a way that didn’t require order to make sense.
Kendra paused just inside, turning slowly like she was trying to take it all in at once. “Where do I even start?”
Nova stepped up beside her, adjusting the strap of her bag on her shoulder. “Don’t try to do everything,” she said, her tone calm but certain. “You’ll end up not enjoying any of it.”
Kendra smiled. “That sounds like advice.”
“It is,” Nova replied, reaching for a plate.
I stepped in on Nova’s other side, picking one up for myself. “She means pace yourself.”
“I gathered that,” Kendra said, laughing softly.
Nova moved through the line with intention, not rushing or hesitating, selecting what she wanted like she trusted her instincts more than the options in front of her.
“With a strategy,” I said, watching her.
She glanced at me. “You still paying attention to my plate?”
“Always have.”
She squinched up her face in the way that stirred something inside of me that dared me to place the sweetest kiss on her forehead every time she did it. “That’s weird.”
“Since when?”
She huffed a quiet laugh, shaking her head as she moved ahead.
Kendra stepped in where Nova had been, reaching for a plate. When she did, I took a deep breath to recalibrate and not look like a complete asshole at Kendra’s expense.
“So this is the kind of thing you all do together?” Kendra asked.
“Sometimes,” I said. “Depends.”
“Depends on what?”
I didn’t answer right away. Auntie Rhonda did.
“Depends on the day,” she said, picking up a plate of her own. “Some days call for something different.”
Kendra nodded slowly, like she understood there was more there than what was being said. We found a table large enough to hold all of us, Jerome already seated like he’d secured it through negotiation. As we settled in, Kendra looked around the table, then back at me.
“So after this,” Kendra said, glancing around the table as she reached for her glass, “we’re heading to the auction house, right?”
“Yeah,” I said. “That’s the plan.”
“I’ve been wanting to see that,” she continued, leaning in slightly, her attention settling on me in a way that was focused but still easy. “The way you talk about it, it doesn’t sound like you’re just browsing for comic books. It sounds… curated.”
Jerome made a small sound under his breath. “Listen to her using the right words,” he said. “You better lock that in.”
“Jerome,” Simone said, her tone carrying just enough warning to let him know he was close to doing too much.
“I’m giving praise,” he replied. “Relax.”
Kendra smiled, then looked back at me. “It is curated, though, right?”
“It is,” I said. “I’m looking for specific runs, certain conditions, pieces that hold weight on their own and make sense together.”
“That’s for the store?” she asked. Then, after a beat, “Or… the Archive?”
The word landed. Not wrong. Just… placed differently than I would’ve chosen. Across the table, Nova’s fork paused just long enough to register before she set it down with care. She looked up then.
“The Archive?” Nova repeated, her tone light, but deliberate. “That’s what we’re calling it now?”
Kendra looked between us, picking up on the shift without stepping into it.
I sat up a little straighter. “Yeah,” I said. “That’s where it landed.”
“When did it land?” Nova asked, not sharp, not pressing, just steady. “Last time we talked about it, it was still ‘the space’ and a lot of thinking out loud.”
Jerome leaned back slightly, eyes moving between us like he had just found something worth watching.
“That’s a valid question,” he murmured.
“Let it be a question,” Marcus said, calm as ever. “It doesn’t need a soundtrack.”
“I’m observing,” Jerome said.
Nova didn’t move her gaze.
I held it. “A few weeks ago,” I said. “Once I started putting everything together for real. What I had, what I still needed. It stopped feeling hypothetical.”
She nodded once, like she was filing that away.
“That’s big,” Simone said, her tone softer now. “You naming it like that.”
“It is,” Auntie Rhonda added, pointing lightly in my direction. “For as long as I’ve known you, I know you don’t go this length on something unless you’re prepared to stand on it.”
Kendra smiled, encouraged. “I like it,” she said. “It sounds intentional. Like you’re not just collecting things, you’re preserving them. Especially the Black creators and characters that didn’t get centered the way they should’ve.”
“That’s the idea,” I said.
Nova reached for her glass, taking a small sip before setting it down with care. “It’s a good name,” she said. “I just didn’t realize we were that far along.”
She delivered it clean, no strain in her voice, and it still settled heavier than anything else at the table. Simone’s gaze flicked toward her, quick and knowing.
Auntie Rhonda stepped in before the moment had room to stretch.
“Speaking of being on time,” she said, lifting her glass slightly, “this is exactly the kind of morning Celeste would’ve had us up for. It’s beautiful and brisk. Just… meant to be.”
A small pause moved through the table.
Kendra glanced between them. “Celeste?” she asked gently.
Nova didn’t answer right away.
Auntie Rhonda did.
“My best friend,” she said, her voice steady.
“Her mother. It would’ve been her birthday today.
I’ll never forget how she swore up and down that she would clamp her legs shut if it meant giving Nova her own birthday, but the way she ended dancing the night away I seriously thought Celeste and Nova were going to share the same birthdays. ”
Kendra’s expression softened immediately. “Oh. I’m sorry, I didn’t—”
“You didn’t need to,” Rhonda said, not unkindly. “You’re here now.”
She gave a small nod, more to herself than anyone else.
“We keep this one close,” she said. “But we made room.”
Nova’s mouth curved slightly, something quieter sitting underneath it.
“She would’ve had us out the door before the sun thought about coming up,” she added, her voice even. “Talking about how all the good finds go early.”
“And she would’ve been right,” Rhonda said. “As usual. But don’t you dare tell her I said that if she comes to you in a dream.”
Jerome lifted his fork, glancing toward the desserts. “So we honoring Celeste properly, or are we just speaking respectfully and calling it a day?”
“We are not ‘calling it a day,’” Simone said.
She didn’t raise her voice, but her gaze slid to me, steady and direct.
“Days like this, you just make sure you’re present for the people who feel it the most,” she added.
It wasn’t loud. It didn’t need to be. Marcus exhaled quietly, like he’d felt it land and decided not to get involved.
Auntie Rhonda stepped in before it could stretch, nodding toward the end of the table. “Put her birthday candle on one of those,” she said. “We’ll do it right.”
Marcus was already halfway up. “I’ve got it.”
The table shifted again, not heavy, just intentional. Nova watched for a second, then pushed her chair back.
“I’m going to run to the bathroom,” she said, her tone steady as she reached for her bag.
“Take your time,” Simone said, quieter now.
Nova nodded once and moved away from the table without drawing attention to it.
I watched her anyway. She made it halfway across the room before her hand lifted briefly to her face, quick enough that most people wouldn’t have caught it.
I did. The tear was gone as fast as it showed.
I pushed my chair back before I could think better of it.
“Don’t,” Simone said quietly, not looking at me.
I stopped.
“She doesn’t need you going after her right now,” she added, her voice low but clear. “Not like that.”
I swallowed, my hand tightening against the back of the chair. “I just—”
“I know what you just,” she said. “That’s the problem.”
There wasn’t anything to argue with in that.
Simone stood instead, smoothing her hands down her jeans before stepping away from the table.
“I’ve got her,” she said. She moved past me without waiting. And I stayed where I was. Feeling it settle in, heavier than it had any right to be, and catching the shift in Kendra’s attention as she took in more than I’d intended to show.