Total pages in book: 149
Estimated words: 142866 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 714(@200wpm)___ 571(@250wpm)___ 476(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 142866 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 714(@200wpm)___ 571(@250wpm)___ 476(@300wpm)
“Aunt G says she wants to go ahead and do that and install a grab bar in the shower, too,” I say. “These aren’t things Mama needs right now, but when we reach that point, they will be in place. We may start taking down the mirrors because they say it can be disorienting for them to see themselves older if they forget that they’ve aged.”
“We love you, Hen,” Yasmen says, pulling me in for a hug. “Let us know if there is anything we can do.”
“I want in on this.” Soledad wiggles into our embrace. “I miss us all being together.”
“I’ll be home soon,” I tell them as we loosen our holds on each other. “But I’ll probably start coming here even more often. I need to be here and I need to be there. I’ll be back and forth a lot more.”
“Makes me so grateful my mama is in such good health.” Yasmen sighs. “I gotta call that woman.”
“And it makes me miss my mother even more.” Soledad shakes her head. “Cancer took her before we reached the stage of the child becoming the caregiver. You’re doing an amazing job, Hen. I know you don’t always feel like it, but you’re a great daughter.”
“Thanks, guys,” I whisper, my voice wobbling. “Love you.”
“The three of you do know we’ll be taking care of you guys someday,” Deja yells from the back seat of the car where she and Lupe are already seated and glued to their phones.
“Yeah,” Lupe adds. “So y’all better be nice to us!”
Man, I miss them already. Part of me wants to go back to Atlanta, back to Skyland right now, and part of me recognizes here with Mama and Aunt Geneva is exactly where I’m supposed to be.
Once they’re in the car, loaded down with Tupperware’d leftovers and a sampling of chowchow for Soledad to replicate, I go back in the house. It’s quiet, the kind of solitude that could slip into loneliness if you let it. But if I close my eyes, I can still hear the way my friends’ laughter and loud voices filled the house. I can still see Mama out in the garden planting new ranunculus. It was a good day.
The quiet is welcome when I sit down at Daddy’s desk to catch up on work I neglected while they visited. I’m looking through a contract for Imani when my phone rings.
“Nelly,” I answer, her name on my screen making me smile. “How you do?”
“I’m fine,” she replies. “Listen, I—”
“Did you see those projections Hannah sent over for Hue’s next quarter? Amazing, right?”
“Yeah, but that’s not why I called,” Nelly says, the tension in her voice strung tight.
“Okay.” I sit up straight, my body braced for whatever has struck a note of fear into the voice of the most unflappable woman I know. “Nel, what’s wrong?”
“I can’t believe I’m saying this, but we’ve been shut down.”
“Shut down?” I laugh disbelievingly. “What do you mean shut down?”
“Aspire. We’re being sued for racial discrimination.”
CHAPTER 45
MAVERICK
You’re gonna want to see this.”
Bolt wrongly assumes that I want to see anything after the day of marathon meetings I’ve just finished. And it’s day one of a two-week trip in Tokyo. A company here is developing some incredibly cool technology for the health-care system. I’m specifically interested in how it might be applied to improve maternal mortality. LaTanya heard about it first and urged me to investigate further. The US needs all the help it can get with that, especially in marginalized communities.
I lean back, dropping my head to the couch and stretching my arms out, glad to finally be back in my hotel suite.
“Unless it’s about my daughter, my dad, or Hendrix,” I say with a yawn, “it can wait.”
“Yeah.” Bolt glances up, his eyes somber. “Like I said, you’re gonna want to see it.”
“What’s up?” I sit forward, my body already tensing.
“The Aspire Fund is being sued.”
“The fuck did you just say?” I snatch his phone and read the headline plastered across the screen. Court Blocks Atlanta-Based Venture Capital Grants to Black Businesswomen.
I blink at the screen, certain I can’t be reading this bullshit right, but the more I read, the more my blood boils. An Atlanta circuit court has issued a temporary injunction on all Aspire Fund’s grants, claiming racial discrimination.
“This group, Citizens for Equality, is claiming Aspire violates the Civil Rights Act of 1866.” I clench my teeth and keep reading. “They’re targeting the small grants Aspire issues. It’s not the venture capital investments. And these grants aren’t even that large in the grand scheme of things, but it could make a huge difference to a small business just getting started.”
“So why target such a small fund like Aspire?” Bolt asks.
“It’s not about the money or the size of the fund. It’s a broader agenda.” I check the time on my phone. “It’s like seven o’clock in the morning there. I’m gonna call Hendrix.”