If You Come Softly by Jacqueline Woodson Page B

sighed. “I know. I mean, I know but I don’t know. I would have worn something different if I had—”
    “But I don’t want you different, Ellie. I want you as you. The Ellie from the hallway with her hair and books falling everywhere. The Ellie who smiled at me—a real smile not something painted on your face.”
    I looked at him, feeling myself start to smile a bit, and shook my head. “Is there anything else? Is your uncle like president or something?”
    Miah smiled. “Nah—not yet anyway.”
    I stood up. “Then let’s go get those soy burgers. I’m starting to freeze out here.”

Chapter 21
    “YO, MIAH! WAIT UP!”
    Miah turned and shook his head. “Figures.”
    Carlton ran up to them, his knapsack bouncing over his shoulder. “Tech beat Stuyvesant, man—one-ten to ninety-two. We squished them!” He held up his palm and Miah slapped it then watched Carlton’s eyes slide over to Ellie.
    “How do you do? I’m Carlton,” he said, bowing.
    Ellie smiled. “Ellie.”
    “The pleasure is mine, Ellie.”
    “Okay, Carlton. It was nice seeing you, hint, hint.” Miah took Ellie’s hand and started walking.
    “This is the nice young lady from that first day, isn’t it?” Carlton grinned. “The one whose books you knocked out of her arms. Did he apologize, Ellie?”
    Ellie laughed and Miah knew she liked Carlton. It made him feel good to see her laughing like that, to know his homeboy made her laugh.
    “He apologized a couple of times actually,” Ellie said.
    Carlton climbed the stairs of his brownstone slowly. “Good, that means I taught him right.”
    He gave Jeremiah a power sign and made his way into his building.
    “Well, that was Carlton,” Miah said. “And here’s one of my houses. Daddy lives right there.” He pointed across the street.
    Ellie turned and shook her head. “That’s so wild.”
    “I think he’ll move to L.A. though eventually. Probably not until I’m in college or something. But I think he’d rather be there.”
    They climbed the stairs slowly, Jeremiah walking a bit ahead of Ellie. The house was quiet and smelled of garlic and bread. “Think my moms bagged the soy burgers.”
    Ellie smiled. “This place is beautiful,” she whispered.
    “It’s not a museum,” Miah whispered back. “We don’t have to whisper. Ma!”
    His mother was sitting in the living room, a stack of paper and a pen on her lap. Miah bent to kiss her then introduced them.
    “Nice to meet you, Ellie,” his mother said, rising. He had not told his mother Ellie was white, and now his mother raised an eyebrow as she held out her hand.
    “Nice to meet you too,” Ellie whispered.
    “She got bit by the shy bug on the way in, Ma.” Miah grinned, kissing his mother on the cheek. “I told her I’d give her a tour to relax her a bit.”
    Nelia took Ellie’s hand and placed her other one over it. She held it a moment. Jeremiah smiled. He loved his mama-so, so much.
    “It’s good to have you here,” she said.
    “You working on something?” Miah pointed to the stack of paper beside her chair.
    “I hope so. This book has been knocking on my head for a couple of weeks. I’ve been resisting, but now I’m seeing what it’s got to say to me.” She turned back to Ellie. “That’s writer talk for‘Yes, I’m working on another book.’ ”
    Ellie smiled again and stared down at her loafers.
    “You didn’t tell me your mother was beautiful,” she whispered as they made their way upstairs.
    At the top of the staircase, Miah kissed her on the lips and smiled. “Nobody says that about their mother. Not to other people.”
    “She likes me. It wasn’t weird. I was afraid it was going to be wei—This place is amazing!”
    From the top of the stairs, they could look down into the living room and on past it into the family area. His mother had a fire going in the fireplace, and from the top of the stairs, the smell of wood burning mixed with the other smells in the house. They went from room to