“Orange juice is good. Thank you.”
Once Hymn was seated, we said grace, and I was free to dig in. It wasn’t until he started cooking that I realized how long it had been since I’d eaten. The plan was to get off work and go eat, but I clearly got sidetracked. Staring at the plate of scrambled eggs, fried smoke sausage, grits, and a biscuit, I decided to scoop up a forkful of eggs, take a bite of sausage, then bite the biscuit.
“Um,” I moaned. I mean, sausage, eggs, and a biscuit were pretty basic foods. Being able to prepare them didn’t make a person a culinary chef, but it was good, and that was that.
“You like?” he chuckled.
“I like.”
I didn’t have to rush home to the girls, but Hymn had a home game that he needed to prepare for. I wished him luck, he pecked my lips, and I walked out to my car with a smile on my face. Take away the heartbreak, and my life was actually pretty good. I was making money from two different streams of income, and since London tagged me in a post, I’d been getting a lot more inquiries to do makeup. And now, I had a super fine, athlete giving me orgasms and making me blush. Two things I hadn’t had or felt in a minute.
It was only Corey and his antics that could wipe the smile off my face. Plus, the burden of not knowing how life would go once I left my parents’ house, and me and the girls were living alone.I had been a mother for five years. It wasn’t easy, but I was good at it, so I wasn’t sure why the mere thought of being on my own with the girls made my chest tight. When I was with Corey, he didn’t give me the most hands-on help, but he took care of the household and the girls financially. Only time would tell how easily I’d be able to handle things on my own, but I was up for the challenge. I really didn’t have any other choice.
CHAPTER 11
HYMN
I had a game in Atlanta,which we won by the skin of our teeth. Of course, we couldn’t win them all, and it wasn’t up to one person to carry the team, but Isaac still didn’t have his head in the game. He fumbled one too many times, and that almost snatched the win from us. I didn’t even want to ask what was going on with him and London. After the game, I linked with my sister for food, and I was going to her crib to visit our mother afterward.
“I thought I would see Huncho at the game,” she bit into a wing. “He probably knew if I saw him, I might have a few words for him.”
“Why?”
“He still hasn’t been by to see his mother. He’s right here in the city, so what’s the excuse?”
“Probably the same ones she had when she was right in the city with him and never went to visit,” I sipped my water.
“He’s addicted to heroin?” she inquired sarcastically.
“He’s not at the point where he’s ready to forgive her like we did. You gotta give him some grace, Divine.”
“I know,” she rolled her eyes while picking up a fry. “The doctor said he’s not refilling anymore of her narcotic painmedication. From here on out, it’s only Ibuprofen for the pain. This is where it’s about to get real.”
“She doesn’t have any choice but to get through it because she can’t get around on her own. If she calls anyone to come to your house and bring her anything, you know I’m sending her ass packing, right?”
“I know. I start class next week, and I’m sure she’s going to show her ass. I thought about switching to a later date, but I’m going to start as planned.”
“Class for what?”
“I want to get my real estate license. And once you stop playing ball, I think you should too. I’ve always heard that in real estate it’s not what you know but who you know, and you have some awesome connections. Honestly, you wouldn’t even have to work hard. Two or three luxury listings a year will put more money in your pocket than some people see in five years.”
My head bobbed as I thought about what she said. I didn’t put in all the work I did on the football field to retire andhaveto work. But even if gave the league another five years, I’d still be young when I retired. I wasn’t sure not having anything to do would be something that I enjoyed day in and day out. I never had an issue with making money, and making easy money was even better. I was good for the rest of my life and if I ever had kids, they would be good too. I could do better than that though. I could leave the world with enough generational wealth to make sure my great-great-great grandkids were rich.
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
“You can take it a step further and have your own firm. Hire agents that already have good connections that just need to work under a broker in charge and even when you’re not actively selling houses, you can get a small percentage of your agents’ commissions when they get sales.”
A smile danced on my lips because I was just that proud of Divine. “Look at you. Always thinking of ways to make both of us some money. I can dig it.”
She beamed because what I said was true. Divine went above and beyond to do her own thing and not just lean on me and for that, I would give her the world even when she didn’t want to accept it. “And once you get that off the ground and running, we can get you married, and your wife can start pushing out babies.”
“Excuse me?” I raised my eyebrows as far as they’d go.
“Come on, bro. You’ve done your thing on the field. You’ve reached about every goal that you have yourself in your career and your personal life. Once you retire what are you going to do? Keep having sex with random women with no commitment?”
I stared at my sister blankly. The longer the silence stretched, the more she narrowed her eyes at me. Finally, she balled up a napkin and threw it at me making me chuckle. Divine was gorgeous. My mother’s twin. Even with their differences, the similarities overpowered any inconsistency. Our mother had light skin while Divine’s was a rich brown. Our mother had thick course hair, and Divine had thick coils. They both stood 5’5 and had the heart of a man that stood ten feet tall.
“You act like I’m out here dodging women and relationships. I’m just not actively looking. If I run across something that make me consider commitment and kids, that’s what it is.”
