“You’re supposed to be at the gala.”
Marcus turned the video camera.
Andre’s smile disappeared.
“What happened?”
Caleb started crying.
Andre’s voice softened immediately.
“Hey, little man.”
“She cut it.”
Andre looked at Marcus.
Marcus shook his head.
Later.
Andre understood.
“Okay.”
He leaned closer to the screen.
“We can fix it.”
Caleb sniffed.
“Without cutting everything?”
Andre studied the uneven side.
“Maybe not everything.”
“I don’t want bald.”
“You’re not going bald.”
Marcus almost laughed.
Andre continued.
“We might need to even a little.”
Caleb’s face fell.
“But we do it your way.”
Andre held up a comb.
“And only if you tell me yes.”
Caleb looked at Marcus.
“You promise?”
Marcus nodded.
“Nothing else happens to your hair tonight unless you say so.”
“Can I wear a hat?”
“To the gala?”
“Yes.”
Marcus smiled.
“You can wear a dinosaur helmet if that’s what you want.”
Caleb almost smiled.
“Mom said tuxedos don’t go with hats.”
Marcus’s throat tightened.
Aisha.
She had said that at a wedding years ago when Caleb insisted on wearing a red baseball cap with a tiny suit.
“Your mother also wore sneakers under her wedding dress.”
Caleb’s eyes widened.
“She did?”
“She lied to everyone.”
“That’s cool.”
“It was expensive dishonesty.”
The boy finally laughed.
Only once.
Enough.
Marcus sent the driver to collect Andre.
Then sat with Caleb on the bathroom floor.
He did not clean the hair yet.
Something about sweeping it away felt wrong.
They waited.
Downstairs, doors opened.
Suitcase wheels crossed hardwood.
Vanessa did not come back upstairs.
Twenty minutes later Andre arrived carrying a barber case.
He looked at the floor.
Then Marcus.
His expression hardened.
“I’m going to ask later.”
“I know.”
He crouched beside Caleb.
“What do you want?”
Caleb looked at the mirror.
“My curls.”
“We cannot put these back.”
Andre’s honesty mattered.
Caleb’s face fell.
“But we can protect the rest.”
“How?”
“I even this side without touching the top.”
Caleb frowned.
“Show me.”
Andre used his own head and fingers to explain.
No clippers turned on.
No surprise.
Caleb eventually nodded.
“Okay.”
Andre asked again.
“You’re sure?”
“Yes.”
Only then did he work.
Slowly.
The damaged side became a low taper.
Most curls remained.
The result was asymmetrical but intentional.
Stylish, even.
Caleb stared at himself.
Marcus waited.
“Well?”
Caleb touched the top.
“I look cool.”
Andre smiled.
“You always looked cool.”
“Before too?”
“Especially before.”
Caleb nodded seriously.
Marcus paid Andre nothing because Andre refused.
“Buy the kid ice cream.”
“We have a gala.”
“I do not care.”
Marcus smiled.
Downstairs, Vanessa had left.
A note sat on the foyer table.