Page 45 of Your One

“Hello?”

“Hey, Ma. I hate you had to leave. We were going to go celebrate the win.”

“I know, but I had to get back.”

It was a three-and-a-half-hour drive from Dallas to Houston. She probably wouldn’t get home until one in the morning. “I understand. Listen. Thank you for accepting Kenya as my woman. I’m falling for her. I feel so strongly for her already. Nothing anyone could say would cause me to let her go. Unless she becomes a trifling individual, I’m gon’ ride for her until I die. She means that much to me already.”

“I realized that. She didn’t go off on me like she could have, but it was something she said that had me reevaluating my actions and what could be the result of them. She said her position in your life was secure, but mine may not be. Just like you stopped talking to me when it came to your dad, I knew you would stop talking to me when it came to her. She’s a good woman, son.”

“I know she is. That’s why I was willing to ride for her at all costs. That’s my baby, Mama. That’s the woman I want to build with. She brings me joy, peace, and love. We haven’t declared our love for each other, but I can feel that shit whenever I gaze into her eyes. Somebody once said that the eyes were windows to the soul. I found that to be true. It would have killed me to sever our relationship again, but I would have done it without hesitation when it came to that beautiful angel.”

“I know. I don’t want to lose you just because I can’t let go to let you live your life. You’re my all, and I was being selfish, not wanting anyone else to find out how great you are. To hell with basketball. I mean how great of a man you’ve become. You represent all my best qualities. Your dad’s too. I made so many mistakes concerning you, baby. I’m grateful that you haven’t grown to resent or hate me.”

“You mean the world to me and always will. It doesn’t matter who else is in my life. You will always be my mama. There will always be a place for you, Ma. I love you.”

“I love you too. Enjoy your time with Kenya, and I’ll talk to you soon.”

We were in Baltimore, getting ready for TAZ’s surprise birthday party. I was sure deep down that she knew what was going on. She and Noah had such a tight spiritual connection, there was no way he was flying under the radar with this.

It had been two weeks, and Kenya had become a frequent flyer. She was with me whenever she wasn’t in the studio. She was hopping flights at least twice a week. She’d had to record background vocals for Tank and practice with the other background singers for the show with Ledisi in two weeks. Plus, she would soon start recording forThe Masked Singer.I was so excited for her. She was really doing her thing without living under TAZ’s shadow.

We were in round one of the playoffs, and we were leading the series, two to one. We would be playing game four in Washington D.C. tomorrow. We’d won both of our home games, and they’d clinched a game at their arena last night. If we could just win our home games, we would win the series, but our goal was to steal the game tomorrow night and end this round early.

Kenya was moving around quite a bit, trying to get things prepared while TAZ stayed here with Brooklyn, Noah, and me. She told TAZ she had a few errands to run and had a session she needed to get to the studio for. When TAZ asked why she couldn’t use Noah’s studio, she told her someone else had booked the time at another studio. That story seemed to suffice.

As I sat, relaxing, the doorbell rang. I assumed it was RJ, because that nigga was always popping up. It was like Noah’s home was his second home. As I heard Noah making his way to the door, I texted my baby.Damn, girl, I miss you already.

We’d been together for the past couple of days. She met me in D.C. day before yesterday. When I wasn’t on the court, I was in her sanctuary. That woman gave me love, and in the total of a month’s time of officially being her man, I was in love with her. The past two weeks had been phenomenal. Seeing how much I meant to her to where she was traveling all over the place to be with me was the icing on the moist ass cake.

Whoever was at the door definitely wasn’t RJ. I would have heard him by now. I glanced back and saw Noah heading my way with an older gentleman. Out of respect, I stood from my seat as he stared up at me. The tears in his eyes caught me off guard. I frowned slightly, trying to figure out what was going on.

The tears fell down his cheeks as he said, “Hello, Nate. I’m your grandfather, Harold Guillory.”

My eyes widened, and I grabbed his extended hand. He pulled me to him as I stood there in shock. I glanced at Noah to see the smile on his face. My grandfather wrapped his arms around me. “My God. You look just like your father.”

I could feel my face heating up as I hugged the old man back. The tears were making their way to my eyes, but I fought to keep them from falling. Noah had gotten my grandfather to meet me here since we could never sync our schedules to go to Houston. Once he released me, he pulled away, and we sat. He wiped his face and said, “My wife would have been so happy to meet you. David would have loved you just as much as he loved Noah.”

“Or more,” Noah added.

I couldn’t form words just yet. Had that nigga told me, I would have been better prepared. My grandfather was tall, just like me. I was maybe a couple of inches taller than him. We had the same medium brown complexion and the same thick lips. Looking at him, I could see so much of myself. “It’s nice to meet you,” I finally got out.

He nodded and smiled. “I uhh… I didn’t know I would be meeting you today, so I’m in shock a lil bit. You’re the first person, besides Noah, I’m meeting that had a connection to my dad. In a way, I feel like I’m meeting him through you. So thank you for coming.”

He closed his eyes briefly and nodded. “When Noah called me and asked me to come for the party, there was no way I would have turned him down. Although we don’t get to see each other often, he will always be my grandson. When he said you would be here and had expressed an interest in meeting me, it made my heart swell. I gave your mother a hard time years ago. I couldn’t understand why she waited until David died to say something. Once I got past myself and how I felt about you, she’d distanced herself, and I didn’t know how to contact her.”

I nodded. “I felt a way about that too. Although I was a kid, I couldn’t understand why she kept me from him. I think she was hurt that David didn’t want to be with her. While it’s not a legitimate reason, I believe that was what it was.”

“None of that matters at this point. What matters is that we are here now, getting to know one another. Goodness… you remind me so much of David. You look like him, and your voice even sounds like his. You’re a lot more mature than he was at your age though.” He chuckled. “You’re thirty-two, right?”

“Yes, sir. I’ll be thirty-three in September.”

“I saw you changed your last name to Guillory. I’m happy that you were accepting of the truth and wanted to be a part of his legacy.”

“It wasn’t like he denied me. He didn’t know. I sought out Noah to find out as much about him as possible. I know I’m about to find out even more now.”

“Yep. We’ll exchange phone numbers, and whenever you come home to Houston, you are more than welcome to come to the house and look at pictures and stuff. I’ll make a court-bouillon,” he said as he glanced at Noah.

“I’m coming too then!” Noah added.

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