Real Men Knit(23)

Jesse coughed. “Yeah, um, Erika, let me take this out. I’ve got to get to work.”

Erika turned to Jesse and put on a little pout. “I thought this was your shop.”

His brows went skyward. “It is, and I have to work,” he said, heading for the door. This time she got the hint and followed, gliding gracefully, though Kerry could see the toll the night and the height of her sandals had had on her feet.

At the door, Erika, though not acknowledging Kerry, made a show of doing just that by expressing herself loudly enough for her to hear. “Well, I had a great time. I’m glad I could be here for you when you needed me, baby.” She smiled at him. And though the “baby” was kind of nauseating, Kerry noticed her smile looked bright and genuine, making her quite pretty in the process.

Kerry turned away, not wanting to watch the two of them anymore—or, who knew, maybe not able to. Why watch anyway? Jesse’s grief fucks were his business and his alone. The woman was right; Kerry was definitely a third wheel in this party for two.

“Let me walk you out,” she heard Jesse say, finding his voice along with his legs.

A real prince. So now he was all manners. The tan knight and the used-to-be man of her dreams, and there he was walking out his last night’s stand while she was cleaning his kitchen like a broke-down Cinderella.

She was an idiot. But an idiot who still hadn’t had her coffee. Kerry was just about to flip the switch on the pot when she heard the door chime and the sound of Noah’s voice. She turned to greet him, but when she saw Jesse coming in behind his brother, she stopped short.

“So was that Erika Taylor leaving the shop this early in the morning?” Noah asked in a loud and ribbing voice.

Jesse looked from his brother to Kerry and then shrugged, putting his hands in his sweatpants pockets. It was a gesture Kerry had seen him make countless times when he was trying to get his story straight in his mind before blurting it out to Mama Joy. “Yeah, she was, she, um, was here to, uh, give her, um, condolences.”

“Condolences, huh?” Noah said. “Lucky you. She definitely looked condolence ready in that little black dress. I swear I don’t know how you do it. You get condolences that look like that and all I get is pound cake and countless prayer hands on the ’gram.”

“What y’all talking about?” Lucas asked as he entered the shop.

“Jesse getting condoled all night long by Erika Taylor.”

Lucas cocked his head to the side, looking pensive for a moment, before he grinned. He then let out a long breath. “I’m sure there are worse ways to grieve.”

“You’re telling me,” Noah said, then gave his brother’s hand a solemn tap.

Kerry growled, and all turned her way as if finally remembering she was there. “Oh, hey, Kerry,” Lucas said, his smile turning from devilish to sweet at the drop of a dime. “I didn’t see you there.”

Kerry nodded. “Yeah, I’m guessing not.”

He pulled a sheepish face and she rolled her eyes.

Though she would probably admonish the hell out of them for the subject of the convo, seeing the three of them together and laughing in the shop like this so early in the morning would make Mama Joy happy. More than anything their late mother was the happiest when she had “her boys,” as she called the strapping men, all together under her roof. Kerry understood that. She remembered conversations—short, passing mumblings, really—when she was sitting and knitting with Mama Joy or during Mama Joy’s talks with the Old Knitting Gang about how much she feared for each of them out in the world. Mama Joy wasn’t much of a sharer when it came to her own fears and worries, and the only thing that got her tongue loosened was when her needles were flying. But Kerry got it. Whether biological or not, they were “her boys,” her children, and she loved them fiercely. She talked about her dreams for them and how much she feared that by their just being who they were, men of color in this world, those dreams could be stopped short in the blink of an eye.

For that, Kerry was grateful for this moment of laughter, but still, she’d had her fill of talk of Jesse getting condoled by heavy-toed, long-legged Erika Taylor to take care of her for the rest of the day and then some. “Are you all staying for coffee?” Kerry asked. “If so, I’ll put more on.”

Both Noah and Lucas shook their heads.

“Sorry, Ker, I have rehearsal,” Noah said. “It’s getting close to crunch time. I just came to pick up a few of my things. But I’ll be back later. There are still a couple of weeks before the tour starts, and I’ll give you all as much time as I can up until then.”

Kerry noticed the thickness in Noah’s voice and walked over to him, taking him in a hug. Not knowing if she’d gone too far, she pulled back and looked up into his expressive brown eyes. She knew instantly she was fine. “Don’t be like that, Noah. I know you’re feeling some kind of way about going on tour right now, but it’s going to be great. Sure, the timing sucks, but we’ll hold down the fort.” She clamped down and looked at Jesse and Lucas, then back at Noah. “I mean your brothers will.”

Noah blinked at her, then looked around, his eyes roaming the shop and landing on the spot where Mama Joy usually sat. He was smiling softly when he looked back at her. His deep-set eyes were shining. “I know you all will,” he said. “But I also know when I come back, nothing will be the same.”