Today's Reading
CHAPTER ONE
Holland Davenport
You're ready for this.
Those words were part of my daily pep talk, reminding me that leaving Florence, South Carolina, needed to happen. It would be the scariest and bravest thing I'd ever done. I wanted nothing more than to do fearless and bold things.
A life bigger than what Florence could offer was finally on the horizon. Florence was familiar and familiar felt safe to me. I was completely over seeing the same people, doing the same things, and going to the same places all the time. Days, weeks, months, and years clumped together into a mountain of sameness.
Thank God my cancer scare wasn't the death sentence I had feared, but I couldn't help thinking, How could I die without ever really living?
Two short toots of a car's horn let me know my cousin Amy had pulled up. This was our last weekend together before my move to Charleston. My announcement last month shocked everyone, especially my adoptive mother. You would have thought I told her I was jumping off a cliff. Ma been an emotional mess ever since.
Grabbing my bag, I braved the balmy heat, knowing Amy would have the air conditioner on ice-cold once I entered the car. Inside, her teary eyes stared back at me.
"Don't start," I said, rolling my eyes and holding my hand up at her.
She pouted. I stared at her beautiful face, marveling how her signature bright red lipstick perfectly contrasted with her espresso-colored skin.
Glistening hazel eyes bore into me as the corners of her mouth turned down and quivered.
"Ugh!" She sniffed. "I don't want to ugly-cry," she groaned. "Who would have thought you would leave this place before me?"
I tasted the salt of my own tears.
"Girl! We have to stop all this crying," I said, wiping my face and flipping down the visor. "We're going to look like raccoons." I laughed through sniffles.
"I know!" She fanned her eyes with her hand, blinking rapidly. "These lashes won't last through the night."
Amy wasn't just my cousin, she had been my best friend, therapist, and bodyguard since I was five. When she walked into a room, she hijacked all the attention. Loved hard and never bit her tongue.
Since childhood, I'd admired her boldness. Now it was my inspiration. Living hours away from Amy and Ma wasn't going to be easy.
Amy squeezed my hand gently and then let go before she slowly pulled into traffic.
"Charleston isn't that far away. What is it? A two-hour drive? I'll be back all the time." I turned to Amy with wide eyes. "Why don't you move to Charleston with me? You've wanted out of Florence for years. Take my second bedroom."
"If Mama's health was better, I'd leave in a minute." Amy's lips turned down again, and the weight of being Aunt Shirleen's sole caretaker since an autoimmune disease rendered her fragile dimmed the light in her eyes. "Anyway," Amy sighed. "That gumbo at Jazz on Dargan is calling my name."
Adele's "Rolling in the Deep" came up on Amy's playlist, lifting the mood. "Oh, girl! That's my song." Amy cranked up the volume. We danced in our seats like life wasn't beating down on us.
"What grade were we in when this came out? Eleventh? Twelfth?" I wondered, snapping my fingers.
We sang along with Amy's playlist until we pulled up to the restaurant. The weight of my secret bore down on me. I'd told my family about the move, but never shared the real reason I felt so strongly about doing it now. Amy had always been my confidant; keeping her in the dark about this didn't feel right.
Once she parked, I placed my hand on her arm before she could turn to get out of the car.
Raising one brow, she side-eyed me. "What?" She always knew when something was up.
...
