Caine sat on a plastic bucket on the porch of the fellowship hall, the heat of it coming through his jeans. Mr. Charlie sat across from him on another bucket, knees spread wide, back straight despite his age. Between them sat a third bucket turned upside down with a chess board resting on top. The pieces were old, worn smooth from years of use.
The late morning sun pressed down on them, warm but not hot yet. The porch overhang kept the worst of it off but sweat still gathered at the back of Caine's neck. He could hear the hum of the air conditioning units on the side of the building, the rattle and click as they cycled.
Things were slow. No to-do’s. No repairs needed. Just the two of them and the board and the quiet.
Caine's hand moved across the board and found his rook. He lifted it, moved it across the squares, and set it down on one of Mr. Charlie's pieces to take it.
Mr. Charlie tutted his tongue, the sound sharp and disapproving, then reached forward to move his bishop diagonal across the board.
"Check," he said.
Caine's eyes tracked across the board as he leaned forward slightly, studying the pieces and their positions.
"Nah, OG," Caine said. "How the fuck's that check?"
Mr. Charlie laughed. "I ain't about to point it out to you when you can block me and keep this going for another three, four moves."
Caine shook his head and reached for his king, picked it up, moved it up one square, and set it down.
Mr. Charlie shook his head slow, almost sad, then reached for his rook and moved it across the board with a soft click.
"Checkmate," Mr. Charlie said. "You walked right into that one, youngster."
Caine sighed. He leaned back on the bucket. The plastic creaked under his weight.
"I don't know why y'all old heads be playing this shit," Caine said.
Mr. Charlie's hands moved to start resetting the pieces.
"Because it's a thinking man's game," Mr. Charlie said. His fingers found a pawn. Set it back in position. "You could play checkers or spades or something and ain't no thought to that. You gotta know what you doing and what I'm doing to play this here."
Caine reached forward and started helping reset the board.
"Spades at least entertaining though," Caine said. "I ain't about to slap no pawn down on the board."
Mr. Charlie snorted a laugh. His hand moved another piece back into starting position.
They worked in silence for a moment. Hands moving pieces. The board filling back up.
"My granddaughter was telling me that she been seeing you and Pastor Hadden daughter Rylee hugged up at them bars a lot lately," Mr. Charlie said.
Caine's hand paused over a bishop. Then he set it down.
"How she know it was me?" Caine said. "Could've been anybody."
Mr. Charlie sucked his teeth.
"Boy, I know you don't think you blend in around here," Mr. Charlie said. He set down another piece. "Especially not after all that you did playing ball up on the campus."
He gestured over his shoulder with one hand. Back toward the day care.
"I don't know how you don't got one of them fast-tailed college girls up in there pregnant yet with how they be looking at you," Mr. Charlie said.
"One's my limit, old timer," Caine said. "But tell your granddaughter mind her business, respectfully."
Mr. Charlie's hand moved to his queen. Adjusted it slightly.
"I'm just gonna tell you that sometimes a woman ain't worth the trouble she bring no matter how pretty she is," Mr. Charlie said. "Especially when her daddy your boss and someone like Pastor Hadden."
Caine's eyes moved from the board. He glanced over at the church. At the side of the building where Laney's office sat. He could make out the outline of the frame of the window from where he sat. The glass caught the light and reflected it back.
He looked back at the board and shrugged. His hand moved to a pawn. Lifted it. Set it forward two squares.
"I ain't met a crazy woman yet that I ain't like because you know what they say about them," Caine said.
Mr. Charlie shook his head.
"You still young," Mr. Charlie said. His hand moved to his own pawn. He mirrored Caine's opening. "You gonna learn one day. Sometimes, a nice, calm church going, god fearing gal is all you need."
He set the pawn down. His eyes stayed on the board.
"When I met Kizzie, she made me show her where I went to church before our first date," Mr. Charlie said. "Been married 45 years."
Caine said nothing, not wanting to say anything about the irony of that statement.
A nice, calm church going, god fearing gal.
Caine's eyes went to that window again. Just for a second. Then back to the board.
Mr. Charlie made next move.
~~~
Mireya sat in the study room with her laptop open in front of her, the screen bright against the muted light coming through the window. Sena sat across from her at the small table with an earbud in one ear, the other dangling against her shoulder as she typed. The library hummed around them with footsteps and distant voices filtering through the glass walls, and the air conditioning clicked on overhead, pushing cool air down into the small space.
Her phone lit up on the table beside her notes, the screen glowing against the dark surface. The group chat was already going, messages stacking on top of each other.
Alejandra: easter weekend is gonna be dead af
Bianca: fr nobody spending money when they gotta buy their kids chocolate bunnies and shit
Liana: i'm not tryna make $50 all weekend
Hayley: might as well stay home
Alejandra: nah i can find us a party or two if yall willing to drive. boost that income back up
Mari: where at?
Sydney: im down
Jaslene: me too
Mireya read the messages but didn't respond, telling herself she'd do it later. Her thumb flicked back to the main screen and scrolled through her threads, eyes tracking down the list until they landed on Jordan's name. Their last conversation was visible in the preview with her text from days ago, the one she'd sent when she got back from San Diego.
No response. Not even the short, clipped ones he'd been sending before that. Just silence.
She stared at it and her jaw tightened. The phone screen dimmed after a few seconds, going dark, but she didn't pick it up.
Sena glanced up from her laptop, her eyes flicking to Mireya's face and then back down to her screen.
"Your face is going to get stuck that way if you frown any harder," Sena said.
Mireya flattened her expression and snorted a laugh as she set her phone face down on the table. "Sorry, I didn't realize I was making a face.”
Sena's fingers kept moving across her keyboard but her eyes lifted again, holding Mireya's for a beat before dropping back to her work.
"You do every time you look down at your phone," Sena said. "Trouble in paradise?"
Mireya shook her head and reached for her coffee, the cup lukewarm in her hand as she took a sip anyway.
"I have no idea," Mireya said. "Men can be such a pain in the ass sometimes. So fucking emotional."
Sena laughed quietly, her shoulders shaking with it. She leaned back in her chair, one arm draping over the back.
"You got that right," Sena said. "And they say we're the fucking emotional ones."
Mireya set her cup back down. The condensation left a ring on the table. She wiped it with her thumb.
"Did you get your midterm back from Stewart?" Mireya asked.
Sena shook her head, her expression shifting to something between annoyance and resignation.
"He always grades the sorority girls' stuff first so he can make up some reason that they get extra points," Sena said. "Quite literally the worst TA I've come across so far."
Mireya leaned forward slightly, elbows coming to rest on the table. Her fingers laced together. “I don’t know. I feel kinda insulted by that. If he’s grading on how hot a girl is then I should come before all of those bitches. You should, too.”
Sena's eyes lifted from her laptop and looked at Mireya, holding her gaze and letting a beat pass before she spoke. "I'm not gonna argue with getting a compliment.”
Mireya smiled. "Just the truth," Mireya said. "Unless the issue is that we ain't white."
Sena snorted a laugh and shook her head, her hand coming up to push a strand of hair behind her ear. "That might be it.”
They both went back to their work. Mireya's fingers moved across her keyboard. Her eyes tracked the words on her screen but her mind kept drifting. Back to Jordan's silence. Back to the group chat. Back to the weight of everything she was carrying.
She looked up again. Sena's head was still bent over her laptop, focused.
"Are you worried about getting into LSUHSC?" Mireya asked.
Sena shook her head without looking up. "That's the whole point of doing the program here. It's supposed to give you a boost or whatever."
She paused. Her fingers stopped typing. She looked up at Mireya.
"Are you worried?" Sena asked.
Mireya's hand went to her coffee cup again. She turned it in a slow circle on the table, the cardboard scraping softly against the surface.
"I'm not," Mireya started. Then she stopped. Her thumb traced the edge of the cup. "Kind of, I guess. I just feel like I'm juggling too much sometimes. Work, school, parenting. It's a lot."
Sena nodded. Her expression softened.
"Yeah, I figured," Sena said. She tilted her head slightly, her eyes moving over Mireya's face. "And still somehow manage to look like a baddie every day when most of us can't handle just class."
Mireya laughed softly.
"Only surviving by shooting caffeine straight into my veins," Mireya said.
Sena joined in on the laughter. The sound filled the small study room, spilling out through the glass walls into the library beyond.
~~~
Saul sat in the patient room with his phone in his hands, thumb scrolling through job listings he'd already looked at twice before. The chair was hard under him and squeaked whenever he shifted his weight, the sound small but loud enough in the quiet room to make him conscious of every movement. Ava lay on the examination chair with her phone resting on her stomach, the curve of it visible under her shirt.
The fluorescent lights hummed overhead with a sound that had been getting on his nerves for the past fifteen minutes while they waited. He looked up from his screen and watched Ava for a moment, the way her eyes moved as she scrolled, the small furrow between her eyebrows that meant she was reading something that annoyed her. Probably her mother texting again.
"I think I might've found a job," Saul said.
Ava's eyes lifted from her phone and her face brightened a bit, the furrow smoothing out.
"Really?" she said. "That's great. You've been so stressed about that that you've been stressing me out."
Saul laughed and rubbed the back of his neck, feeling the tension there that had been sitting in his shoulders for weeks.
"Yeah," he said. "I guess the nerves are really getting to me as we get closer to being parents."
Ava shifted on the chair and the paper covering crinkled under her. "Saul, we're already parents even if the baby isn't here yet.”
He looked at her and the way she said it made something settle in his chest. Not gone but quieter.
"Guess you're right," Saul said.
Ava set her phone down on the small table beside the chair and turned her attention fully to him.
"So, what's the new job going to be?"
Saul opened his mouth to answer but the door swung open and the nurse walked in, closing it behind her with a soft click. She wore scrubs with cartoon animals on them and her hair was pulled back in a ponytail that swung when she moved.
"Sorry, had something in another room," the nurse said. "How y'all doing today?"
Ava took a deep breath, the kind she always took before these appointments started, her chest rising and holding for a beat before she answered.
"Another day in paradise," Ava said.
The nurse smiled and looked over at Saul.
"What about you, dad?" she asked.
The word still felt strange to him even though he'd heard it at every appointment. Dad. Not yet but soon. The weight of it sat heavier each time.
Saul nodded and tried to keep his voice steady.
"Pretty good, I guess.”
The nurse moved to the counter and started pulling things out, setting up the ultrasound machine. Her hands worked quickly and efficiently, practiced movements that spoke to how many times she'd done this exact thing. She squeezed gel onto the wand and turned to Ava.
"Can you pull your shirt up a little for me?" the nurse asked.
Ava lifted the hem of her shirt and exposed her stomach. The skin was taut and rounded, the belly button starting to push out. Saul had watched it change over the months, the way her body shifted and made room.
The nurse pressed the wand to Ava's stomach and the gel spread cold across her skin. Ava's breath hitched slightly at the temperature and her hand went to the armrest, gripping it. The nurse moved the wand slowly, searching, eyes on the monitor that Saul couldn't see clearly from his angle.
He watched Ava's face instead. The way her jaw tightened and her teeth pressed into her bottom lip. The way her breathing went shallow and stayed there. She always held her breath during this part, waiting for the sound that meant everything was okay. Every single appointment was the same. The fear that something had changed since the last time. That the heartbeat wouldn't be there anymore.
The seconds stretched and felt longer than they were. The nurse kept moving the wand, adjusting the angle, pressing a little firmer in one spot and then another.
Then the sound came from the monitor, filling the small room. Fast and rhythmic and steady. The heartbeat. Real and present and constant.
Ava exhaled heavily and her chest fell from the breath she'd been holding, her whole body seeming to sink deeper into the chair. Her whole body seemed to release at once, tension draining out of her shoulders and hands and the tight line of her jaw.
"There's baby," the nurse said.
Her voice was warm and reassuring, the kind of tone that came from telling parents good news dozens of times a day.
Ava held her hand out toward Saul without looking away from the monitor where the image shifted and moved. He rolled his chair closer, the wheels scraping against the floor, and took her hand in his. Her fingers were cold but they wrapped tight around his. He brought her knuckles to his lips and kissed them, feeling the smoothness of her skin and the slight tremor that was already fading as the heartbeat continued its steady rhythm.
~~~
Trell walked out of the stash spot in Slidell with Ant beside him and Yola and Shad following a few steps behind. The sun sat heavy and warm on his shoulders, the air thick with humidity already. The house they'd just left sat quiet behind them, windows closed, no sign anyone had been there at all.
Yola and Shad carried empty duffel bags that hung loose in their hands as they walked to the trunk of Yola's car. Shad popped the trunk and they tossed the bags in, the canvas hitting the carpet with soft thuds before Shad pushed the trunk closed.
Trell stood by Ant's car with his phone in his hand, checking messages that had come through while they'd been inside. Ant leaned against the driver's side door with his arms crossed, eyes scanning the street. Quiet neighborhood. Not much foot traffic.
Shad closed the trunk and hesitated for a beat before speaking up.
"Hey, big bro, I could talk to you for a second?" Shad said.
Trell looked up from his phone and turned to face Shad, sliding the phone into his pocket as he walked over.
"Yeah, what it is?" Trell asked.
His voice stayed even and unhurried.
Shad glanced at Ant and Yola, both watching the conversation now, then looked back at Trell.
"I think I know if Boogie had some niggas working with him or not," Shad said.
Trell nodded and put one hand in his pocket while gesturing with the other for Shad to continue. "Alright then spit it out, lil' nigga.”
Shad's eyes cut over his shoulder again at Ant and Yola. Yola had moved closer now, leaning against his own car with his arms folded. Ant hadn't moved from his spot but his attention was fully on Shad.
"When I got home last night, I heard my brother talking to some of his potnas in the living room," Shad said. His hands moved as he talked, one reaching up to rub the back of his neck. "One of his homeboys, a nigga called Tenth Ward Stan? He said that Boogie been fucking with them bragging about hitting a lick on the plug. That's how he ended up knocking up ol' girl at one of they kickbacks."
Trell's expression didn't change but his eyes stayed fixed on Shad's face.
"We know Boogie did it," Trell said. "That ain't nothing that we didn't know before. Get to the point, nigga."
Shad held his hands up in front of him as if he was the one on trial, palms out, fingers spread, before dropping them back to his sides.
"Well, after Stan said that, this other nigga out they clique, Mike-Mike, said Boogie also been talking a lot of shit about doing that shit with some niggas out Lafayette," Shad said. The words came faster now, tumbling out. "Talking about all the connections he got outside the city. Said it some niggas y'all stepped on's cousins and shit."
Trell looked back over his shoulder at Ant, who gave the slightest of shrugs. Just a small lift and drop of one shoulder, his face remaining neutral.
Trell turned back to Shad.
"They say anything else about these Lafayette niggas?" Trell asked. "Names, anything like that?"
Shad shook his head and his hand went back to his neck, rubbing there again.
"I don't think they knew," Shad said. "They were just laughing about some country ass niggas coming all the way out here to do that shit so they really must've felt some type of way about they people getting packed out."
Trell nodded slowly, the movement deliberate and measured, as if he was turning something over in his mind. His hand came out of his pocket and he took a step closer to Shad.
"You know what's gonna happen to you if you lying about this to protect your brother and them, right?" Trell asked.
The question came quiet but carried weight underneath it.
Shad nodded quickly and his whole body tensed.
"Yeah, I know, but I ain't lying, big bro," Shad said. He swallowed and his Adam's apple bobbed. "I could try to find out some more info on them Lafayette niggas, if you want?"
Trell shook his head and the corner of his mouth lifted just slightly.
"I know who they is," Trell said.
He reached out and patted Shad on the shoulder, his hand coming down firm enough to make Shad jump slightly at the contact. Trell's hand stayed there for a beat, fingers pressing into the fabric of Shad's shirt, before he pulled it back and turned away.
He walked toward Ant's car and gestured with one hand for everyone to leave. Yola pushed off his car and opened his door. Shad stood for a second longer before moving back to the passenger side of Yola's car.
Ant got into the driver's seat and Trell moved around to the passenger side, pulling the door open and settling into the seat. The interior smelled like the air freshener Ant kept on the vent, something vanilla. Ant started the engine and it turned over smooth and quiet.
"Green light on that nigga Boogie then?" Ant asked.
His hand was on the wheel but he hadn't put the car in gear yet. He looked over at Trell, waiting.
Trell nodded and pulled his phone back out of his pocket.
"Yeah," Trell said.
He looked down at the date displayed on the screen and a smirk spread across his face. His thumb moved across the screen, checking something, before he looked back up.
"Wait a lil' minute until this weekend, though," Trell said.
Ant raised an eyebrow and shifted in his seat to look at Trell more fully.
"Why?" Ant asked.
Trell's smirk widened just slightly and he slipped his phone back into his pocket.
"Gonna send a message.”
~~~
Laney sat in one of the chairs arranged in a ring in the fellowship hall, the metal frame cold through her dress. Other women from the church filled the chairs around her, some settling in with purses in their laps, others crossing their legs at the ankles or shifting to get comfortable. The light came through the windows in pale rectangles that stretched across the floor and dust hung visible in the beams.
Her mother had suggested she form this group for women around her age, mirroring the men's group that Caleb was supposed to run but rarely actually held meetings for. Laney had agreed because saying no would've required an explanation she didn't want to give. Now she sat here with a practiced smile on her face, wanting to be anywhere else but in this circle of chairs.
One of the women, Jessica, leaned forward slightly with her hands clasped together in her lap.
"Are we okay to talk about anything or..." Jessica said, letting the question trail off as she looked around the circle.
Laney's smile stayed in place. "Anythin' you got on your heart," Laney said. "No one is judgin' anybody here."
The other women nodded their agreement and Jessica's eyes moved around the circle to make sure everyone was nodding before she continued. Her hands wrung together now, twisting and releasing, and she looked down at her feet where her ankles were crossed one over the other.
"Y'all know I've been married to Andrew for a few years now and everything is great for the most part," Jessica said. She paused and looked up, making the sign of the cross over her chest with quick practiced movements before she continued. "Lord forgive me, but the sex is so bad that I don't even want to do it. Have any of y'all experienced anything like that? I know I'm supposed to love and be attracted to my husband, but it's so hard sometimes."
Laney adjusted her hands in her lap to keep from bursting out in laughter. The irony sat heavy and absurd in her chest. She hadn't had sex with Tommy for longer than Jessica and Andrew had been married. Years longer. The thought almost made her laugh again but she swallowed it down and kept her face neutral.
Another woman in the circle, Gloria, straightened in her chair and folded her hands over the purse in her lap.
"Sometimes, you just have to grin and bear it," Gloria said. Her voice carried the weight of someone delivering wisdom that shouldn't be questioned. "That's the job of the wife. You don't want your husband going to sleep thinking that he's less than because he can't convince you to give him pleasure."
A few of the other women nodded and murmured their agreement, soft sounds of affirmation that filled the space between the chairs. A few others didn't move at all and their disagreement showed clear on their faces in the set of their jaws and the way their eyes stayed fixed on Gloria.
A third woman, Bella, shifted in her seat and a small smile played at the corner of her mouth.
"I just think about Jon Ossoff," Bella said. "I wouldn't want to hear him talk about his politics but he can rock my world."
Laughter erupted around the circle from most of the women, some covering their mouths, others leaning back in their chairs as they laughed. Laney didn't laugh. She just watched as the women reacted, their faces bright with the relief of someone else saying something scandalous first.
Jessica looked directly at Laney with her eyebrows drawn together.
"Wouldn't that be adultery, according to the scripture?" Jessica asked.
Laney shrugged and shifted her weight in the chair.
"I don't think the Lord expected us to not lust at all," Laney said. "Jesus ain't die for our sins so we would never sin again. That's why the Lord is a forgivin' God. I think there are ways to bring that up to Andrew that wouldn't hurt his feelin's."
Jessica nodded slowly as if she was turning the words over in her mind and considering how to apply them.
Gloria turned to look at Laney and her expression softened into something approving.
"Take it from Laney," Gloria said. She gestured toward Laney with one hand. "She's been married the longest out of any of us here and she's kept Tommy happy."
This time Laney couldn't stop the snort of laughter that escaped her. The sound came out sharp and unexpected and she covered it by bringing her hand up to her mouth. The irony was too much.
The other women were already laughing too, covering the sound of her reaction, and Laney let her hand drop back to her lap as the moment passed unnoticed.
Another woman in the group, Alex, uncrossed and recrossed her legs and looked around the circle.
"I have a question," Alex said. "Do y'all have to struggle every Sunday with your kids to get them to get up to go to church?"
Laney watched as the conversation moved on, the women leaning in to talk about bedtimes and Sunday morning routines and bribing children with breakfast after service. She sat back in her chair and let the voices wash over her, nodding when it seemed appropriate, smiling when someone looked her way, performing the role of the experienced wife and devoted church member while her mind drifted to everything they didn't know and couldn't see.
