Liana
“Noeva, it’s not funny. Odeal called me begging to make it stop, like I knew what the hell he was talking about.”
“That shit is funny as hell. He deserved it. Fuck Odeal.”
“Ouu, Mommy said a bad word.”
“Wren, go outside and enjoy this extravagant ass party you had me plan. Mommy needs a minute.”
Wren took off running out the back door, laughing.
Beau poked his head in. “My bad, baby. She slipped past me.”
“It’s okay, you’re doing great.”
I almost passed out at Noeva being that sweet to him. He came in fully, kissed her cheek, and headed back outside.
“Oh shit, you’re seriously turning in your player card.”
“Gladly,” she said with a wink. “Anyway, are you upset? Like, what’s the vibe?”
“The vibe is I’m in love. Jaheim is good for me and to me.” I paused. “And Jeremy Willis better hope I don’t get my man on him for that time he cut my hair.”
“Who cut your hair?”
I spun around and ran straight to Jaheim. He caught me. I peppered his face with kisses. “I missed you, baby.”
“I missed you too, Trini.”
I inhaled and sighed into his neck. He’d been gone for work in Kansas for a few days and his bed was way too big without him. I had snuck back to my own place a couple of nights and regretted it. I was spoiled and I had accepted that about myself.
“She’s bringing up old dirt, don’t pay her any mind,” Noeva said.
He looked at her, then at me, and kissed my lips. “Who did it?” he asked with a wink, setting me down.
“Jere—”
“No damn body,” Noeva cut in. “Y’all a match made in heaven, I see.”
I laughed and pointed him toward where Beau was outside.
“Not we in love,” she said once he was gone, snickering. “Pimp down, pimp in distress.”
“Very much a man down situation.”
“Back to head fuck nigga. What all has he done? I need ideas.”
I knew what was happening to Odeal’s digital life.
After everything Jaheim had promised not to keep me in the dark, when I asked, he didn’t lie.
I made my peace with it. Odeal sending someone to harm me in my own alley was out of line and he deserved much more than flickering lights and rock music at three in the morning.
Jaheim made sure nothing could trace back to me.
Odeal couldn’t prove a damn thing. And my psychotic ass man told me that was the fun part.
“He sounded terrible,” I said. “And girl, he had the nerve to still have me listed as an emergency contact. When Happy Hills called to inform me of his extended stay, I hung up. Not my nigga, not my problem.”
“Good,” Noeva said, completely unbothered, refilling her cup.
“He kept saying things were moving in his house. Lights going on and off. Music playing by itself.”
Noeva set her cup down and looked at me.
Then she screamed.
I covered my mouth to stifle my laughing but that only made us laugh harder. We were bent over the kitchen counter when Wren came back through the door with her juice box and shook her head at us.
“The fairies are not being mature,” she said and walked back outside.
That made it worse.
When we finally straightened up, Noeva wiped her eyes getting serious for exactly two seconds.
“Liana.”
“What, girl?”
“You happy?”
“Yeah,” I said. “More than happy. I feel like the luckiest woman in the world.”
She came around and hugged me and that’s what we did. For a long minute, we stood in her kitchen on the verge of tears, happy ones of course, tears nonetheless, and swayed. Until a throat cleared behind us.
Beau.
“We still double-dating tonight?”
“I want to, but I gotta clean all this up. We still gotta cut the ca?—”
He silenced her with a kiss and whispered in her ear. I watched my sister relax into her man and smiled because it had taken her long enough. She deserved every bit of this.
Jaheim and Wren came inside holding hands.
“Show, I taught you, member,” Wren said, looking up at him.
Jaheim began to sign. I love you. We are family.
Wren clapped and bounced around like she had won the biggest teddy bear at the fair.
We all turned to Jaheim and signed, I love you too. Welcome to our family.
“Whew, I’m too emotional for this.”
“Love you too, Noe,” Jaheim said, throwing his arm around me.
“Okay, cake and gifts. So we can wrap this up.”
We headed out back for another hour until the cleaning and take-down crew that Beau surprised Noeva with arrived. We said our goodbyes and headed out to change before we met back up for the concert.
Jaheim was carrying my old ass on his back and I kissed his cheek.
“I’m obsessed with you, I think.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Yeah. I uhm added you as Esme’s emergency contact. Her collar has your number listed too.”
He stopped walking and turned his head to look at me over his shoulder as best he could with me on his back.
“Trini.”
“What?”
“You know what.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. It’s practical. In case something happens to me and someone finds her.”
“Mm hm.”
“It’s responsible pet ownership, Jaheim.”
“Nah.” He hiked me up higher and kept walking. “Just say you want me around.”
I buried my face in his neck. “I want you around,” I said into his skin.
“See. Was that hard?”
“Extremely, ugh.” I joked throwing my head back.
I felt his laugh move through his whole body. I held on tighter and thought about a woman who had spent three years building walls and had handed a man her heart like it was nothing when both of them knew it was everything.
“Imma marry you one day, Liana Bloom.” He set me on my feet at the car and grabbed my face. “You still believe in that, right?”
I searched his eyes. At one point, I had vowed never to marry again.
But that was before I experienced Jaheim.
Before I knew what this was. I married Odeal, and yes, we laughed, yes, we had fun, but we never crossed into being in love.
That was just the truth. The lamp would say otherwise, but that was always about respect, not love. Not this.
That deep-down-in-my-bones, on-my-mind-all-day, I sleep in your T-shirt and miss you when you leave kind of love.
“Are you proposing to me?”
“I mean, I do have your pops’ blessing.”
I shifted to look at him. The seriousness on his face shook me.
“Since when?”
He leaned in close and whispered in my ear. “Since I caught that little body in the alley.”
I gasped and laughed, “Jaheim.”
“What?” he asked, stepping back to open the door.
“But I’m not proposing in the street at Noeva’s. You’re worth way more than that.”
“I’d say yes,” I murmured. Maybe to myself. Maybe to him. Maybe to whatever had been pulling us together since April.
“Huh?”
“I’d say yes, Jaheim.”
He kissed my lips. When he pulled back, his face went through every emotion it had before he stepped away, clapping. Once. Twice. To himself, walking around the car.
I sat in the passenger seat and watched him through the windshield laughing until my eyes watered.
He got in grinning.
“You’re kinda dramatic.”
“Kinda in love.”
The fairgrounds were packed, well packed for Bloomington, which meant standing room, people on blankets, and folding chairs scattered across the grass.
A few people had driven in from Coupeville and the surrounding towns because small towns connected like that.
Word traveled. When one of yours made it you showed up for them the same way they showed up for you before they left. That was just the code.
Asia Rain, born Asi’anna Rainey of Bloomington, Tennessee, was now a headline nobody in this town missed.
I was excited to see her on that big stage.
I had watched her grow up and perform at every talent show this town ever hosted.
She had played The Bloom twice before she blew up.
Back when she was still figuring out her sound and needed somewhere that would let her run it.
I let her use the bar as her own studio.
I had poured her water between sets and told her she was going to make it. I had been right.
Plus, she wasn’t just a part of the community. She was family. Noeva’s cousin, which made her ours.
She reminded me a lot of myself. Pretty, ambitious, full of that childlike belief that hard work could build you a beautiful life. Then a man saw how open her heart was and chose to take advantage of it instead of protecting it.
Asia didn’t think we knew. But even small towns got big city gossip.
Binks was a loose cannon and her biggest hater.
Imagine loving someone enough to build them and then being so threatened by what they became that you spend your time tearing it down.
Some men couldn’t stand to watch a woman outgrow them.
I made my way backstage before the show because I couldn’t shake the feeling that I needed to see her. She had been on my mind for weeks, ever since the blog dropped about Binks dragging her into his mess again.
“Hey, baby girl,” I said when I found her stretching in the back.
She looked up and her whole face changed. “Coussinnn.”
Our hug felt like a much-needed one. For both of us.
“I needed that,” she murmured into my shoulder.
“Don’t tell me you’re nervous to perform for us. We’ve been watching you sing your heart out since you were seven years old.”
“I know but I’m back home. This is all me. No label, no management. This is my thing.”
“I feel that, babe.” I squeezed her hands. “Go kill it. I’ll see you after.”
“And Asia…”
“Yeah?”
“You don’t have to drown with people to prove you love them. The access you granted was already proof of that.”
Asia let out a soft laugh. “Whew, that was a word, Liana. Thank you.”
I made my way back to Jaheim and settled in front of him. He wrapped his arms around me from behind. I loved it when he did that. I loved being in his arms, period.
“You good?”
“Yeah, ready to see my girl perform.” I tilted my head back. “I love you.”
He kissed the top of my head. “I love you too.”
The lights went down.
The crowd lost its mind.
Asia walked out onto that stage in front of her hometown and every single person who had ever believed in her before she had a reason to believe in herself was already on their feet, clapping and cheering.
“Y’all, please. Oh my god.” She laughed into the mic, pressing her hand to her chest. “I love you. I missed you. Being back home feels so good. So necessary.” She looked out at the crowd for a second like she was taking inventory of every face.
“So let’s get into it. If you know it, sing it with me. ”
The first notes of Blaise Love came through the speakers, and the crowd answered before she even opened her mouth.
It was one of my favorites. Easy love, lazy mornings, no pressure, and no pushing.
Jaheim tightened his arms around me.
I put my hands over his and we stayed like that while Asia sang to her hometown.
Blaise love, no rush no race ,
Just you and me at our own pace
Ain’t gotta fight for your attention ,
This the love I forgot to mention
Blaise love, easy like Sunday
Every day feels like a getaway
No pressure, baby just stay
And love me in your Blaise way
I looked up at him once.
He was already looking at me.
The rest of the night slipped by easy. Singing, swaying, stealing kisses whenever the mood called for it.
Above us, the Bloomington sky stretched dark and wide, full of stars. I had seen this view my whole life.
Turns out it looked different when you finally had somebody worth sharing it with.
It was perfect until we made our way backstage after the last song and found Binks in Asia’s face.
“Bitch, you think I wouldn’t find out what the fuck you been up to. You can’t outmaneuv?—”
A man none of us recognized stepped out of the cut and punched Binks so clean in the mouth he stumbled sideways and grabbed the nearest table to keep from going down.
The silence that followed lasted about two seconds.
“Nigga, I warned you.”
“Scyene,” Asia called out in disbelief.
Jaheim and Beau were already moving toward Binks. The man who had thrown the punch stepped back, straightened his jacket, and took Asia in like he was checking inventory.
Noeva, Asia, and I converged in the middle.
“Would anybody like to explain what the hell is going on?” Noeva asked, arms crossed, looking between her cousin and the stranger who had rearranged Binks’s face without breaking a sweat.
Asia’s eyes were on the stranger.
The stranger’s eyes were on Asia.
Neither of them said a word.
“I think we may be interrupting something.”
I got Jaheim and Beau’s attention. “Throw his ass out and make sure he understands not to come past that Welcome to Bloomington sign.”
Town mayor and all.
I turned to Asia. “You want us to give you a minute? Or we can stay.”
She nodded without looking away from the stranger. We hugged her quickly and tightly before filing out. Noeva was the last one through the door, taking her sweet time while clocking every detail because that was Noeva. She was absolutely going to need a debrief and full report later.
I grabbed her arm and pulled.
“Come on, Angela Bassett.”
“I want to make sure she’s okay.”
“She’s fine. She’s better than fine.”
Noeva looked back once more before I got her fully through the door.
“Who is that man?” she whispered.
“I don’t know,” I said. “But Asia does.”
“Binks better be lucky I didn’t go in this fanny pack on him.” Noeva patted it protectively. “Tell my brother in law I need that Odeal treatment on that nigga Binks before the sun comes up.”
We laughed, but she was fully serious.
We made it back to the street and found the guys standing on the curb talking to my daddy, who had his hand wrapped around the back of Binks’s neck with his face on the hood of a car. Binks was having a very educational evening.
The guys met us halfway and shook their heads. None of us asked questions.
Whatever had happened backstage clearly belonged to Asia.
Jaheim helped me into the car, and my daddy appeared at the window before we pulled off.
“Hey, Daddy.”
“Hey, baby girl.” He leaned on the door. “On Sunday, I’m throwing some steaks and potatoes on the grill. I want y’all to come by. I think it’s time we share a proper meal and welcome Jaheim to Bloomington.” He looked past me to look at Jaheim. “You sticking around, son?”
“Yes sir. I’m right where I want and need to be.”
“Daddy, did you have to make a whole speech to invite him to dinner? Y’all like him more than me already.”
“See you Sunday, son.” He tapped the roof. “Get that brat home.”
I rode the whole way home wondering if I was dreaming. But to be honest, I could’ve never dreamed up a man like Jaheim or even this version of my life because even before him, I had peace. I had happiness. Jaheim didn’t bring me peace. He added to it.
That mattered way more.