“We should surprise him,” Cheryl suggested. “Like have him over for dinner.” Cheryl winked over at me. She was getting two birds with one stone: Daddy would hear my voice, and our parents would be in the same room together again.
“That’s…” Mama narrowed her eyes. “That’s actually a really good idea! I’ll order Chinese food! Cheryl! You call your dad and tell him to come over because you have big news about something.”
“On it!” Cheryl said, storming off to get her cell phone.
“And, Maggie, tell Brooks to come inside. He shouldn’t be sitting in his car for that long. Also…” She walked over to me and placed her hands against my cheeks. A weighted sigh left her lips. “You have a beautiful, beautiful voice. You always have, and I’m sorry I went so long without listening to it.” She kissed my forehead before hurrying away to set the table.
When Daddy arrived, he was confused to see Brooks and me there, but pleased. We all sat down to dinner, and Mama was too nervous to look at Daddy, and he hardly glanced over at her. Cheryl did most of the talking, which was something she was good at doing.
“Maggie May, can you pass me the egg rolls?” Daddy asked.
Mama looked up at me and nodded once.
I cleared my throat, picked up the egg rolls, and held them out in his direction. “Here you go, Daddy.”
“Thank you, sweet—” His words faltered. He looked up at me, his eyes locking with mine. Disbelief filled his tone. “No.”
I nodded and knocked on the table twice. “Yes.”
“Oh…oh my…” His hands flew to his chest as tears began to fall. He took off his glasses then covered his mouth with his hands. As his tears fell, more rolled down Mama’s cheeks. Daddy stood up, and I followed his stance. He walked over to me and combed my hair behind my ears. He rested his hands against my cheeks, the same way Mama had. “Say something else.” He laughed nervously. “Anything, really. Say anything, say everything, say the word nothing. Anything. Just say something else.”
I placed my hands against his face, holding his as he held mine, and I whispered the words I’d always wished to say to the first man who ever loved me with his all. “The world keeps spinning because your heartbeats exist.”
My family sat talking late into the night, laughing, crying, and making me say every single word in the dictionary. We Skyped with Calvin, who was in New York for business, and when he saw Brooks smiling, and he saw me speaking, he too began to c
ry. There were so many moments throughout the night where Mama and Daddy laughed at the same moments and fell apart together, too, yet they didn’t speak to each other. Even though I noticed the trembles in their lips, the stolen glances that they took, the love that still lived in their hearts.
“Well,” Daddy said around one in the morning. “I better get going.”
He stood up, and I glanced over at Mama, silently begging her to say something, but she didn’t speak up. She watched her love walk away again.
“What was that?” I asked her. “You need to go after him!”
“What? No. We are separated. We’re both exactly where we want to be,” Mama said.
“Lies!” Cheryl shouted. “Lies! When was the last time you showered, Mom?”
Mama paused, really thinking about her last shower. “I shower!” she claimed.
“Yeah,” Cheryl huffed. “In Ben and Jerry’s.”
“Your father’s happy, though. He seems happy.”
I gave her a knowing look. Of course he wasn’t happy. Part of his heart still beat inside of her chest. How could anyone be happy with a missing piece of their soul? “You should call him.”
Her eyes watered over, and she gave me a tight smile. “Oh no. No, I couldn’t. I…” Her voice shook, and her hands landed on her hips. “I wouldn’t even know what to say.”
“Do you miss him?”
She started crying, tears free falling down her cheeks. “More than words.”
“Then tell him.”
“I don’t know how. I don’t know what to say, or how to say it.”
I walked over to her and wiped her tears away. “Come on. Brooks will drive us over to Dad’s apartment. I’ll help you find the words to say on the way. You can have shotgun.”
Her body started to tremble, and I wrapped her into a tight hug, holding her close to me. As we approached the foyer, Mama froze. “I can’t.”