EPILOGUE
ONE YEAR LATER
? ? ?
Samir
A year ago, if somebody had told me I would be standing in a kitchen watching a woman I loved pack my lunch while humming to herself like she didn’t have a care in the world, I probably would have laughed in they face.
But that was exactly where I was.
Standing there with my coffee in my hand, leaning against the counter, watching Kales move around my kitchen like she had always belonged there.
And maybe she had.
Life had changed a lot in a year.
Some for the better. Some because it had to.
After everything with Tariq came out, a lot of shit in my world had to be cleaned up. Loose ends got cut. People I thought I could trust had to be looked at different. Business got handled tighter. Quieter too.
And through all of that, Kales stayed right there.
Not in my way. Not asking questions she knew I wouldn’t answer. Not trying to control me.
Just there. Steady. Soft in the places life had once made her hard. And strong in the places people used to overlook.
That woman had a way of bringing peace into a room without even trying.
I had never had nothing like that.
I walked up behind her and wrapped my arms around her waist, pressing my mouth against the side of her neck.
“You cooking and packing lunch now?” I asked.
She laughed softly. “I always make sure you got what you need.”
“I got what I need.”
She turned her head just enough to look at me. “You always trying to be slick this early in the morning.”
“Because it works.”
That made her smile.
And that smile still did the same shit to me a year later that it did when I first started noticing her through them parking lot cameras.
Maybe worse.
She had finished school three months ago and was working part-time like she said she wanted to. She was happy. Tired sometimes, but happy. And seeing her walk in her purpose like that made me proud in a way I had not expected.
Because Kales was never just some woman I ended up with.
She became home.
Real simple. Real dangerous. Real permanent.
I kissed her jaw and pulled her tighter against me.
“You staring again,” she said.
“I live here. I can stare if I want.”
She rolled her eyes, but I caught that smile before she looked away.
And right then, standing there with her in my arms and peace sitting all through my house, I knew one thing for sure.
Loving Kales had been the one risk I took that gave me back more than it cost.
Quay
A year later, and my life looked nothing like it used to.
For a long time, I thought that would have bothered me. Thought I would miss the fast money, the power, the feeling of being needed in places that could turn dangerous real quick.
But truthfully?
I didn’t miss none of it the way I thought I would.
Not when I had something real to wake up for.
My son was on the floor in front of me pushing one of them little toy trucks around, making engine noises like he was really doing something, and I sat back on Victoria’s couch watching him with a smile I didn’t even bother hiding.
He looked up at me and laughed, and that shit hit every time.
Being his father had changed me more than jail ever could.
Not overnight. Not in no fake dramatic way.
But little by little. In the choices I made. In the shit I no longer chased. In the way I started caring about showing up instead of just sending money.
Victoria came out the kitchen wiping her hands on a towel and looked at me.
“You picking him up tomorrow too?” she asked.
“Yeah,” I said. “I’m taking him to my ma’s so she can see him.”
She nodded. “Aight.”
Things between me and Victoria wasn’t perfect, but it was better. We had learned how to deal with each other without all the extra heat. Mostly because I finally started acting like a father instead of a visitor with cash.
As for Kales…
I had not seen her in months. Not for real. Not outside of hearing little things here and there that let me know she was doing good. Finished school. Working. Still with Samir.
And for the first time, hearing that didn’t feel like a knife.
Not because I didn’t love her anymore. Because some part of me probably always would.
But because love start looking different when guilt stop talking louder than growth.
Kales deserved peace. And whether it came with me or not, I had finally learned to respect that.
So yeah, I still thought about her sometimes. Still wondered how life might have looked if I had done shit right the first time.
But wondering and wanting wasn’t the same as reaching.
Some people are meant to teach you what love was. Others are meant to teach you what it wasn’t.
Kales did both.
And sitting there with my son laughing at my feet, I realized maybe that was enough.
Kaleasha “Kales”
If somebody had told me a year ago that peace would feel this good, I probably would have cried.
Not because I wouldn’t have believed them. Because deep down, I wanted that kind of life so bad I was scared to even hope for it.
Now here I was.
A year later. A nurse. In love. At peace.
I stood in front of the mirror adjusting my scrubs while looking at the woman staring back at me.
She looked different. Not just on the outside. Though that too.
I wore my happiness different now. My eyes didn’t look tired the way they used to. My smile came easier. My shoulders didn’t carry the same heaviness.
Life had softened me again.
Not into weakness. Just into peace.
Samir walked up behind me and caught my eye in the mirror before sliding his hands around my waist.
“You almost ready?” he asked.
“Yeah. I’m just making sure I got everything.”
He kissed the side of my head. “You nervous?”
“A little.”
Today was my first full day starting my new nursing position, and even though I had worked part-time already, this felt bigger. More official. More like everything I had fought through was finally leading somewhere.
“You gone do fine,” Samir said.
I turned around in his arms and smiled up at him. “I know. I just want today to go good.”
“It will.”
And the thing about him was, when he said stuff like that, I believed it.
Not because I thought life couldn’t go wrong. I knew better than that now.
But because loving Samir taught me something I had to learn the hard way.
Love wasn’t supposed to feel like confusion. It wasn’t supposed to feel like secrets tearing holes through your life. It wasn’t supposed to make you question your worth.
Real love felt steady. Safe. Seen.
And after all the roads I had traveled to get there, that was what I finally had.
I reached up and touched his face, smiling softly. “Thank you.”
“For what?”
“For loving me right.”
His eyes held mine, and that look in them still made my heart beat just a little faster.
“That was easy,” he said. “You was the hard part getting to me.”
I laughed and shook my head. “Boy, please.”
He grinned and kissed me slow, and for a second I let myself just stand in it.
Stand in the peace. Stand in the love. Stand in the life I had almost missed because I thought surviving was the same thing as living.
It wasn’t.
And now I knew better.
As I grabbed my bag and got ready to head out, I looked around at the life I had built and felt nothing but gratitude.
The road to love had not been easy. It had been messy, painful, and full of lessons I never asked for.
But somehow, it had still led me exactly where I was supposed to be.
And this time, love didn’t feel like something I had to survive.
It felt like home.
The End…