Page 107 of Cuffed By Your Love

The laughter was so thick it spilled into the night. The parents were still moving, still clapping, still showing us what history looked like in motion.

And then there was Jonay. Glow soft in the dusk, eyes bright, lips curved just for me. My chest thudded recklessly.

Soon,I told myself.You gon’ stop calling her yours in your head and make it law. You gon’ slide that ring on her finger and build what they got—storms, sunshine, and all. Forever.

Jason’s voice dragged me out. “Elias! You too damn quiet. What’s on your mind?”

The whole crew turned. Jonay’s hand lingered on my arm, steady, warm.

I smirked, voice smooth though my pulse was sprinting. “Just soaking it in, man. Nights like this don’t come twice.”

But my eyes never left her. And hers never left me.

Soon, my love. Real soon.

It wasthe laughter for me. The way it hung in the air like it signed a lease, paying rent in joy and furnishing every corner with peace.

Leila was in the middle of telling one of her dramatic stories, hands flying, hoop earrings catching the light.

“And I told that woman at Henderson’s, ‘Baby, if you touch my buggy one more time, you gon’ be riding in it!’”

The whole room erupted. Jason slapped his thigh, cackling. “Ain’t nobody believe you said that, Leila. You probably smiled and helped her put the juice in there.”

Leila gasped like he’d accused her of treason. “Excuse you! I said it with my chest. Loud. From the diaphragm.” She demonstrated, sticking her chest out far.

Jonell hollered, “Sis, you look like a gospel singer hitting the big note.”

Jazz nearly doubled over, her cackle bouncing off the walls like it had wings. She leaned into Chambers, her locs falling across his arm. “Lawd, if Leila don’t sit down somewhere…”

Chambers grinned, chewing his gum, leaning just close enough to Jazz that the air between them buzzed. “You laughing a little too hard, beauty. Don’t let me find out you co-signin’ her Henderson’s gangster stories.”

Jazz rolled her eyes, but the smile tugged anyway, soft at the edges. “Boy, please. You couldn’t handle me at Henderson’s or anywhere else.”

“Try me,” Chambers shot back, low and smooth.

Leila fanned the air. “Oooh! Y’all flirting in my face right now, and I like it. Somebody hand me popcorn!”

Jonell nearly choked on her drink, giggling. “This is better than the soaps. Somebody cue the theme music.”

Meanwhile, EJ’s little feet pattered across the hardwood, fast-fast-slow, like his joy had choreography. Spider-Man cape flapping, he zoomed around Jason’s long legs, then darted under the table, nearly knocking into Amira, who shrieked and laughed as she tried to catch him. Their giggles overlapped until it sounded like music, the kind of sound that made a house feel like home.

The room was alive with voices, teasing, inside jokes overlapping like harmonies.

“Leila, you ain’t never won a fight in your life.”

“Jason, don’t get dropped in front of your wife!”

“Jazz, you gon’ let Chambers talk to you like that?”

“Jonell, stop instigating before somebody flips the table.”

And through it all, EJ’s cape whooshing, Amira’s giggles chasing behind, Jazz’s cackle, Leila’s theatrics, Jason’s bass-heavy laugh; laughter hung in the air like scripture, likesomething sacred. Like joy had come home and put its name on the lease.

I was trying not to fall apart from how good it all felt. I kept making plates because I needed my hands to be busy because, whenever Elias stared too long, my heart did a stupid skip like it didn’t have sense. He was too much when he was quiet. Too handsome when he was loud. Too mine when he leaned in the doorway with his arms folded like he was both the safety and the danger.

Jason caught me on the way to the sink and bumped my shoulder. “You good, Mama Nay?”

I smiled. “Yeah. Why you say my name like that?”