Page 91 of Back to Willow

“My baby, I am so proud of you,” Nana murmurs as I help her serve lunch after finishing the food.

Jake has gone to call Dylan, and as usual, it takes them a few minutes to come back.

“Thank you, Nana. I couldn’t have done it without you.” I press my forehead down to hers.

We haven’t been spending a lot of time together because of my busy schedule, but I love this woman so much it hurts. And since I can’t show her that, I try to do it most of the time by not making her worry and not tiring her.

At this age, she should be spending her life savings on futile things like vacations and luxuries that she probably couldn’t afford when she was my age and yet, here she is, taking us in and helping out as much as she can when my parents didn’t.

This woman is gold, and I don’t intend to let her go ever.

“I love you, Nana,” I whisper.

“My princess, you’ll have everything you deserve. You’ll be with your soulmate, and you’ll be a happy family.” Her soft breath fans my face while her frail hands grip my cheeks. “You are the best mother I’ve seen. Better than I was and so much better than your shitty mum,” she grumbles.

“Nana!” I scold.

“What? She may be my daughter, but I can recognise a pretentious bitch when I see one!”

“What’s a predentius bich?” Dylan’s voice chimes from the other side of the kitchen, and I jump, surprised.

Oh, bollocks. He heard that.

“It’s a bad person who thinks she’s more important than others when in reality they’re not,” Jake answers smoothly.

“Oh, like Jaden’s mum?” His excited voice worries me.

“What do you mean, Dylan?” I take him from my brother’s arms and sit him in his seat at the table.

“The other day when Abby’s mum was picking us up, I saw Jaden pick on one of my friends, Marcel. He was saying he was different and ugly, and when I got there, I told him he was dumb because he isn’t different, and his mum heard. She said it was obvious Marcel was different and shouldn’t be mixed with normal kids like Jaden.” He frowns in confusion, looking at his friends. “But, Mum, Marcel isn’t different from us.”

“I know,” I answer. “He was at your party, remember?”

Why would she say that? It can’t be because of his skin colour…could it?

“She said that black kids need to have another classroom,” he confirms my fear, while Nana and Jake gasp. But he continues, ignoring us, “She’s wrong. So, she’s a predentius bich!” His unfamiliarity with the words forces him to say them funny, making all of us chuckle.

“You’re right, baby. That she is.” This time around, I’m not even going to correct him. Because he is right, so I just kiss his forehead and sit down next to him.

We all happily dig in, conversing and chuckling at Jake and Dylan’s antics. All the while, I keep going back to this lingering thought of how proud I am of this kid and how expectant I am about the man he will become one day. Just this small moment has told me that even though I might be struggling, I’m doing something right, and that puts my heart to rest.

Because I can do it.

Iamdoing it.

THIRTY

Willow

Comingtocollegewithouthaving to take Dylan to his school first feels as weird as it does good, courtesy of my dear brother, who decided to stick around for a few more days.

I have my suspicions as to why, though. He was concerned for me after everything that went down on Saturday.

“Good morning,” Ethan’s soft greeting startles me, cutting my thread of thought.

Right next to him, as usual, is Hazel. For the first time since I met her, she’s looking at me.

“Oh, hey. Hi—” I stammer when I look into his eyes. He looks concerned. “Good morning.”

---