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The breeze coming through the patio doors was soft, just enough to make the curtains move. The clinking of nails on Mama's wine glass and Blue's laughter from the pool were the only things filling the silence between us.
Blue was balanced on Julez's shoulders, her arms spread like wings while she shouted. "Don't drop me."
He rolled his eyes, adjusting his grip with that same teenage boredom on his face, but he was good with her. Always had been. "You heavy, lil' girl." "Am not!"
"You are." He laughed.
I watched them from my lounge chair, legs stretched out, my cup of ginger tea in one hand, phone resting screen down on my thigh. I wore a thick knit cover up over my bathing suit, but the sun was warming my skin just enough to make me forget where we were.
I wrapped my cover up tighter and leaned back in the chair, sipping my tea while Mama folded her arms and looked at me over the rim of her glass.
"So, you gonna tell me how you really feeling or you just gonna keep pretending this Paris air fixed everything?"
I huffed.
"Mama—"
She raised her hand. "Don't 'Mama' me. I done let you sit in silence for three days. I flew all the way out here and you barely done looked me in the eyes."
"I'm tired." I mumbled.
"No." She corrected, voice firm but gentle. "You're hurt."
I looked down at my tea.
Mama reached over, placed her hand on mine. "You're hurt. And I get it, baby. I do. But this anger you carrying, it's heavy. And I can see it all over you."
I took a breath but didn't respond.
"She's been calling." Mama continued softly. "She's been trying. Now, I ain't saying that fixes nothing. But that girl ain't slept a full night since you left from what Julius' people have told me."
"That girl's going crazy, Beyoncé."
I felt my jaw tighten. "Good."
Mama's head tilted. "Beyoncé."
"She been flying all over this damn country. Showing up to hotels in Nice, Cannes, even tried Marseille last week thinking maybe you was hiding down south. Called every five star she could Google and a few that wasn't."
I blinked, still looking ahead.
"She was at the airport three days in a row." Mama said. "Looking for you like her life depend on it."
"And no matter how many times we done cursed her out, told her to sit her hardheaded ass down, she don't listen. You know how she is when her mind locked on something."
