She sat down across from me. “How do you feel about becoming an aunt?”
I hadn’t really thought about it in those terms. “Weird. Good weird, though.”
We ate in comfortable silence until Kate wandered in with her hair sticking up in every direction. Aunt Bonnie silently passed her a plate of pancakes, and she took it with a grateful look.
“So what happens now?” I asked when we had all eaten.
“Now,” Aunt Bonnie said, “we come up with a plan. Kate needs to finish school. You both need stability. And your parents need to prove they’re serious about changing.”
Kate stared down at her empty plate. “I should probably talk to Tyler too. He deserves to know what I’m deciding.”
That conversation happened later that day. Tyler came over looking terrified, probably expecting Aunt Bonnie to tear him apart. Instead, she gave him lemonade and let him and Kate talk privately in the bedroom while I pretended not to eavesdrop from the hallway. I couldn’t hear every word, but what I did hear surprised me. No denial. No arguments. No trying to run from responsibility.
Instead, Tyler kept saying things like, “Whatever you need, I’ll be there.”
When they came out an hour later, Kate looked relieved, and Tyler looked determined, even if he was still scared.
“I’ll tell my parents tonight,” he promised before he left. “They’ll freak out, but they’re big on responsibility. They won’t let me bail.”
After he was gone, Kate flopped down beside me on the couch. “Well, that went better than expected.”
“He seems decent,” I admitted.
“He is,” she said. “Terrified out of his mind, but decent.”
The next couple of days passed in a blur of planning. Aunt Bonnie called for another meeting, this time with all of us, plus Tyler and his parents. It was awkward in ways I didn’t know meetings could be awkward. Tyler’s parents were shocked at first, but they rallied quickly, especially his mom. My parents were stiff and formal, but at least they weren’t yelling. The adults talked through practical things—medical insurance, living arrangements, school plans—while I mostly sat quietly and watched everyone’s faces. My dad kept looking at me when he thought I wasn’t paying attention, with this odd mixture of guilt and something else I couldn’t quite name. My mom barely looked at anyone.
After that meeting, my parents asked if we would consider coming home for dinner that weekend.
“A fresh start,” my mom called it.
Kate immediately looked at me. “Up to Lily. I go where she goes.”
My dad nodded slowly. “Fair enough.”
I agreed, but only if Aunt Bonnie came too. There was no way I was walking back into that house without backup. They reluctantly said yes.
That Friday night was the most uncomfortable dinner of my life. My mom had clearly spent hours cooking all our favorite foods, even remembering mine correctly, which was a first. The conversation was stiff, every person at the table trying too hard to sound polite. Halfway through dinner, my dad cleared his throat.
“I’ve been doing some reading,” he said awkwardly. “About colorism and how it affects children.”
Then he looked directly at me.
“I never realized what I was doing to you, Lily. I’m not asking for forgiveness. I just want a chance to try to be better.”
I nearly choked on my mashed potatoes. My father had read about colorism. He had admitted he was wrong. I didn’t know what to do with that, so I just nodded.
My mom jumped in next. “We also found a family therapist. For all of us, if you girls are willing. We have a lot to work through.”
I looked at Kate, who lifted her eyebrows as if to ask what I thought.
“Maybe,” I said carefully. “We’ll think about it.”
After dinner, my dad showed me my old room, except it wasn’t my old room anymore. They had completely redone it. New paint, new furniture, even a nice desk for studying. It was much better than what I had before.
“We thought… if you wanted to come back…” he said, trailing off.
“I don’t know yet,” I answered. “Honestly, this is all happening really fast.”
He nodded. “I understand. The room is yours whenever you want it. No pressure.”
That night, back at Aunt Bonnie’s, Kate and I stayed up late talking. She was torn about moving back home. On the one hand, our parents were being surprisingly supportive now. On the other hand, we both knew how fast they could turn.
“What do you think?” she asked me. “Should we give them another chance?”
I sighed. “I don’t know. Part of me wants to believe they’ve changed. Another part is just waiting for them to snap back to normal.”
“Same,” Kate admitted. “But I also feel bad taking advantage of Aunt Bonnie. Her apartment is tiny for three people, let alone four once the baby comes.”
She had a point. Aunt Bonnie had been incredible, but this wasn’t a long-term setup. So we decided to talk to her the next morning. When we brought it up over breakfast, she surprised us.
“I’ve actually been thinking about this,” she said. “I’ve been looking at three-bedroom apartments. More space for all of us.”
Kate blinked at her. “You want us to stay with you permanently?”
Aunt Bonnie shrugged. “If that’s what you want. Or you could try going home, with the understanding that my door stays open if it doesn’t work out.”
