Late Summer 2009

Derek failed to consider how he would pay for his share of the rent and bills. He only did after he went home that evening. Unrelated to the news of his early termination, Chenille was working overtime and returned later than usual. Derek listened as Christopher recollected his day with Momma Dean since she had time off from work. He figured their dance lessons would persist until it was time for his nephew to start the third grade. The prospective college student was zoning in and out during dinner. His big sister's voice snapped him out of his daze. "Huh? What?"

"How your day went?"

"Oh, yeah." How could he answer that? It wasn't all terrible, but it wasn't all good either. Unusual? More or less. "Work… was wild."

"How so?"

"For starters, I just found out I'm unofficially outta a job. My boss is foreclosing and moving to Jefferson Park in a month." Derek flatly divulged how sales within the past year had massively decreased with the rise of streaming services. "I'll pay my share as soon as I find another job."

"Don't you worry about that, honey," his grandmother assured. "Besides, you need to be ready for tomorrow."

"Ain't you pissed off, Uncle Derek," Christopher quizzed.

His mother scolded him, "What'd I tell you about swearing?"

"But how can't I do it when everyone else does?" His uncle snickered in response to the boy's unequivocal comeback.

"Don't sass me, young man."

Derek suddenly blurted out, "And, to make this day even crazier, Sara is back." He stopped laughing upon hearing himself as well as recollecting their first interaction.

Chenille blankly looked at her little brother. "You saw Sara? For real?"

"Yeah, she came to the store and bought some CDs with her kid."

Her son tilted his head in sheer confusion. "Who's Sara?"

"An old girlfriend of mine and your uncle from high school. You were 6 or 7 months old when she met you."

"Is she good peeps?"

"She's a nice girl," Momma Dean remembered. "How has she been?"

"Funny, I asked her the same thing; she got upset and bolted."

"Why wouldn't she," his sister straight up inquired. "You had a baby—three, in fact—with your other ex." After dinner, Momma Dean helped Christopher get ready for bed. Derek was cleaning the dishes in the kitchen sink when Chenille reacted to a detail which was regarded as an afterthought. "Did you say Sara has a kid?"

Her brother nodded, "Samara."

"Wow, guess Sara met someone in New York." She didn't notice his strained expression when she said it. "I bet her daughter is adorable."

"She is." He glanced over his shoulder and peeped at his sister. She was blinking at him puzzlingly. "What're you looking at me like that for?"

"Why are you so chill for someone who's losing their job?"

Derek apathetically shrugged, "I want something different."

As promised, Sara visited Roy in rehab along with Samara. She couldn't bring herself to leave her young daughter alone with anyone. His brain fog was still making him forgetful and unable to pay attention. His speech, on the other hand, wasn't slurred anymore. Sara perceived that her father never mentioned anything about his band mates. Nor had she seen them visit him once. She sensed these occurrences somehow coincided with Roy's accident. He kept deflecting her questions about them for the next 11 days.

Mr. Johnson mindlessly complained how the housing crisis last year had ruined his life. First, his house was one of many that were at risk of being foreclosed. To avoid becoming homeless, he secured a mortgage loan albeit with some obstacles. It was around that time the stress pushed him to drink. Roy's problems worsened after he was ousted by the very jazz band he founded. They replaced him with "some trombone-looking brat fresh out of college". In light of his unemployment, the trumpeter pawned his prized possession and quickly spent the $148 he earned on the fateful night at McGee's Lounge. The associated hospital bill was excluded from the pile of debts he couldn't pay off due to his insurance. The therapy session and visit ended when Roy's momentary urge to relapse incurred the possibility of relocating him to a long-term rehab center.

Sara would be fine any other day, but today wasn't one of them. She thought of making a stop before heading back to her father's house. Little did the aspiring choreographer know that she would regret it. She was woefully unprepared to come in contact with Derek at the music store. He himself seemed equally shocked as well. The air-blocking tension entered a brief interlude in the form of Samara's voice. Sara dodged her ex-boyfriend's attempt at engaging in small talk. As the Johnsons perused the racks, the mother thought the cashier was gazing in her direction. He did change from four years ago. Derek now sported a buzzcut fade and a pencil mustache. His maroon t-shirt augmented the sheen of his cacao skin. Sara would also be lying if she claimed he hadn't stayed fit. She shook her head, reminding herself, "No, he's with Nikki and their kid." Her stone face crumbled after Derek asked that one question at the counter. She was fed up with both him and Roy. The aspiring choreographer couldn't tolerate more "unpleasant surprises". Sara got herself and Samara out of the store before her tears could fall.

Sara was relieved when she discovered a lot less TV dinners in the freezer. She added "buy more fresh produce" to her unwritten to-do list following a deliberate search in the fridge. At that time, Samara was taking her nap in her mother's old bedroom. She woke up an hour and a half later in time to have a bowl of pasta with sauce with her. It was only a minor issue that the toddler wasn't a fan of peas. She heedfully peered at her mother's sullen face. "Mama sad?"

"Not sad, honey. Just tired."

About five minutes later, her daughter again called, "Mama?"

"Yes, sweetie?"

"Who 'Dare-ick'?"

It took Sara a while to realize who Samara was asking about. Then again, her vocabulary was growing progressively. "Oh, Derek is the reason I made it to college… and why I stayed in New York." It was the truth; Sara needed—no, she wanted—to keep her distance from her ex-boyfriend. She could easily forgive Roy; after all, he was her father. The aspiring choreographer, as it turned out, was still fuming about Derek. There was no going back to LIC at this point. So, she had to start basically everything from scratch.