He stepped completely into the room. “My bad for interrupting. My name is Darius. I’m a fan, Solomon,” he said before he extended his hand out to me to shake. “You whupped that last nigga’s ass.”
Ah, okay. A fan.You could never be sure why a person approached you when you were a professional athlete. “Thanks, man.”
His attention turned to my baby. “And you’re his girl, Gorjess, right?” he asked her. It seemed like more confirmation than a question of ignorance.
My baby gave him a big celebrity smile. She’d been getting noticed more and more daily because of her connection to me. “Yes, that’s me.”
“Oh, I have a sister named Gorjess. Yours is probably spelled different though. Hers is spelled G-o-r-j-e-s-s,” he said.
Jess’s smile fell a little. “Oh, that’s so cool. That’s how you spell my name too. I never thought that I’d see the day that I meet someone with my name and it was spelled the same way.”
She thought it was cool, but for some reason, I thought it was weird. Dude shifted on his feet. “Yeah, I’ve never met my sister. Some crazy shit happened when she was a baby. I just thought it was cool when I heard the announcer at the fight say your name was Gorjess. I watched it on television. My sis name is Gorjess Irene Bulb.
The fuck!
Who Are You?. . .
I couldn’t find one con when it came to being Solomon’s person as he called me. My daddy always told me that whoever came into my life as a friend or romantic partner should add to me, not complete me. That was how I felt when it came to Solomon. He added so much to my life. Just the thought of him made my spirit glow, my heart smile, and my soul rejoice in the glory of God for the creation of something so perfect.
My connection to him had increased the footprint of my business as well. The magazine article that we interviewed and had a photo shoot for was published late last month. As it was contracted, they did a complete spread on my business. I had a waitlist of clients who wanted to use my services. Solomonwanted me to hire a second groomer and mobile unit. I wasn’t sure if my business was prepared for that overhead just yet. Yes, I appreciated the new business, but I still had to be smart with my moves.
One of the biggest things that was added to my life that I didn’t realize I needed was family. When I moved to Charlotte, I found a family in Elica. When I met Solomon’s family, it was like I gained aunties, uncles, cousins, another father, sister, brother, and a mother that liked me. Since we met, Elica, Cadence, Michelle, Tsia, and I had been attached at the hip when we weren’t at work or with our men folk. All of us together were fools. I hated it for anyone that made it a problem.
Wait . . . I said that there were no cons with my connection to Solomon. I lied. I had finally figured one out, and it was working out with him. I would never make that mistake again. Now we were in this gym with this stranger who claimed to have a sister with the same exact name as me. I was so confused.
“Um, I’m not sure what to say. That’s my name, but I don’t have any brothers. I only have one sister,” I told him.
Solomon, who stood beside me, took a small step forward in front of me. He didn’t completely cover me, but it was in a protective nature. The guy who said his name was Darius noticed and put his hands up. “Yo, I just said that she was my sister. I’m not going to hurt my sister.”
“You have me confused for someone else. I’m not your sister. Like I said, I don’t have any brothers,” I urged.
He nodded before he pulled out his phone. I wasn’t sure what he was doing. When he lifted the phone face level, I concluded that he video called someone. A deep voice came through the speaker of the phone.“What’s good, Son?”
“Hey, Pops. Um, I’m at the gym. You’ll never guess who I ran into. I’m going to turn the phone around,” he told him.
When he turned the phone around, it was an older darker-skinned man. He had a gray beard and a low haircut. He was attractive. Neither of us said anything as we examined each other, then his eyes widened with recognition. A single tear dropped from one of his eyes.“Gorjess . . . Gorjess? Is that you, baby girl? Oh, my God!”
There were so many conflicted feelings that swarmed around in my body right now. My hands gripped the back of Sol’s shirt. “I’m sorry, sir, I don’t know you.”
“I know you don’t, baby girl. I know. You haven’t seen me since you were three months old when your mama, Athena, took you for the weekend and never brought you back.”His eyes tightened and got closer to the screen.“Is that a butterfly necklace? You still have it. I gave that to you with a matching bracelet when you were born.”
I was stuck. Did he just say that Athena was my mother?That can’t be right.“No, Athena is my sister. My parents are Brenda and James Bulb.”
The man on the other end, who had yet to tell me his name, just smiled.“Baby girl, I’m not here to upset you. I want you to go home. Ask BB and Athena who Travis is. Young man, please get my phone number from my son. Gorjess, when you are ready to talk, I will be here. Can you do that?”
I nodded. “Yes, I can do that. I will ask them, but I don’t want you to be disappointed.”
He smiled again.“Like I said, when you’re ready, I will be here. You are so beautiful. I can’t stand her for what she did, but you look just like your mother.” He snickered.“Darius, make sure you give Solomon my number.”
I tittered quietly at the fact that he knew who Solomon was without being told. I found it interesting that he also knew my mother’s nickname was BB as well. Darius and who I assumed was Travis exchanged a few more words before the line was disconnected. I was in a daze, but I knew that Solomon and Darius exchanged contacts.
The next thing I felt was the hug that Sol engulfed me into. He repeatedly kissed the side of my face. His hand rubbed my back.
“Sol, what am I supposed to do? I’m so confused. None of this makes sense,” I admitted.
His eyes were sympathetic as he gazed at me. “I love you. We can do whatever you want to do. Knowing what I’d been through in my past, you need to see this through. God is funny. It’s like he knew to connect us at the right time so that I could be your support.”
“I love you too. Thank you for being there for me.” My shoulders lifted with my loud sigh. “I guess it’s time to visit my lovely family.”
