Emani’s tone was soft and just what he needed to shake off the first part of his worry. “I’ll make arrangements. What else do you need?”
Jahlil pulled his eyes open to find Emani’s concerned orbs staring at him through the screen. He nipped the corner of his lip and swayed his head. “I don’t like being lonely, Rose.”
“None of us do,” she replied, moving out of the JoyRide she was in. “Let me call you right back.”
Abruptly, she hung up, only causing him more frustration than he was experiencing. A low growl of irritation buzzed through his body as he attempted to call back only to be sent to her voicemail.
He expected her to be on the way to the studio. When they spoke before the game, he told her that driving back and forth late at night wasn’t sitting right with him. So for the week and half he was away, he’d book platinum JoyRides to take her to and from the studio. What he wasn’t expecting was the tap of knuckles against the door.
“About time they showed up,” Jahlil huffed, standing to his feet and dragging them to the door. Upon opening it, he held his hand out for his JoyEats delivery, only getting a soft hand and a giggle in return. He looked, finding Emani in one of his branded jogger sets, sneakers, skully pulled over her curly hair and sunglasses on her face. The wide smile said it all.
“Emani Rose,” he grumbled, letting his agitation fall off of him.
“Oh that face is getting red… you were maadddd,” she dragged out playfully as he pulled her inside the room and engulfed her in an embrace that lifted her off of her feet. Her laughter was muffled. “Amazing that Sanaa looks just like you when she gets mad. Skin all red, mouth balled up, eyes narrow like she’s trying to shoot daggers at me.”
She wrapped her legs around his waist and her arms his neck. Jahlil placed a series of kisses on her lips, muttering between each peck. “Babygirl not mad at you.”
“Oh, she’s heated. Would you like to hear the voice notes she left me while I was on the flight?” Emani asked.
“Actually yea,” Jahlil stated, placing her on the nearby countertop.
Emani fished out her phone and played the messages in order.
“EMANI ROSE WACK ASS LAST NAME SAVAGE. I cannot believe you left me here with Drewy. You’re a muffin eating ninja shark!” Sanaa’s voice a mixture of muffled and clear because of her phone placement. “My daddy isn’t all that cute to be running to him like that. Did you know that he’s a hating ass nigga?!”
Jahlil snorted in laughter.
“Oh the last one is the best one because by then she realized that I wasn’t going to be back by the time she woke up,” Emani said, hitting the final message.
“I hope when you and daddy start moving that bed that you pull a knee cap. And you have to crawl to the game. Come back and get me, nigga lady! Right now!”
“Did she?” Jahlil started but later sniped his words.
“Call me a nigga lady? She sure did. You should have seen the way she looked at me when I got in the car. It broke my heart, I wanted to run back in and take her with me. I’m pretty sure she called me a weak muhfucka before I pulled off. According to Aunt Vi, she cussed in the corner for thirty minutes. I’m sure Andrew recorded it.”
“I apologize that my child is a cusser at such a young age,” Jahlil shared, still laughing.
“Oh, by the spring, she won’t be cussing anymore. Don’t worry about that. How are you? I don’t like the way you sounded before the game. And after watching you play…you got to tell me what this is,” Emani changed the subject to the reason she caught a red eye to Waynesville in the first place.
Jahlil gritted his jaw and then dropped his head to hers. “I miss her, E. I fuckin’ miss her.”
The her in reference was his mother.
She rubbed his back and offered him the safety he needed to grieve. He hadn’t been able to fully do it. Grief was tricky that way. You could walk around for a decade and a half and then a scent, a phrase, or a place could tear open the seams.
“I was good. I knew what today was. I knew it was going to be me against me. And then a reporter asked me about what I did to celebrate her today and I-” He pulled in a deep, shaky breath. “I realized for the last seven years I barely honored the woman who brought me into this world. I don’t know if it was my ego of thinkin’ I had my shit together or if it was the fact that I’d gotten myself in some shit I was trying to figure out…or if.”
“If it’d been so dark for so long that your mind couldn’t even process the fact that you miss her. And that’s okay. But you’re awake now. And you’re here and I know she’s proud of you. For not just all that you’ve done, but for loving her baby like he was yours. Even though her mind wouldn’t allow her to be the mother she wanted, she always had you. And as heavy as that calling is, you’ve done in a way that is so beautiful.” Emani reached up and wiped his face. “You’re beautiful and I’ll say it for her. I’m proud of you. I love you. And I thank God that he gave me you to do what I couldn’t.”
He nodded, allowing himself to shed the frustration through his tears. “Tha-”
“Nope. Don’t. I got you. When it’s heavy, I’ll be right here. Tell me how you want to honor her before the day is over.”
Jahlil wryly laughed. “She used to always want to go get Ray’s after a game. Win or lose. We’d go in and Ray would just smile, shake his head and point to a booth. Before she started self-medicating, that was a highlight.”
“Well, we’re in Waynesville. We don’t have Ray’s but we do have Big Rod’s and one call to Trae Way and the path is clear.”
“Oh damn, I almost forgot my lady got real plugs and connections,” he chuckled after kissing her forehead.
