Page 201 of Time Stops With You

“But mom?—”

Mom gives him the stink eye.

Josiah lowers his head and rushes to the kitchen sink to do as he’s asked.

I take out three bowls from the cupboard as mom continues grumbling. “Always on the phone. He even takes it to the bathroom.” She points a pot spoon at his back. “I think it’s an addiction at this point.”

“I’m working on a project.” Josiah defends himself while pumping soap into his palms.

“For school?” Mom asks, starting to waver.

I lean against the counter and pop a slice of fried plantain into my mouth, watching their interaction with amusement.

“It’s a gift for Cullen.”

I freeze.

Mom’s mouth tightens. “Josiah, don’t mention that man in this house again. Nardi, put some rice into these plates.”

Josiah frowns. “Why can’t I talk about Cullen?”

“Because I said so. Nardi, the dishes.”

My eyes follow my little brother. “What kind of gift?”

“Nardi, enough yapping. Set this bowl of soup at my place on the table.”

“I don’t think I’m supposed to tell you,” Josiah says.

I take the bowl from mom, but I don’t move from the counter. Eyes fixed on Josiah, I ask again, “I’ll give you five bucks.”

Josiah’s eyes light up. “Ten and it’s a deal.”

Mom tries to nudge me out of the kitchen. “Nardi, why haven’t you moved?”

I walk backward and gesture for Josiah to follow me to the table. He does and I slip him the ten from my purse while he passes over his phone.

Both Josiah and Cullen are programmers so I’d expected to see a black screen with lots of indecipherable lines of code.

I’m surprised to see a video editor open instead.

“I’m not finished yet,” Josiah says. “Some of it’s still wonky, but this is what I’ve programmed with AI so far.”

My eyes widen when I see a picture of a ‘grown up’ Josiah standing in a cap and gown at his college graduation. There’s also a picture of a ‘grown up’ Josiah winning some kind of programming award. And yet another of a ‘grown-up’ Josiah in front of a giant crystal building with the sign ‘CULLEN TECH’ at the front.

My heart sinks straight to my feet with a thud.

“I can’t tell you exactly why, but Cullen won’t be around to see me graduate or go to college or work at Cullen Tech. I’m definitely going to do all these things someday and I thought it would be cool if he could see it now. Nardi,” my brother’s voice drops in concern, “why are you crying?”

Lifting a shaky hand to my face, I realize that, indeed, my face is wet.

“I said enough!” Mom stomps forward and grabs Josiah’s phone.

“Mom!”

“Mom!”

My brother and I shriek at the same time.

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