“So how did Dee respond to your plan?”
“As you would expect. She took exception to me throwing my money and weight around. Dee wasn’t impressed by my image or NBA promise when we were teenagers any more than she’s impressed by my wealth and fame now.” The toughest part for me to accept is that despite how much Dee might have changed, beneath her armor, I still see the girl who loved me.
“So is that what you fought about?”
“No...I, uh, kissed her.”
Mama T’s eyes widen. “And I take it Dee didn’t welcome your advance.”
“The problem was that she did. And uh…things got out of hand.”
“Must have been some kiss.”
“Yeah, it was,” I say recalling how fast the fire had spread between us. “We both lost it.”
Mama T scrutinizes my face in a way that makes me feel like a kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar. “I assume ‘lost it’ means you had sex with Dee.”
“Damn, Mama T.” A flush of embarrassment heats my face. I could talk to Rita Torres about any number of things, but sex, especially when it involved her daughter, wasn’t one of them. “Couldn’t you have at least waltzed around the subject?”
“Bah. Why should I waltz?”
“Do you really have to ask?”
Mama T bumps my leg with her knee and chuckles. “I haven’t seen you squirm this much since you were twelve and I caught you and Victor looking atPlayboy.”
I groan at the memory of her walking in on us huddled on the floor in Victor’s bedroom with the magazine open to the centerfold.
“So am I right?” She persists.
“Not exactly.” I release an uncomfortable breath. “But close enough. Partway through, Dee questioned my motives and concluded that I was seducing her to stroke my ego.”
“Were you?”
“Yeah. Initially,” I admit. “But as soon as I started kissing Dee, it was as if everything else faded into the background and time stood still. All that existed was that moment between us.”
“Well, I’ve never before heard you speak poetically about a woman. Did you explain how you were feeling to Dee?”
“No.” I shake my head. “I didn’t get the chance. She shoved me away from her and made some accusations that riled me up. Before I knew it, I was unloading fifteen years’ worth of anger on her. The things I said were crude and insulting. But the worst part was when I found out she didn’t know about Cayo. I saw my opportunity to hurt her back and threw his death in her face. I accused Dee of deserting her family and being a coldhearted bitch. I completely leveled her. She was devastated and I just left her to grieve alone.”
“Oh, Micah.”
“I know.” I hang my head. “I’m a real bastard.”
“No,mi’jo.” She pats my knee. “I don’t think that. We all responded to Dee’s leaving differently. Vittorio’s way was to pretend she never existed, and he’s still doing that. The girls didn’t understand. They just wanted their big sister back. Cayo and I felt at fault for not doing enough to make her feel that she was truly ours. And you, Micah.” She leans forward to look into my downcast face. “Oh, honey, you just shut down. Drinking yourself sick. Nothing mattered to you for a long time. Under the circumstances, I think it’s normal that you wanted to hurt Dee. But I also know you’re a good man and that you went back to check on her.”
I glance up, amazed by her faith in me. “I did. This morning. That’s why I was late getting here. Dee’s two best friends were there, guarding the fort.”
“Dee has best friends?” she asks, mirroring my incredulity when I first heard about them.
“Yes. I managed to muscle my way past them and convinced Dee to talk to me. She gave me five minutes to say my peace while Jordyn and Lexie waited in another room, ready to take me apart if I made one wrong move.”
“Ah, very protective friends.” She smiles but there’s a note of sadness to it. “I’m glad she has people around who care for her. All these years, I worried that she might be alone. I’ve missed her so much.”
“She misses you, too.”
“Do you think she’ll come see me?” Mama T asks. Her voice is expectant.
“I get the impression that Dee isn’t ready to deal with her past or the reason she left. I apologized and we shared our grief about Cayo. But when I started to tell her how I still felt about her, she pulled away from me and her guard went back up. I should have expected that. It’s what she does.”
