14. Josiah #4
JJ watched Kayden. Maya stopped sketching. Zuri and Skye looked between all of us like they knew something grown was happening but didn’t know where to put their hands.
Kayden swallowed. His shoulders stayed squared, but the fight in them lost some of its edge.
“Okay.”
One word.
Enough for now.
I nodded. “Okay.”
Zuri lifted her hand. “I’m ready.”
Celeste blinked. “Ready for what?”
“For dinner.” Zuri pointed at me. “Is he coming?”
Skye bounced on her toes. “Can he come? I want to show him my real S.”
Maya smirked. “That’s one way to trap a man.”
JJ looked at Celeste, then me, then back at Celeste. “You cooking?”
Celeste’s brows lifted. “Why do you sound surprised?”
“Because last time you said dinner, we ate cereal and rotisserie chicken.”
“I was tired.”
Kayden muttered, “That chicken was fighting for its life.”
The room went quiet for one beat.
Then Celeste laughed.
Not politely. Not carefully. Fully. Her hand pressed to her stomach, her shoulders folded forward, and the sound filled the salon with joy nobody could fake.
Zuri laughed because Celeste was laughing.
Skye joined because Zuri did. Maya covered her mouth, and JJ looked away with a grin that tried to act grown and failed.
Kayden’s face softened before he could stop it.
For one second, he forgot to stand watch over his mother’s laughter.
Camden had been right.
They had missed her peace.
Celeste wiped beneath one eye and looked at me. “Would you like to come to dinner?”
Every Coleman child turned toward me.
“I’d like that.”
Skye cheered.
Zuri clapped.
Maya nodded like she was adding evidence to a file.
JJ grinned. “Cool.”
Kayden looked at his mother. “He following us?”
Celeste’s smile gentled. “Yes.”
He nodded, then turned to me. “You drive reckless?”
“No.”
“You speed?”
“Not with your mother in the car.”
Celeste turned toward him. “Kayden Jeremiah Coleman.”
The middle name hit closer than I expected.
Jeremiah.
I kept my face steady.
Kayden shrugged. “What? I asked.”
“Fair question.”
His brow shifted like he had not expected me to give him that.
I looked at him directly. “A man can talk about caring for your mama all day. Then drive like her life is a suggestion. I don’t do that.”
The edge in his eyes thinned for half a second.
JJ looked between us and grinned. “Well, damn.”
Celeste’s voice came quick. “Language.”
JJ lifted one hand. “My bad.”
Maya smiled into her sketchbook. “That was a good answer.”
Celeste kept her eyes on me. “It was.”
Kayden looked irritated that nobody could argue with it.
I finished packing my tools while Celeste closed out with Starr and got the kids situated. The shop moved toward evening around us. Capes went into hampers. Stations were wiped down. The repaired dryers hummed safely in the background without flicker, buzz, or hidden heat waiting behind the wall.
Juice loaded the final bag into the truck and clapped me on the shoulder. “Go have dinner, lover boy.”
“Don’t start.”
He lifted his hand toward Celeste’s family. “I’m not starting. I’m blessing. May the casseroles be hot, the children be merciful, and Kayden not ask for your driving record before dessert.”
“Goodbye, Juice.”
He grinned. “Text me if you need backup.”
“I won’t.”
“You say that now.”
He got into the truck with Darnell and Miguel, laughing at himself before anybody else got the chance.
I turned back toward the salon.
Celeste stood near the door with her purse on her shoulder, her keys in one hand, and Skye’s spelling test in the other.
The kids waited outside under the awning, JJ leaning against his car, Maya sketching against her notebook, Zuri and Skye debating whether a stylish worm was better than a ribbon.
Kayden stood a few steps from them, pretending to check his phone while his eyes tracked everything.
Celeste locked the front door, then turned to face me.
The gold letters on the window read Celestial Crowns Hair Haven.
She looked tired but lighter. I touched the back of her hand with two fingers.
“You ready?”
She looked up at me. “No.”
I smiled. “Honest.”
“I’m a little nervous.”
“So am I.”
Her brows lifted. “You?”
“I’m about to have dinner with five children who love you and at least one who looks like he can subpoena my intentions.”
Her smile broke through. “Kayden is intense.”
“He loves you.”
“He does.”
I looked toward him. He was pretending the phone needed his full attention. “He’s trying to be useful in a place pain made him feel helpless.” Celeste’s smile trembled at the edges. I kept my voice gentle. “I’m not offended by that.”
“Thank you.”
“I’d be more concerned if he didn’t care.” Her eyes softened with gratitude she did not have to explain. “I’ll follow you.”
Celeste nodded.
I opened the driver’s door of her SUV first, then helped Skye with her seat belt when she started fighting the strap like it owed her money.
Zuri asked if I knew how to braid hair. Maya asked if I knew any good mural artists.
JJ asked whether I’d ever considered engineering school.
Kayden said nothing, but when Celeste got behind the wheel, he checked to make sure I closed her door right.
I did.
Then I looked at him over the roof of the SUV.
He looked back.
No smile.
No speech.
Just a small nod.
It was not much.
It was enough.
I walked to my truck.
As I pulled behind them, Celeste’s brake lights glowing red in front of me, I sat for a moment with both hands on the wheel.
Roots didn’t always announce themselves when they entered the soil. Sometimes they moved beneath the surface first, stretching through dark places, searching for water, holding on before anybody saw green.
I looked at Celeste’s SUV, at Kayden’s silhouette in the back seat, at Skye turning around to wave through the rear window.
I lifted my hand and waved back.
Then I put the truck in drive and followed them home.