@ceciliasking
Simon had always thought that he would retire at Orlando. At 32, it didn’t seem like such a far-fetched idea; since his signing at seventeen, he’d turned down countless opportunities to move on to, what some would call, bigger and better clubs because Orlando was home. The James family had moved there from Chicago when Si was still in elementary school, and since then, had remained firmly planted. So, it had come as a shock to everyone -- Simon included -- when he’d announced that he was trading the purple, gold, and white for the red, white, and blue.
But there was little else he could do. Contracts and lifelong dreams seemed like such a paltry thing in the face of deathbed promises. He just hoped that the family that had seen passed the troubled child to the athlete with a clinical eye and the potential for leadership would understand his decision.
It seemed as if the sick feeling that had lived in his gut since his mother’s death had become even more pronounced ever since he’d arrived in Boston. When Simon had found out that he had a younger sister, he’d been upset, but to find out that his mother had kept tabs on her secret child even after giving her up... that had felt like a betrayal. But she’d looked at him with her sad, guilt filled eyes and asked him to promise to find the daughter she’d abandoned in life, and Si had been powerless to do anything but agree wholeheartedly.
Which was why he was currently standing outside of the tattoo shop his sister owned. If nothing else, his mother had always been meticulous, especially when keeping secrets. So, finding his sister had taken little more than a google search. How he would break the news that 1) he was her biological half-brother, and 2) their mother had died was not something that google could help him with. “Hey,” he called by way of greeting as he entered the shop. “I’m looking to get some work done.”
