Page 56 of Risking it All

Work for me? I wondered why the hell Demarius had been holding out on us. “Give me the day and I’ll have Camila stay the night with her great aunt.”

“Or you can bring Camila,” Demarius said. “I have two younger sisters. The one in middle school loves little kids, and my youngest sister is the same age as Camila.”

I nodded because I didn’t know what to say. His generosity was more than anyone else had ever thought to give me.

“Let’s make it a plan,” Macie said. “Good idea, Melanie.”

Melanie beamed. “When?”

“I’m off today,” Demarius said. “But we could do it any night after work.”

“I only work a half day today,” Melanie said. “I’ll be off at six.”

Both Macie and I were off, so I glanced down at her. Lev worked in a different set of rides, so he had another supervisor than her, but she was already on her phone checking the master schedule. “Lev’s off today, too. Are you sure today’s not short notice, Demarius?”

“I promise my parents will love having you all over. And I’m serious about you bringing your younger sister.”

Macie glanced into the parking lot, and we all followed her train of sight. Luckily, a woman was in the car to pick up Lev. “Do you think she’s nicer than Lev’s dad?”

“I sure as shit hope so,” I mumbled.

Lev walked out and smiled when he noticed all of us. “Did you miss me?”

“Yes,” Melanie said, and Lev’s smile widened.

“Would you like to stay the night at my house?” Demarius asked.

Lev blinked in surprised. “For real?”

“Yeah. Everyone’s coming. We’ll go swimming, watch movies. It’ll be fun.”

For the first time, Lev seemed speechless and then said, “When?”

“Now,” Demarius said. “Or another day. I can give you a ride. We just want you there.”

Lev ran a hand through his shoulder length curly locks like he was trying to wake himself from a dream. “Let me go ask my mom.”

He walked across the parking lot then talked to his mom through the open window. He did a lot of pointing in our direction, and she continually glanced back and forth between Lev and us. His mother nodded and Lev smiled like he’d won a million dollars. He turned toward us, gave us a thumbs up, and it was weird how his joy brought me happiness.

***

Demarius lived in a gated community in the biggest house I’d ever seen. Camila’s eyes weren’t the only ones that fell out of their head. I still felt like I was trying to shove mine back in. Camila immediately took to Demarius’ little sister Joppa. Along with Lev, I swear the two of them slid down the water slide into the inground pool a million times. With Camila not knowing how to swim, I accepted Demarius’ mom’s offer of borrowing a swimsuit for Camila that had floatation pieces in it. His family, like Demarius, were beyond generous.

They made us hot dogs, hamburgers, ribs, potato salad, mac n’ cheese, appetizers, all the sides imaginable, and fudge brownies.

I hadn’t seen this much food in my life, and who knew if I would again? I had learned early in life to take advantage of what I had in front of me when I had it. There was never a promise of anything in the next hour, much less tomorrow.

After dinner, we relaxed on their back patio, chatting it up with one another, and as the group moved to the basement to watch a movie, I went to check in on Camila. I found her in their massive living room on their overstuffed couch sound asleep. Joppa also counting sheep beside her. I gave a small smile to see them holding hands.

I crouched next to Camila and whispered, “Hey, sleepy head, did you swipe a nightgown?” She wore a Moana nightshirt identical to Joppa’s.

Camila’s eyes fluttered open and she said in a hushed voice, “Joppa told me to wear it. I like it here.”

Yeah, I liked it here, too.

She closed her eyes and cuddled into the couch. “They have food and we’re safe here.”

I silently cursed myself for not being able to give her a safe home. Camila had already fallen back asleep, her chest rising and falling in a steady and serene pattern.

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