“Have you told her about your childhood? Does she know your greatest fear? Does she know your biggest regrets in life? Does she?—?”
“I don’t know her that well because I had to leave all my friends when I left Brock.”
“Those weren’t your friends. If they were, they would still be in your life.”
“Well, then you. You’re my best friend.”
He tilted his head to the side. “I can’t be.”
“Too bad. You are,” she snapped at him.
He leaned forward. “Tiny, you can’t use me as an emotional crutch and shield to keep other people from getting close to you.”
“I don’t do that,” Tiana’s voice raised.
She’d never raised her voice at Pops, but he was wrong.
“Yes. You do,” he said calmly. “And it makes sense. I’m the only constant in your life, the only safe person, and the only person who has loved you unconditionally. But I’m not gonna be around foreve?—”
“Don’t say that!” Tears immediately formed in her eyes. She couldn’t even think of a world without Pops in it.
“Why? It’s the truth. Did Niko tell you about our talk?”
She wiped away a stray tear that fell down her cheek. “He said you showed him the pages I colored.”
“He didn’t tell you what I said about me praying that God would take me and me not wanting to do the surgery?”
“What? Now! Why would you do that? Why?!” So many emotions came crashing down on her. Fear. Anger. Betrayal. Why would Pops say that?
“Because, Tiny, I’m a burden to you.”
“No, you’re not! You can’t say?—"
“Hush, I’m talking.” His tone was serious, and she shut her mouth.
He’d only ever taken that tone with her once before in her life. It was when she got caught smoking weed and ditching school in seventh grade, he told her if she wanted to throw her life away, that was her decision, but he didn’t want to have a front-row seat, so she could hang out somewhere else after school. She never smoked or ditched school again.
“I know you sold your Range Rover so that I could be in this place. I know that you can barely afford the monthly payments, and when they change my medication, I can see you doing the mental math trying to figure out how to make it work. I neverwanted to be a burden on anyone. I didn’t expect to get sick and blow through my retirement. It kills me seeing you sacrifice your life when you should be out having fun with friends, and dating, and you’re coming here to visit me, trying to figure out how to pay for new treatments?—”
“I don’t care about friends and dating, you’re my…life…my family…you’re all I have.”
Tiana could see the pain in his eyes, she could see how much it tormented him that she had done the things she had for him.
“Iwas, I was all you have. But now there’s a man that, in the short time you’ve known him, took care of you when you got sick and took care of your business. He took care of me and my surgery. He bought a building so your ex wouldn’t be able to have that as leverage over you. I don’t know about you kids and your situationships?—”
“Situationships?” she repeated. Where had that come from?
“—or whether what you were doing started out as fake or to make his reputation better, or anything about paparazzi, but I do know what a man looks like when he loves a woman and would do anything for her, like pay two point five million dollars for a building.”
“Two point five million dollars?!” Tiana gasped.
Pops nodded. “How much did you think a building cost?”
Tiana felt like she was going to throw up. “I don’t know.”
“Well, I’ll tell you what I know: I know that man loves you and you love him. And getting close to people scares you, but if he’s not worth it, then Tiny, who is?”
“Okay, Mr. Matthews, your chariot awaits!” Curtis, who ran the physical therapy department, came into the room with a wheelchair.
