I wiggled into her arms. I wasn’t sure how the lady always knew exactly what I needed, but I was thankful. I was thankful for her love, for her care, and for the fact that I’d finally told my family what was going on with me. I thought not telling them was best while I tried to deal with and process it. In actuality, it just delayed me having their support.
I drifted back off during my prayer. It was the one where I asked God if He ever gave me the opportunity to become a mom, that I would be one just like Kimberly Upton.
The next day, Christian decided to treat the ladies to a spa day. For some odd reason, we let Zyah arrange it. We shouldn’t havebeen surprised when the first activity of the day was a yoni steaming.
“First of all,” our mother stated, looking at the seat with an up-turned nose, “is this sanitary? How many yonis do you think have sat on here? I don’t want to leave here with an infection.”
Even though I knew she was serious, I couldn’t stop laughing. Apparently, my laugh was contagious, because neither Zyah nor Genesis could hold it together.
“Mom,” Zyah said through her giggles, “they change the seat covering after every client.”
Kimberly Upton didn’t look convinced. “And what is the purpose of this again?”
“It’s an herbal steam, Mom. The herbs are supposed to have healing benefits. Like stress relief and detoxifying the womb. Some studies say that it increases fertility.”
That was all Kimberly needed to hear before situating herself on the chair.
I pulled out my tablet and sighed. “So, I’ve been researching potential sperm donors… just in case I have to go that route.”
“Are the pickings slim?” Genesis questioned. “I know that one famous lesbian couple said that the black men pickings were so slim, that they went with a white donor.”
“You know you can always have some of Amari’s sperm. I’ve told you that before,” Zyah offered for the umpteenth time. “I mean, we don’t want kids right now. He’s not using it.”
“Stop offering me your husband’s sperm. That would be kinda weird, no? My kids would be his kids and his nieces or nephews? Then, if you two have kids, they would be their siblings and their cousins.”
“Well, Genesis, you have two brothers. You think either of them would be willing to take one for the team?”
Genesis seemed to contemplate.
“Don’t feed into her foolishness, Genesis.” I turned to Zyah. “Stop offering up people’s sperm without their knowledge and/or permission.”
“I’m trying to help you,” she insisted.
“Whatever.” I waved her off. “Here are the choices that this agency has to offer.” I handed my tablet to Genesis, who was seated next to me.
She silently swiped through the offerings before handing the tablet to my mother. She turned to me. “Boo, I’mma talk to my brothers for you.”
Every year,before he had a family, my brother-in-law used to throw a “back to the season” get together. It was the fellas and it featured good food, pretty women, strong drinks, expensive cigars, and light conversation. Once my sister, Genesis, came into the picture, all of that dried right up. CJ became an instant family man. It was like, add water and stir. Something about Genesis changed and rearranged his priorities.
Now, instead of hosting a get-together for the fellas, CJ hosted a family vacation in the Caribbean. Each year, he rented a private jet and flew all of us—the Uptons (his family) and the Coles (our family) to the island of Iredia. He and Genesis owned a large home there that sat directly on the beach. It was a little slice of paradise. I loved going there and I waseven more thankful for the opportunity to get away now that my relationship with Adriana had fallen apart. It was like being in another world—one where pressure, stress, break ups and heartache didn’t exist.
It was early morning by the time I awoke. Jetlag had whupped my ass and I crashed shortly after arriving. I barely even settled in the guest room that was mine for the next few days before going down for the count. I rolled over in bed a couple of times, trying to see if I could recapture sleep, because I was still tired. When that didn’t work, I turned over on my back and stared at the ceiling. The thoughts running through my mind weren’t deep or disturbing, but that didn’t make them any less unwanted. I wanted my brain to be quiet. I didn’t want to think about anything, but apparently, my brain wasn’t with that. I got up, rummaged around in my oversized duffel bag, and found some clothes.
I brushed my teeth, washed my face, showered, and dressed. By the time I’d stepped securely into my Nike slides, my stomach growled loud as hell. I was definitely hungry. I’d fallen asleep before I was able to have dinner. CJ and Genesis hired a chef for the days we would be at the house, but I didn’t think there was any way he or she would be at the house cooking at this time of morning.
Ironically enough, Genesis was a professional chef. She was the owner of a company calledTop Flight Unlimitedthat offered both catering and private chef services. She was actually the preferred private chef for most of my teammates and a great number of professional athletes in the Chicagoland area. But there was no way that CJ would expect his wife to cook for the masses on what was essentially a vacation. Still, I needed to eat. I seriously considered shooting her a text. If she was awake, I knew she would get up and fix me something. She wouldn’t let her brother starve. I wasn’t that selfish though. Not enough thatI would pull her from sleep. She had three toddlers. I knew sleep was a hot commodity in the Upton household. Still, it was at the point where I was about to make my own turkey bacon and eggs sandwich. I was hungry as hell. I needed to put something in my stomach.
The kitchen wasn’t empty when I finally made my way down there.
“Good morning. Thought I was the only early bird,” I said.
I was relieved when I saw the big, beautiful bounty of fruit almost running over the top of the sterling silver bowl in the middle of the large kitchen island. As I moved closer to the fruit bowl, I also moved closer to Ryann, who sat at the island playing around on her phone.
She spoke without moving her gaze from the screen. “Hey. Good morning. Nah, you’re not the only early bird. I couldn’t sleep. My brain is in overdrive.”
I grabbed a juicy looking peach and took a large bite. “Word. I feel you on that, mama.” I slowly chewed the fruit, savoring its light sweetness.
“Oh…” She finally looked at me, her brown eyes so soft that I already knew she was going to say something about my break up. “Uhm, I meant to tell you that I was sorry about whatever happened between you and Adrianna. I liked you guys as a couple. I always thought she was a nice girl, even if the rumors say something else.”
