Chapter 47: Release

“Look at my cousin,” Paul Bailey-Green said as he stepped back from the hug that he’d cocooned Reesa in. “I heard you went overseas. What’d you bring me?”

“To paraphrase Janie Mae Crawford: Myself.”

“Little cheap if you ask me.”

Reesa’s Aunt Ivy put her hands on her hips, and the stance, along with her overall appearance, made her niece do a double take. Apart from the signs of Hazel’s illness, their ties as identical twins were irrefutable.

“Child, stop playing and wash these dishes,” Ivy ordered.

Paul groaned. “I’m twenty-two, Mama.”

“And forever my son.”

“Why am I cleaning up? I didn’t even get any.”

“Your fault for being late,” Ivy said. “Get to work.”

He made a show of dragging his feet to the kitchen sink, but the wink he sent his mother betrayed a lack of actual reluctance.

“Lunch was delicious, Auntie,” Reesa said. She moved to help Paul.