15. Celeste #3
I set my fork down and reached across the table. Maya hesitated, then placed her hand in mine. Her fingers were warm, tense, smudged with graphite near the tips.
I told her, my voice thick enough to scrape, “Baby, I’m your mama. Nothing is ever more when it comes to y’all.”
Her eyes lifted, shiny and guarded.
I squeezed her hand, then looked around the table. Skye’s lips had parted. Zuri’s roll rested, forgotten on her plate. JJ watched me with his jaw tight. Kayden stared at the wood grain beside his fork.
I let my eyes touch each one of them. “Every one of you. Do y’all hear me?”
“Yes, ma’am,” Skye answered first, small and serious.
“Yes, ma’am,” Zuri echoed, her face softened with guilt.
Maya nodded before her voice followed. “Yes, ma’am.”
JJ cleared his throat. “Yes, ma’am.”
Kayden’s answer came last, low and rough. “Yes, ma’am.”
I held Maya’s hand another second, then let go because if I kept touching her, I was going to cry into my rice like somebody’s overwhelmed auntie at a repast.
I looked at Josiah. “Would you mind checking it before you leave? Just to see if it’s something simple?”
Josiah didn’t hesitate. “I’ll check it.”
Kayden scoffed.
The sound scraped across the table.
JJ’s head turned slowly.
My voice lowered. “No. You had a reaction. Let’s hear it.”
Kayden leaned back in his chair, jaw set like he’d been waiting for the room to give him another reason. “Nothing.”
My eyes stayed on him. “Excuse me?”
Kayden’s eyes flicked to Josiah, then back to me. “It’s just convenient.”
JJ’s fingers curled around his fork. “Careful.”
Kayden ignored him. “One broken outlet, and now he’s checking bedrooms.”
The table went cold.
I warned him, every syllable sharp enough to cut. “Kayden Jeremiah Coleman. That is enough.”
His nostrils flared. “What? I’m the only one thinking it?”
“No, you’re the only one being disrespectful enough to say it at my table.”
Josiah set his glass down with controlled calm. “I’ll only go where your mother asks me to go. I’ll only check what she asks me to check. And I’ll do it with the door open.”
Maya’s eyes flicked toward him.
Skye’s shoulders lowered.
Zuri swallowed.
JJ’s face moved through anger, respect, and frustration so quickly I almost missed all three.
Kayden looked irritated because Josiah’s answer left him nothing solid to grab. “Man, whatever.”
I placed both hands flat on the table. “Look at me.” Kayden’s eyes cut to mine. “You will not whatever me in this house.” His jaw jumped. “Do you hear me?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
The words came out obedient.
His face stayed hard.
Zuri tried to rescue the room with the bravery of a child who could feel grown-up tension but had no idea where to put it. “The outlets spark sometimes too.”
Maya groaned. “Zuri.”
“What?” Zuri’s eyes rounded. “They do.”
My heart dropped clean to the floor.
Josiah’s eyes sharpened, all the softness gone from his work face. “Spark?”
Maya shifted in her seat. “Only once.”
Zuri corrected her, then looked at me and shrank a little. “Twice. I mean, maybe twice.”
I pulled in a breath through my nose. “Maya.”
Her eyes filled fast. “I’m sorry.”
That apology almost took me out.
Josiah’s tone steadied the room before I could speak. “No need to be sorry. Sparks mean we stop using those outlets until someone checks them.”
Maya nodded, but her face stayed pinched.
I looked at Josiah. “Can you check them tonight?”
“I can.”
Kayden gave another dry laugh, softer this time but uglier because he knew better. “Bet.”
JJ set his fork down.
No slam. No performance. Just enough force to make my pulse jump.
His shoulders rose with one controlled breath. His eyes dropped to his plate, then lifted to Kayden with a warning only a brother would know how to read.
Kayden ignored it.
Josiah passed Kayden the rolls. “You want one?”
Kayden looked at the basket, then at him. “We got hands.”
My fork hit my plate.
Hard enough for everyone to hear it.
“Kayden Jeremiah.” His eyes came to mine. I held them. “That is enough.”
He leaned back in his chair. “I didn’t curse.”
“You didn’t have to.”
Josiah set the basket down between them. “It’s all right.”
“No, it isn’t.”
The room stopped.
My voice shook with the effort it took to keep from yelling.
Josiah looked at me, then let his gaze return to Kayden. “I’m a guest in her home, Kayden. I’m going to respect what she allows and what she corrects.”
Kayden’s eyes sharpened. “You don’t have to play backup. She’s been handling us before you got here.”
JJ’s jaw hardened.
Josiah didn’t flinch. “I know. That’s why I’m following her lead.”
“Then act like it.”
My hand hit the table. “Enough!”
Skye flinched.
My heart cracked at the sight, but I kept my eyes on Kayden.
He stared back at me, hurt and defiance fighting over his face.
I pointed toward the staircase. “I’ve corrected you more than once. You’ve insulted a guest in my home, embarrassed your sister after she told me something serious, and kept pushing after I told you to stop.” His eyes reddened. “Get up.”
His mouth parted. “Ma.”
“Get up from my table. Now.” His chair scraped back.
He pulled himself to his feet, slow enough to look controlled and stiff enough to prove he wasn’t.
For one second, all that height and hurt stood there in front of me, his eyes too wet for the attitude he was trying to keep.
Then he turned and walked out of the dining room, each step heavy enough to bruise the stairs.
No one spoke.
My cheeks burned.
I reached for my napkin, folded it, unfolded it, then set it beside my plate like linen could help me gather myself.
Josiah’s voice came low. “Celeste.”
I looked at him, and the compassion on his face nearly broke me.
I could’ve handled irritation. Offense. A sharp look. Him deciding my house was too much, my son was too rude, my life had too many doors grief kept slamming. But he looked at me like he saw all of it and didn’t plan to make me ashamed.
That was worse.
A woman could defend herself against judgment.
Tenderness slipped through smaller cracks.
“I’m sorry.”
“You don’t have to apologize for being a mother.”
“I’m apologizing because you came here as my guest.”
“I know where I am.”
The way he said it made my throat ache.
Dinner limped forward. Skye’s earlier sparkle dimmed, her fork dragging through rice in small circles.
Zuri offered Josiah a roll with both hands like it was a peace treaty, her beads clicking against her cheek when she leaned toward him.
Maya asked one more question about wall outlets, probably because guilt sat too heavy on her little chest. JJ watched the staircase with a look I didn’t like.
Every few seconds, my eyes went to Kayden’s empty chair, pulled crooked from the table like an accusation.
Josiah remained gracious.
That made it worse.
If he’d been offended, I could’ve used that. If he’d snapped back, I could’ve built a wall from it. If he’d looked at my children like they were too much, I could’ve pushed him out and called it discernment.
But he helped Skye butter a roll when the knife was too big for her hand. He complimented Zuri’s beads. He told Maya he’d check every outlet in her room before he left. He told JJ to email him if he wanted a list of certifications worth considering before graduation.
He left me no villain.
After dinner, Josiah checked Maya’s room with the door wide open, JJ posted in the hallway like a witness, and me standing near the dresser, trying to keep my face from saying too much.
Maya’s room smelled like vanilla lotion, colored pencils, and the strawberry body spray she swore wasn’t too strong.
Sketches covered the wall above her desk in a messy little gallery of faces, flowers, wings, and women with crowns tilted like they’d survived something.
Josiah tested both outlets, removed the plate from one, and went still.
That stillness scared me.
I stepped closer. “What?”
He angled his body so Maya couldn’t see too much. “The outlet needs replacing, and this room needs a proper check. I’m glad Zuri said something.”
JJ looked from the outlet to Maya. His face softened, but his jaw stayed tight.
Maya hugged herself. “Is it bad?”
Josiah put the cover back with careful hands. “It’s fixable. Tonight, don’t plug anything in over here. I’ll come back tomorrow with what I need, and I’ll check the whole room.”
My throat pulled tight again. “Tomorrow?”
He looked at me. “Tomorrow.”
I nodded because speech felt dangerous.
From the hallway, Kayden’s voice cut through the doorway. “Guess you got a reason to come back now.”
JJ jolted around so fast his shoulder brushed the doorframe.
Josiah looked toward the hall, then back at the outlet.
I closed my eyes.
I called to him, my voice thin from holding too much. “Kayden. Go downstairs.”
He lingered another second, then his footsteps retreated.
JJ stayed frozen in the hallway, one hand pressed flat against the wall, his head bowed. His shoulders rose and fell once, twice, three times, like he was counting himself down from something ugly.
Josiah finished securing the plate and stood. “Maya, don’t worry about this tonight. You told the truth. That’s all I need from you.”
Maya nodded, eyes glossy.
I touched her cheek. “Go sit with your sisters, baby.”
She slipped past JJ and disappeared down the hall.
I thanked Josiah in a voice barely holding its shape.
By the time the plates were cleared, the kitchen wiped down, and the girls settled in the living room with cake, I felt wrung out from the inside. Kayden didn’t come back to the table. His absence sat in the house longer than his body had.
JJ helped me load the dishwasher while Josiah rinsed serving spoons at the sink.
JJ moved through the kitchen with fury trapped beneath his skin.
He stacked plates too neatly. Wiped the same spot twice.
Opened the dishwasher, then stood there with one hand gripping the rack until his knuckles paled.
When Kayden’s floor creaked overhead, JJ’s eyes snapped to the ceiling.
Josiah noticed.
JJ noticed him noticing and looked away.