Chapter 29 Kairo
Kairo
Khloe and I walked Sydnee to the door.
“I’ll see you both next week,” Sydnee said, stepping onto the porch.
“Thank you,” Khloe whispered.
I nodded. “Yeah… thank you for everything.”
She smiled like she already knew how much her session touched us, then walked toward her car. I stood there watching her drive off, hands shoved into my pockets. I never thought I’d sit through therapy.
Growing up, therapy wasn’t something Black families talked about. You prayed, worked harder, and kept moving. You handled your business inside your house and didn’t invite strangers into your problems. At least that’s what I believed.
When Coffee called me earlier talking about she had a therapist and already scheduled a house session, I damn near hung up on her.
I wasn’t in the mood for Coffee’s dramatics.
But I knew Camille. If I said no, she would’ve transformed into her government name and pulled up herself ready to curse me out and stage an intervention in my living room.
I didn’t have the energy for that, so I agreed.
Standing there… I understood why people did choose therapy.
It felt like someone helped us get to the root of things for the first time.
It was crazy realizing that decisions we made fifteen years ago — things I thought were small, things I barely remembered — were still shaping how we loved each other today.
Life didn’t just happen overnight. It stacked layer after layer after layer, and eventually the weight showed up in your marriage.
We stepped back inside and closed the front door. We turned and looked at each other. What do you even say after ripping your hearts open in front of a stranger?
Khloe’s face was red from crying, her lashes still wet. She still looked like the same girl I fell in love with when we were kids.
She walked toward the couch, grabbing her phone.
“I’m gonna text Niv and tell her she can bring Kennedi back,” she said.
“Yeah… yeah, that’ll be good.”
My voice sounded unfamiliar to my own ears. I didn’t know what to say. I told myself to say something. But I didn’t want to ruin whatever fragile progress we’d just made. We had a long road ahead of us.
Khloe stood again. “I’m gonna make some coffee. You want some?”
I didn’t, but I also didn’t want to tell her no.
“Yeah,” I said anyway.
She nodded and walked into the kitchen. I followed a few seconds later, stopping just inside the doorway. She moved quietly, filling the machine, pressing buttons, focused on something simple like we weren’t standing in the aftermath of the hardest conversation of our lives.
My mind told me to give her space. My heart told me to go to her. I stood there fighting myself for a moment before my body made the decision for me.
I walked up behind her just as she pressed the brew button. Before I could second-guess it, I grabbed her and turned her toward me. Her forehead landed against my chest, and she didn’t pull away.
She melted and her body relaxed like she’d been holding herself together and finally didn’t have to anymore. She took one shaky breath, and then she broke down. A deep, painful sob ripped out of her, loud and raw, and it fucking shattered me.
I wrapped my arms around her tight. “I’m sorry,” she cried into my chest. “I’m so sorry… I’m so sorry…”
Her hands gripped my shirt and my throat burned. “I’m sorry too,” I whispered, my voice cracking. “I’m sorry too, baby.”
Years of distance collapsed between us in that moment.
All the nights we went to bed tired instead of talking.
All the times we swallowed hurt instead of explaining it.
All the moments we thought we were protecting each other when we were really just drifting apart.
We held each other and cried ugly tears.
“I never wanted to hurt you,” she said through sobs.
“I know,” I whispered, rubbing her back. “I never wanted to hurt you either.”
Our minds convinced us that we were alone in our marriage. When really… We had been trying to protect each other the entire time.
“I missed you,” she cried.
“I missed you too, but I’m right here now,” I told her, pressing my face into her hair. “I’m right here.”
We stood there in the kitchen, grieving the distance we never meant to create.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered again.
I kissed the top of her head. “I’m sorry too.”
It finally didn’t feel like we were fighting each other. It felt like we were finally standing on the same side again.
We were still holding each other in the kitchen when the front door opened.
“Honey, I’m home!”
Khloe and I both froze and laughed at the same time.
I cleared my throat. “We’re in the kitchen!”
We heard Kennedi’s footsteps coming down the hallway. She turned the corner and stopped in the doorway.
Her eyes moved from Khloe’s face… to mine… then back again. Both of us clearly looked like we had just cried for hours.
She raised one brow. “Whoa. Who died?”
Khloe laughed through the last of her tears. “No one, girl. Come here.”
Kennedi hesitated like she wasn’t sure if it was a trap or not. Khloe pulled her in first, and I wrapped my arms around both of them, forming a tight group hug.
Kennedi stiffened dramatically. “This is awkward,” she said into our chests. “Who are y’all? Where are my parents, and what have y’all done to them?”
Khloe pulled back, wiping her face.
“We’re right here, silly girl. We just wanted to hug our baby and let you know how proud we are of you… and how blessed we are to have a daughter like you.”
“Let’s go sit down. Me and your mom wanna talk to you about something.”
She looked between us suspiciously. “Am I in trouble?”
“No,” we both said at the same time.
We walked to the couch. Kennedi sat first, and Khloe and I sat on both sides of her.
She looked left. Then right.
“What is going on?” she whispered. I had to bite my lip to keep from laughing.
Khloe took her hands. “Baby… I need to tell you something… You are perfect in my eyes.”
Kennedi rolled her eyes playfully. “Okay, here we go—”
Khloe squeezed her hands. “No, listen. And maybe I shouldn’t say that so much because it probably feels like pressure. Like you have to live up to some impossible standard. But your dad and I did the greatest thing we could ever do in this life when we created you.”
“When I look at you,” Khloe said, voice trembling, “I see no flaw because you are half me… and half the man of my dreams.”
Kennedi’s eyes filled with tears.
“I got pregnant with you so young,” Khloe said. “But I don’t ever want you to think I regretted that for a second.”
“When I knew you were in my stomach, a life without you never crossed my mind. I just knew I would do whatever I had to do to give you the best life possible. But I didn’t know it would be that hard.
I didn’t know how many sacrifices it would take and along the way…
I think I let my fear of you making my mistakes turn into pressure. ”
Her voice cracked. “I’m sorry if I ever made you feel like you weren’t good enough or like I was hounding you. I’m learning that I projected my childhood trauma onto you… and I shouldn’t have done that.”
Kennedi’s lip trembled as he squeezed her mom’s hand.
I knew it was my turn to step in. “And I need to apologize too.”
Kennedi looked at me.
“I wasn’t as present as I should’ve been. I worked a lot and that left your mom to carry a lot by herself. I let her be the disciplinarian most of the time and when you came to me with things you couldn’t tell your mom… I didn’t always handle it right.”
Kennedi nodded slowly.
“I didn’t say anything sometimes because I didn’t want to create more conflict in our marriage than there already was. I appreciate that you trusted me enough to talk to me, but I should’ve done better. I worked so much because sometimes… I didn’t feel like I was enough at home.”
She frowned.
“I know money isn’t everything,” I said. “But I thought if I provided enough, it would fix everything. I’m sorry.”
Kennedi was crying. “Thank you,” she said sniffing.
Khloe hugged her. “I don’t want to be so hard on you. I don’t want this house to feel like boot camp. I just didn’t want you making the same mistakes I did… without realizing that the path I was forcing you down could make you resent me.”
Kennedi laughed. “I already kinda did sometimes,” she admitted.
Khloe looked shocked, but I could tell that she appreciated her honesty. “I want to give you space to learn who you are and I want you to feel safe coming to me about anything.”
Kennedi wrapped her arms around our shoulders. “I love y’all.”
“We love you more,” I said.
She pulled back, wiping her face. “Well… since we’re having this emotional family moment,” she said, trying to lighten the mood, “there is something I wanna tell you.”
Khloe and I looked at each other.
Kennedi burst out laughing. “I’m not pregnant,” she said quickly. “I’m actually a virgin.”
I swear my soul left my body for half a second. I kept my face straight but I was barely able to.
“I can’t promise I’ll wait until marriage because I don’t want to lie. But I feel like it’s sacred, so I’m not in a rush.”
Every protective instinct in me wanted to scream, but I stayed calm. I was proud that she was talking about something so personal with us.
“But,” she added, biting her lip, “there is this boy I like.”
Khloe smiled. “Okay…”
“He’s my age and very intelligent. We’re not official or anything. We just talk a lot and sometimes I wanna go to the arcade, movies, golfing, and stuff like that.”
Khloe nodded. “I’m okay with that. What’s his name?”
Kennedi blushed hard. “Maaa, we’re not there yet. I’m not ready for the meeting and names. He’s just a friend, and I like that it’s private.”
Khloe looked at me, searching for something to say. “I respect that.”
“I've been wanting to tell y’all… but I figured you’d judge him.”
I frowned. “Why would we judge another kid?”
She hesitated. “Because he did something Mom’s been on me about for the longest.”
Khloe and I looked at each other confused.
Kennedi took a deep breath. “He has a daughter.”
Khloe and I both gave each other that what the fuck look. Then we remembered everything we just talked about.
Kennedi rushed to explain. “He was young and he made a mistake. But he’s still in school. He works hard and takes care of his daughter. He’s not some bum.”
Khloe’s eyes filled as she hugged Kennedi. “I can’t judge him for something I did,” she said. “I didn’t plan to become a teen mom, but you are the most beautiful outcome of that mistake.”
“Look at what we built,” she said, looking around the house.
“Mistakes don’t define a person,” I said. “How you grow after them does. If he’s respectful, and you’re safe… then we’re not here to judge him.”
Khloe added, “And you don’t have to hide things from us out of fear.”
I wrapped an arm around both of them. “You can come to us about anything,” I said. “Even if we’re uncomfortable. We’ll figure it out together.”
Kennedi smiled. “So… since we’re one big happy family now… can we order hibachi and dessert and play board games like we used to when I was younger?”
Khloe laughed. “That actually sounds perfect.”
“Yeah,” I agreed. “That sounds really good.”
Kennedi grabbed her phone. “I’ll call it in.”
“I’ll go pick it up,” I said, standing.
Khloe shook her head. “No, I’ll go. And grab some extra snacks. Y’all can have some daddy-daughter time until I get back.”
Kennedi looked at me like the ultimate daddy’s girl. “I’d like that. I’d actually love that a lot.”