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“Shit! That’s what’s up! The concert is Friday. I hope you can fall through.”
I didn’t understand why Noah wanted me at the concert so bad. I slightly rolled my eyes and slowly shook my head. “Why? What’s up?”
“I have something planned. Don’t worry about what. You’ll see when you get there.”
I wasn’t even excited. Surprises never usually worked out in my favor. It had been a week since I missed the concert in Houston, and I was chilling at his house for his baby girl’s first birthday party. She was a beautiful little, brown-skinned princess that they’d named Brooklyn. She looked just like Noah and his oldest daughter, Noelle.
He set her on my lap, and she quickly slid off to follow him. “Da-Da!”
“Brook, I need you to stay with Uncle Nate, baby.”
I picked her up as I shook my head. The doorbell rang, so he left to answer it. The past week had been uneventful. I had spent a lot of time in the gym, and as Noah suggested, I had been praying a lot and reading devotionals. I was trying to be at peace within, but it was hard as hell. I’d reached out to my mama and told her that I missed her. Her absence in my life was killing me slowly. It had always been me and her.
She’d responded that she missed me too and that she loved me. That was the highlight of my week. Maybe she would eventually come around, and we could talk yet again. Noah returned with TAZ’s sister, Kenya. I set Brooklyn on her feet and stood from my seat as she smiled and said, “There’s my favorite basketball player!”
I smiled back as I leaned over to hug her. I was probably a foot and a half taller than her. I got that shit often though. Being that I was six feet ten inches, I knew I would never find a woman my height. I could probably get close if I ventured to the WNBA games. “What’s up, Kenya?”
“Not too much. Good game last night.”
“We lost.”
“What that got to do with your individual performance?”
“I don’t even look at my stats when we lose. My contribution meant nothing if the team failed to convert it to a win.”
She released me and gave me a smile. “Well, you had eighteen points, four assists, and a block. I love a team player. Never lose sight of that.”
She winked at me. When she walked away, I couldn’t help but scan her figure as I sat. I always thought she was a beautiful woman… since my first time meeting her. Her ass was off-limits too, though. She had a man that I was sure would be here later. When I asked Noah about her a couple of months ago, he informed me of her relationship status. I had yet to meet her man, but I could count on one hand how many times I’d even been around her.
Most times I saw Noah, we were in a city away from where she would be. She lived in Chicago, but Noah and TAZ lived in Baltimore. The first time I met her was here in Baltimore. She was here visiting TAZ for a couple of days. Then I saw her again at a concert in Los Angeles. Both times, she looked amazing, but I couldn’t fully focus on that shit, because I was stuck up Jessica’s ass.
“I saw that.”
I glanced over at Noah. “Saw what?”
He twisted his lips to the side as the doorbell rang again. “You can act like you don’t know what I’m talking about if you want to.”
He walked away as I rolled my eyes. He paid attention too damn much. Just because I was admiring her didn’t mean I was going to break up her happy home. I refused to be a homewrecker. That was why I blocked Jessica’s country hood ass. When he came back and he had my mama in tow, I stood, the shock evident on my face, I was sure.
My eyes had widened significantly. She walked over to me and immediately hugged me tightly as Noah smiled. “Ma… how did you know I was here? I mean, what are you doing here?”
She pulled away, put her hand to my cheek, and said, “Hey, baby. I’m so sorry. Let’s talk. I don’t want this to be an ongoing issue. It has gone on long enough. Noah reached out, and I nearly crumbled when he started praying for me.”
“Nate, y’all go to the studio so you can have privacy. You know the access code.”
I nodded as I heard his brother’s voice boom throughout the house. RJ’s deep voice could have had all the pictures falling off the walls. I grabbed my mama’s hand and led her down the long hallway. I glanced back at her, feeling whole again, and we hadn’t even talked yet. She smiled and squeezed my hand.
After entering the code and opening the door, she walked in and sat on the couch. I sat next to her and grabbed her hand again. I was literally in shock. While I was optimistic about us eventually repairing our relationship, I didn’t expect her to show up here.
“I knew this was the last place you would expect me to show up. I wanted to surprise you. Noah is a good man, and he helped me to realize how I was tearing down the good man I’d raised because of my pride. You deserve the whole truth, no matter how embarrassing it is.”
“You have nothing to be embarrassed about. You aren’t the same woman you were back then, over thirty years ago. Nor are you the same woman you were months ago. I don’t hold grudges. You know that.”
I could be angry for a while, but after a sufficient amount of time had passed, my body naturally cleansed itself of whatever I was harboring. I loved my mama, and not having a relationship with her anymore had me dying inside. I was happy that she took the initiative to make this right.
She nodded and gently pulled her hand away from mine. “I’m just gonna start from the beginning. David and I went to high school together, so we were familiar. He wasn’t just a stranger I met. However, James was a stranger.”
Who in the fuck is James?
