Jalen was on his way to Lisa’s apartment for their seven o’clock dinner. He remembered to bring the bottle of red wine that he bought for their nightcap the previous night, and he stopped at the grocery store to buy some cheesecake to go with the wine. He tried to text her and let her know that he was on his way before he left the Jewel parking lot but got no response. He arrived at her spot a few minutes later and knocked on the door.
“Hey, Lisa, it’s Jalen,” he shouted to get her attention.
He didn’t smell any food cooking, and she didn’t respond to him knocking on the door. He then dialed her number.
“Hello,” she said wearily.
“Hey, Lisa, is everything okay?” he asked, sensing her pain.
“No, Jalen, it isn’t.”
“I’m outside…can I come in?”
“Okay.”
She took a moment to answer the door, and she had the look of someone who had been crying all day. Jalen quickly put the bottle of wine and cheesecake on the living room table, and she walked toward him and held him tightly before she buried her head in his chest and started sobbing.
“What’s wrong, baby?” he asked.
She let go of her embrace and answered, “This is the worst day of my life.”
“What happened?”
“I finally met my dad today, and that’s when things got really interesting,” she sat down on the sofa.
“Wow, you finally met him…I take it that things didn’t go so well, huh?” he asked, sitting down on the sofa next to her.
“Not at first, but he explained everything to me.”
“Getting the closure that you needed is a good thing, right?”
“Yes, he gave me his side of the story which cleared up a lot of unanswered questions that I had. He told me that he never wanted to leave my mom and me in the cold, but my mother didn’t want anything else to do with him once he made it clear that he wasn’t getting a divorce. She wouldn’t even accept his child support checks.”
He sighed and said, “I don’t understand, Lisa. It sounds like you two put aside your differences…”
“I don’t know how to tell you this…”
“Tell me what?”
A tear rolled down her face and she answered, “We had finally broken the ice, and he started showing me pictures of his family…the brothers and sisters I had longed to have, and that’s when I saw you…”
“What are you saying, Lisa?” he asked nervously.
“George Townsend is my father, and you’re my half-brother, Jalen.”
He looked her in the eyes and opened his mouth, but he couldn’t utter a single word. He rose from the sofa and walked toward the dining room, and she followed him and stood in front of him before she grabbed his hand.
“Say something, Jalen,” she urged him.
“I don’t know what to say,” he answered. “This doesn’t make any damn sense.”
“I know…I’m just as shocked as you are.”
“Stuff like this only happens in the movies, Lisa…I just can’t wrap my brain around this.”
“What are we going to do? I’ve developed deep feelings for you, Jalen.”
“I feel the same way about you, Lisa, but we both know that we can’t go any further with this. I can’t believe that my dad…our dad, never told us that he had another child.”
“I know, and I’m sorry.”
“It’s not your fault, Lisa.” He gently squeezed her hand and led her back to the sofa.
She sighed and said, “He told me that your mother had known about his affair with my mom, and that they had almost gotten a divorce because of it.”
“My mom knew?”
“I’m afraid so.”
“Unbelievable.”
He paused and asked, “What did he say when you told him about me and you?”
“I didn’t tell him…”
“Why not?”
“Because it’ll ruin any chance of us being brother and sister and me meeting my other siblings, Jalen. I don’t have any family outside of my mother, and my grandparents are deceased.”
“I already told John that I met a girl. What am I going to tell him now? That we broke up after two days?”
“I don’t know, but we’ll have to figure out something. I already told Nicole the same thing.”
“I just don’t understand why you want to let them off the hook, Lisa. This whole situation isn’t fair.”
“No, it isn’t fair, but we have to play the hand that we’re dealt. Look on the bright side…the Lord intervened and made sure that we didn’t have sex with each other.”
“But we kissed.”
“I know but imagine if we would’ve made love…there’s no turning back from that.”
“True, but how are we supposed to erase the fact that we kissed each other and suddenly become brother and sister like nothing ever happened, huh? I can’t turn my feelings for you off like that.”
“What choice do we have? Cut each other off?”
“No, that’s not an option.”
“Look, Jalen, we have to find a way to get passed this.”
“How do you suggest we do that?”
“By giving each other a little space, I guess.”
“So, you want us to keep our distance from each other for a while?”
“Yes, and when I’m ready, I’ll meet the rest of the family.”
“And I guess that confronting my parents is totally out of the question, right?”
“As far as I’m concerned, we haven’t met yet. I just think that it’s better this way, so promise me that you won’t say anything, okay?”
“Okay, I promise that I won’t say anything.”
“Come here,” she hugged him and kissed him on the cheek. “Everything’s going to be alright, Jalen, you’ll see. There’s a reason why we had an instant connection to each other…we have the exact same tastes in wine and cheesecake.”
“Yes, we do.”
She paused and asked, “What are my brothers and sisters like?”
“Well, Jerome is easy-breezy,” he answered. “He’s probably the only person I know who has never made an enemy in his life.”
“What about John?”
“John is my best friend, and like me, he’s a pretty good judge of character. You’d really like him.”
“And my sisters?”
“Jerrica is the smartest and most practical one of us, but she can be a little aloof at times. She’s a sweetheart, though, and once she warms up to you, you’ll never find a more loyal person than she is.”
“What about Jillian?”
“Jill is a different story, and let’s just say that we don’t get along too well. I love her to death, but she has always made everything a competition between us…she’s a daddy’s girl, and I’m the youngest.”
“Thanks for the heads up…at least I know what to expect when I meet everyone.”
“You’ll be alright.”
“I hope so.”
He then sighed and said, “I’m going to take off.”
“Okay, I’ll walk you to your car.”
They sauntered toward his car holding hands, and they turned to face each other once they reached the parking lot.
“Let’s give one another a little time to process everything, and I’ll see you on the train Monday morning, okay?” she instructed.
“Sounds like a plan,” they embraced briefly before he hopped inside of the car.
“Bye, Jalen.”
“Bye, Lisa.”
He slowly drove down Hickory Court and disappeared on 158th Place. Darkness had set in as she stood by idly for a few minutes, and she pondered what her next move was going to be. They had dodged a bullet, and she was eternally grateful that things didn’t get too complicated. She went back inside of her apartment and began to pray for forgiveness and pray for the strength to get over her feelings for Jalen.