"Maybe she'll play ball like me," he said.

"I doubt that." I laughed. "She'll probably be a dancer."

Vance and I laughed and talked like old times-two parents planning our child's future. I remembered how much I missed him. Wished things could be the way they were before Grambling. There was a time when we had so many plans for our future. We couldn't stop talking to each other. It was as if we had to cram a year's worth of conversation into one morning. I barely even heard his phone ring. I hoped that he would silence it, particularly since he wasn't supposed to be talking on it in the hospital. But he didn't silence it, he answered.

"Hello," he said. "Hey you, what's up? Yeah, I miss you, too..."

I miss you, too. It was as if my heart stopped beating. It had to be his girlfriend on the other end of the phone.

"...I know. I'm at the hospital right now...seeing Vanessa..."

Seeing Vanessa? If he's here to see Vanessa, then why is he all up in my room watching TV?

"...Okay, I'll call you later...yeah, me, too..."

Did she say that she loved him?

He hung up, looked my way. "Sorry about that."

"You're not supposed to have cell phones in here," I explained.

My mood was different. Once again, a girl named Lexi had stolen my joy. Nurse Liz walked in with Vanessa and a warm bottle and I was grateful. Things were suddenly awkward and we needed to change the atmosphere.

"He's gonna feed her." I volunteered Vance before he had a chance to protest.

Nurse Liz placed Vanessa in Vance's arms and smiled. "Here you go."

He adjusted her until he found a perfect fit. Her head relaxed against his arm and he stuck the nipple of the bottle into her mouth. I watched the two of them. Wished I had my digital camera so I could capture the moment and remember it forever. Instead I burned it into my memory and hoped that it stayed there. I guess in life, you held on to the precious moments-even if they were short-lived.

thirty-six.

Marcus Nana's cornbread dressing had to be the highlight of Thanksgiving, and we won't even discuss the macaroni and cheese and collard greens. I ate more than I should have and decided to find a corner spot in the family room to recover. With football on the television and light jazz floating through the house, the Summers' house was filled with joy. The men drank beers and watched the game and yelled each time something exciting happened. The women chitchatted and giggled in the formal living room, while Indigo and her girls gathered upstairs in her bedroom-with the door shut. Lord only knew what they were discussing.

With a magazine in her hand, Nana slid next to me onto the sofa. "You ate too much, huh?"

"Everything was so good, Nana. I couldn't help it," I said. "I love Thanksgiving."

"You'll be leaving us soon...going away to college. I'm proud of you." Nana flipped through the pages of the magazine.

"Thank you."

"I always knew that you would do something spectacular." She grinned. "What are you going to do about that little girl upstairs?"

"I really don't know, Nana. I've been thinking a lot about it. I love her but I know I'll be leaving soon. I don't wanna tie her down."

"You both are young. You have your whole lives ahead of you," Nana said. "It's healthy to allow each other space to grow...to live."

"So you think we should break up?"

"I never said that."

"So you think we should try to make it work even though we'll be miles apart?"

"I never said that, either."

"Well, Nana, I don't know what to do."

"Son, when the time comes, you'll know exactly what to do." She patted my leg. "Now come on in the kitchen. Let's get us some dessert."

"Aw, Nana, I don't have any room for dessert." My stomach was at its fullest capacity.

"Oh, you have to taste Nana's sweet potato pie, boy. That's not an option. Now come on." Nana grabbed my hand, pulled me up from the sofa and led the way to the kitchen.

As I stood near the sink and ate a slice of pie, Indigo and her girls came into the kitchen.

"We're bored," Indi announced.

"How could you be bored when all your friends are here?" Nana asked.

"We've gossiped about everything we could possibly think about. There's no one else to drag through the mud." Indigo and her girls giggled as she turned on the kitchen radio.

"Cupid Shuffle" rang through the small speakers and Indigo began to bounce to the music. Jade followed and soon Asia and Tymia were moving, too.

"Come on, Nana," Asia said, "it's easy."

"Nana don't move quite like she used to." Nana laughed. "These old bones..."

"Aw, come on, Nana. You don't have to move that much," said Indigo.

"To the right, to the right, to the right, to the right," said Jade, showing Nana the moves.

"To the left, to the left, to the left, to the left," Asia said as Nana began to learn the steps.

"Now walk it by yourself," Tymia said.

It was funny watching Nana attempt to walk it out. Even though she didn't have all the moves, she gave it her best. After watching them for a moment, I decided to take a seat at the kitchen table and finish my sweet potato pie. Indigo looked good in her jeans and sweater, and the chain that I had given her dangled from her neck. She had always been the girl of my dreams, with her wild hair and funky attitude. It was hard to believe that next year this time, our lives would be so different. I wondered if we would still be a couple or if we'd choose opposite paths. That was the question that had burned in my mind all day.

On this day when everyone was giving thanks, I was thankful for Indigo. As I watched her do the Cupid Shuffle, I tried to imagine my life without her. I couldn't. She belonged there. Like the coffee table in our living room, it just belonged. And without it, the room wouldn't be complete.

She gave me a little smile and at that moment I knew that she would always be a part of me and I would be a part of her. I didn't know what our future held, but I knew that wherever I was in this huge world, Indigo Summer would be there, too.

STEP UP.

ISBN: 978-1-4268-5616-7.

end.