I did a big brother thing for my little sister. I made one of her little wishes come true.
My heart feels good as I drive to the Vipers’ main office downtown.
Drummond’s still mentoring me, even after two years. I appreciate it, though. He’s helped me in more ways than I ever imagined, so I’m going to make it to every meeting we have.
“How’s the off-season treating you?” he asks after we greet each other.
“Not so bad. I’ve been hanging out with my little sister. I just took her to The Sapphire. Thank you for getting us a table.”
“No problem, man. Dru is good about having one table saved just in case. How is your sister doing? What’s it like being a big brother all of a sudden?”
“She’s cool, man. She’s sixteen, she’s sassy, and she’s super smart. Like, I feel like I could learn from her. Maybe she can learn from me.”
“That’s how it is with girls,” he says, shaking his head. “Science says they mature faster than us.”
“She’s sixteen, though, man. That’s ridiculous.”
“I don’t make up science. I just read it.”
“Anything else you got going on?”
I shake my head. “No, nothing that matters.”
I’m not about to spill my guts to him. If it’s not about basketball, we don’t need to talk about it.
“Porsche tells me you’ve been putting some pressure on Lily lately.”
“Putting pressure on her?” I ask.
“No,” he says, shaking his head. “I’m getting old. Applying pressure. That’s what y’all say now, right?”
I laugh and shake my head. “Something like that.”
“So you’re going back down that road, huh?”
“Yeah,” I admit.
“Porsche doesn’t think it’s a good idea.”
I nod. “That’s fair.”
She’s good at reading bullshit.
“So what’s new now?” he asks.
“I’m showing up.”
“Just don’t do it too much in the wrong place and let it cost you where it counts.”
I nod. I get what he’s saying.I don’t know exactly what I’m doing just yet. But I’m not going to do it the same way as before.
Chapter 8 Lily
I have successfully completed ten mediations this week. Everyone walked out with a smile on their face.
Maybe I should be a therapist instead of working in HR. I don’t think the money is quite the same, and I also don’t like having to solve other people’s problems.
People bring their stress to me and add stress to me.
