Page 47 of Standing In The Sun
Siasia waved Tiny off. “You always do too much… Lunar ain’t made of gold and that girl probably don’t want his impulsive ass anyway.” She looked at Ahvi. “Come on so we can have a good time.”
That made her feel good. Giving Lunar one last glance, she fell in line with Siasia in search of her son and that good time she promised.
The food was good, and the vibes were on point. These were the moments she wished she’d had more of with her own family. She wished her daddy had hung out more—had people over to the house more. Going to Sheena’s house she got to experience it a little bit, but it was nothing like the family gathering at Lunar’s house. Even Kamari thrived in the moment - crawling, standing, and getting into everything and everyone’s plates. They didn’t act funny when his fat fingers dug into their plates neither. It made her think about Dro.
A close-knit family wasn’t something Dro couldn’t give their son neither. A part of her wished Lunar was Kamari’s real father, not because of his money but for the love he was surrounded by. The way they were all so affectionate with one another was beautiful.
Aku bumped her Ahvi’s shoulder, flopping down beside her. “What you over here thinking about?” she asked, sipping from her cup.
“Nothing really,” Ahvi lied, watching Kamari climb all over Lunar’s white jeans with his dirty hands. Lunar didn’t seem to care so she wasn’t tripping.
“You ain’t a good liar,” Aku laughed. “But it’s cool…we’re a lot to get used to.”
“It’s not that…it’s really nice to see.”
Aku nodded with pride in her chest. “Thank you. How you feeling since being out, though?”
“Over fuckin’ whelmed.”
“I don’t blame you. With a bad ass baby like Kamari, I would be overwhelmed too.”
Ahvi cut her eyes at Aku. “Girl don’t play with my baby. He just don’t like everybody.”
“Includiung you,” Aku teased watching Kamari crawl between Pimp and Lunar like they were jungle gyms. “I can’t wait to be a mommy,” she whispered, her heart swelling with thoughts of having her own little baby terrorizing the family.
Ahvi’s attention went to Devin Port before veering back to Aku. “You and Devin will make some beautiful babies.”
Aku sighed. “He don’t want kids.”
“Um, how that work?” Ahvi didn’t claim to know anything about relationships but being with a man that didn’t want what you wanted didn’t seem like the move.
“Girl, that’s what I’m trying to figure out.” Aku blinked back tears. The liquor and weed were making her emotional. “Look at my parents…I want that and he wants none of that.”
“He be cheating?”
“Girl, no!” Aku shrieked. “He wants me but just me. Not the kids, not the piece of paper that shows the world we’re one. He says he doesn’t need all that to know he loves me.”
“What you think?” Ahvi leaned in, hanging onto every word.
Aku was beautiful like her mama. Her face had soft, gentle features with a button nose and juicy lips that looked like they stayed glossed even when they were bare. The only difference were the freckles dusted across Aku’s cheeks like spilled cinnamon, and her skin—deeper, darker, chestnutty like the sun lingered on her a little longer than anyone else.
“Thing is - I don’t think I love him enough to try to change him or make him change his mind.”
Ahvi nodded slowly, the kind of nod that held weight. “Or maybe wait to see if he’s trying to change you?” she hummed, her words wrapped in quiet understanding.
There was no judgment in her voice, just that deep, woman-to-woman knowing.
With her and Dro…it was never some romantic love story, no epic spark or fireworks behind their eyes. They liked each other enough - enough to go half on takeout, enough to laugh when the liquor was just right, and enough to accidentally create Kamari in the middle of all that lukewarm nothing. Not even a heated mistake—just a slip. Ahvi had been on birth control…thought she was safe. But as the saying went, birth control wasn’t a hundred percent.
Now here she was - a single mama with a baby daddy she couldn’t even reach...not emotionally…not even by phone.
Aku nodded slowly, sadness reflected in her expression. Her silence was loud, but Ahvi could still hear the ache in it. The kind of heartbreak that doesn’t scream, it just hums low and steady, sits right behind the eyes. “We a family of lovers…” Aku whispered, eyes glistening. “It’s like we thrive in that shit. Like it’s our sole purpose on this earth— to love and be loved.”
And damn if that wasn’t the truest thing. Big Lunar’s legacy was built on love. Back then maybe it was unconventional but even through the lens of his phone, Ahvi could tell it was the most impactful kind of love.
Ahvi’s gaze slid to Lunar. She didn’t mean to look at him, but her eyes found his like they had their own mind. He was already staring at her - not through her, not past her, but at her, like he knew exactly how to find what she was searching for and hand-deliver it to her.
She didn’t see it at first - that look. The one she knew ran in his bloodline like high cheekbones and soft skin…the look of love, not the kind that begged, but the kind that stayed.
