LITMIR.BIZ

       CHAPTER FIVE

      SOMETIME DURING THE NIGHT, Lily had crept into bed with her. Tiana rolled over and pulled Lily close to her, snuggling down into the warm blankets. This was heaven, right here. A lazy, easy Sunday morning. Nowhere to be, no work, no school, no lunches to be packed. Maybe she would make bacon and French toast later. She was drifting into a light doze when there was a single sharp rap on the door. Groaning, Tiana opened her eyes. She knew that knock. It was her mother’s patented get-your-ass-out-of-bed knock.

      “Is Lily with you?”

      “Yes, Mom,” Tiana replied. She pulled an arm out from beneath the covers to grab her phone. Eight in the morning? Woman’s gone crazy.

      “Well, get up. I’ll get breakfast going. Don’t want to be late.”

      Lily stirred beside her. Tiana sat up, shivering in the cool air, her skin missing the heat of the blankets. “Late for what?”

      “Church.”

      Church? What church? Tiana hadn’t even started looking for a home church yet. Flopping back on the pillows, she sighed. No use to argue. She’d not won an argument with her mother ever in her entire life.

      “What’s wrong, Momma?” Lily asked.

      “Nothing. We need to get up. Granny wants to go to church.”

      “She doesn’t like to be called Granny.”

      “I know.”

      “You don’t like church?”

      “I like church just fine. I don’t like to get out of bed when it’s cold.”

      “Me either. Maybe we can have church under the covers.”

      Lily squirmed down under the blanket. Laughing, Tiana pulled the covers over her head and scooted down. “Now what?” she asked.

      Lily put her hands together in prayer and Tiana copied her. “Dear Jesus,” Lily said in her clear, sweet voice. “Thank you for saving us. We really appreciate it. But it’s cold so Mommy and I are going to stay in bed if that’s okay. Amen.”

      “Amen,” Tiana echoed. She smiled at her daughter. How’d she gotten such an amazing child, she didn’t know. Funny, smart, sassy.

      Lily grinned back, a gap-toothed grin. She was so innocent it made Tiana’s heart hurt a little to know it wouldn’t last. The door to the room opened. Lily put a finger against her lips.

      “What are you two up to under there?” Vivian asked.

      “We went to church under the covers,” Lily said.

      There was a moment of silence. Then a huff of irritation. “Both of you get up. I need someone to stir those grits while I tend to the bacon.”

      “Bacon!” Lily cried and scrambled out of the bed.

      “Fine. Leave me all alone,” Tiana called after her.

      “But, Momma! Bacon!”

      “That’s all right, Lily,” Vivian said. “She’ll get up once she starts smelling it. No one can stay in bed when there’s bacon sizzling.”

      They left the room but didn’t close the door. Tiana pulled the covers away from her face. She had to get her mother to go back home. Somehow. She loved her mother and was grateful for all she’d done to help with Lily over the years. But it was time for her and Lily to have a little breathing room. And for her to sleep in when she wanted to.

      Grabbing her thick robe, Tiana shrugged into it while crossing the room. In the kitchen, Lily was standing on a step stool, studiously stirring a pot of grits. A large pot of grits in the morning meant shrimp and grits later on. That was Mom’s way. She knew how to plan out her meals and to use all that she cooked. As she poured coffee, Tiana laughed.

      “What’s so funny over there?” Vivian asked, moving bacon around with a fork.

      “Nothing,” she replied as she stirred sugar and creamer into the coffee cup. “I remembered how shocked I was the first time I saw bacon in the college cafeteria. They cooked the whole strip.”

      Her mother had her own style. She’d chop the rasher of bacon into three sections, dump the entire pile into her frying pan and just keep stirring until it was done. “Huh,” Vivian said with a slight snort. “That’s fine. If you got all day.”

      Tiana went to the stove to check the heat under the grits. The burner was off and the pot was barely bubbling. They looked done to her, so she guessed Lily’s stirring was just to give her something to do. “Be careful with those grits, Lily. They are very hot.”

      “I’m being careful, Mommy.”

      “What church are we going to today?”

      Vivian had been visiting churches every Sunday to find a good fit. This was the first Sunday Tiana either had off or hadn’t worked a late shift since before they’d moved in. It was on her list of things to do, just not quite as close to the top as her mother’s list.

      “Emanuel.”

      “The one downtown?”

      “Yes.” Viv turned to look at her. “Why?”

      Tiana looked at Lily, then back at her mother, eyebrows raised. The look she got back was pure steel. “No one’s going to say things in front of the children.”

      “Say what?” Lily asked.

      “Nothing, sweet girl,” Vivian cooed. “Keep stirring those grits. Your momma needs to drink her coffee and get in the shower.”

      * * *

      AFTER CHURCH, THEY walked the few blocks along Calhoun Street to have brunch at Saffron Restaurant Bakery. A nice cup of coffee and a trip through their divine brunch buffet was worth the early wake-up time.

      “Can we go to the aquarium too?” Lily asked.

      As they walked to the South Carolina Aquarium, Tiana wished once again that she could live downtown. It was such a walkable town, so utterly charming in its own way, but the real estate market was unreal. Once, while dining at Jestine’s Kitchen, she’d overheard someone quip that prices in the Historic District were on par with Manhattan. She didn’t doubt it. All those magazines talking Charleston up as the best travel destination in the country, as the

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