“I’m sorry, but how do y’all know each other?” Journei asked as she walked over.
“Girl, Chris is our cousin. Hell, more like brotha. We haven’t seen him since we were kids. Question is, how do you know him?” Emilia countered.
“He’s the one that got me knocked up,” she answered rubbing her belly with a smile on her face.
“Cousins, we have a lot to catch up on. We can go have lunch and talk once this is over,” I spoke.
Their eyes were unsure, but they gave nods agreeing. It was confusing to anybody that knew Journei. She was a married lesbian woman before me, so to be pregnant and have a man on her arm threw flags.
It took a lil’ over an hour for the run-through to get done. She needed her staff to be able to work the tables, know where items were, and how to work the tablets. Her workers had specific titles and didn’t change from it.
As loose ends were taken care of, a call from Jourdell came through. I stepped outside to take it. “It’s Gills,” I answered.
“Hey there, Pastor. I just wanted to send another thank you for saving an old man. I am forever in your debt.”
“You’ve thanked me enough. No need to keep callin’, Jourdell.”
“There’s somethin’ else I wanted to talk with you about. Is it any way you can stop by to talk? I just need twenty minutes of your time.”
I wanted to decline, but instead, I said, “Shoot me your location, and I’ll stop by sometime between today and tomorrow.”
We disconnected the call after he said he would do so. If I had to take a guess on the conversation, the topic was goin’ to be mama. He wanted a relationship, and she didn’t. Journei wasn’t up for none of Jourdell’s shenanigans.
Journei walked out shortly after with the twins behind her. They had developed a business relationship already, and now it was time to get personal.
Everyone agreed on eatin’ seafood, so we decided to grub at a lil’ spot called Fish in a Shell. It was nice and spacious, so we were able to sit comfortably. There were a lot of people in the establishment, but no one had to raise their voice to be heard.
“I don’t want to be in your business, Journei, but I thought you were married… to a woman. Please explain to me how you’re on my cousin’s arm and not your wife,” Emilia said.
Journei looked at me, and I waited like everyone else for an answer. I knew why she was by my side, but I wanted to see if she would own her truth.
“Well, on my birthday, my wife decided cheatin’ on me would be a better gift than givin’ me my own business. Her icing on my cake was sleepin’ with her boss’s daughter durin’ our entire marriage. As far as bein’ with Christian, he put a spell on me.”
I laughed at her response. How she felt about me was how I felt about her. She had me out here goin’ against what I believed in with ease.
“Cousin, I see you found her words amusin’. Do you care to explain?” Nina questioned.
“It was a spell for sure, but it was her castin’. I was pulled to her without even knowin’ her name, and once I learned that I couldn’t get her out my head. Things happened, and now we’re here.” I used lil’ to no details to explain. Our business was our business until Journei wanted to share.
Emilia nodded and started eatin’. “I’ll accept it for now because it seems like y’all are still figurin’ each other out; however, I will ask again.”
There was a light chuckle that was let out by everyone at the table from her response. I knew my family, and they were goin’ to question us until our answer satiated them. Lucky for them, we had enough time to do that. Journei wasn’t leaving me no time soon.
&
As a man that loved his woman, I didn’t want to give him an ounce of my time. Journei crying from her memories and steppin’ foot under the same roof as her abuser wasn’t sitting right with me.
I came through on my words that I spoke to Jourdell and stopped by his place the next morning. I didn’t tell Journei where I was goin’ due to how she tensed up with fear washing over her whenever he was mentioned. I didn’t need her stressin’ my son out.
Gettin’ out of my Tesla, I went and knocked on the door to a duplex apartment. I didn’t expect for him to have much coming straight from prison to a world that passed him by for thirteen years.
I opened the screen door and gave a light tap. Shuffling noises came from behind the door as well as grunts. His burns were more severe than the ones bestowed upon me. Since leaving the hospital, I hadn’t laid eyes on him.
“Who is it?”
“Pastor Gills. Open up.”
It took Jourdell a while to get his door open, but I was eventually let in. I walked in and was surprised to see a fully furnished space. The outside wasn’t hittin’ on too much of nothin’, but the inside was decked.
