“She told me she changed the number to avoid calls from an ex-boyfriend, but she also said that she had calls from the old number forwarded so that you’d be able to get through.” I take off my hat and run my hand through my hair, letting out an exasperated breath. “I didn’t doubt it at the time, but now I realize she didn’t actually forward calls. Why forward calls when you’re avoiding calls from someone? Fuck, I was so stupid. How could I have thought that made sense?”
“So, she just changed numbers, and what?” Alex seems confused. Probably because I never told her the extent of how horrible my mother is. “Figured me leaving forever and never being able to contact you again just wouldn’t matter?”
“I know it’s hard to believe, Alex, but that is exactly something my mother would do. She is a terrible person. If something doesn’t affect her directly, then it just doesn’t matter to her.” I almost can’t believe it either. I’m so angry I’m almost vibrating. My priority now is making Alex believe me, though. My mom is a problem for another day. “I tried to get her to come to the show last week. She’s never been to one of my shows. Ever.”
“Really? Ever? That’s horrible.” At least she seems a little sympathetic. I still see some mistrust in Alex’s eyes, but she seems to want to believe me.
“Yeah, it is. She even had me buy entire wardrobes for her, her boyfriend that I’ve never met, and my two sisters. Because she had nothing to wear to the show, she said. And then when I finally tracked her down just before the show, to see when they would arrive, she said that the boyfriend was sick and they wouldn’t do a family activity if everyone in the family couldn’t attend.” I sigh. It sounds worse saying it out loud to someone else.
“But you’ve never even met that guy? And what about you? Why aren’t you family?” Alex is raising her voice now, getting angry on my behalf. “Your mom sounds like a piece of work. No offense.”
We’ve started walking toward the store again. Alex hasn’t dropped my hand yet, so I think I’m still doing okay with her.
“Yeah, she is. I never realized just how long she’s been like this until you just told me about the phone number. I’m so sorry Alex, I didn’t know she did that. I was so dumb to believe what she said about forwarding calls. Thinking about it now it makes no sense.” I stop again and pull her into a hug, resting my head on top of hers. “I was so upset when you didn’t call. I thought you’d gotten to your new life and decided you didn’t want any reminders of the old days. I couldn’t be mad at that, considering you’d just lost your parents, but I was upset at losing you.”
Alex wraps her arms around me and leans into the hug. “I thought you wanted to cut the little orphan girl out of your life. Too much baggage for someone so young to handle.” I can feel her tears soaking into my shirt, even though she was clearly trying not to cry.
“Oh no, sweetie, no.” I lean back and use my thumbs to wipe the tears from her cheeks. “I never thought that, not even for one second. If I’d known where your grandfather lived, I would have come to you and demanded to know why you cut me out of your life. There would have been no stopping me. I’d have run right through gramps to get to you.”
She laughs at that a little. “That would have been funny to see. 20 years ago Pops was only 55, and in great shape. He would have beat your ass just for trying it. Even now he likes to say he has 75 years of fight experience, even though he’s 75 years old.” She laughs a little harder, wiping the rest of the tears from her eyes. “And he’s lived in this city for his entire life. He’s been running the same gym for over 40 years.”
“No shit?” I ask, surprised. I’m not sure what I expected her grandfather would do for a living, but running a gym wasn’t one of them. “What kind of gym? I’m pretty attached to the one I go to currently, but I’d love to come and meet your Pops. Maybe he can give me some pointers so I can finally tag the old bastard at my gym. He’s twice my age but runs circles around me.” I’m not ashamed to admit I’m not the best fighter, plus Mike is one tough dude. Maybe we can set up a fight between him and Alex’s Pops? See who the better old man is?
“Yeah, it’s actually a block from the pizza place Devon got those pizzas from the other night. It’s just called Westborough Boxing, it’s pretty old school looking, but he’s kept up with modern fight trends and does lots of MMA training. If he doesn’t know how to do it himself, he hires a trainer who does.” She looks so proud when she talks about her Pops and his gym.
And I’m just staring at her with my mouth open, looking like a dumbass.
“What?” she says, looking at me. “You go to one of those fancy new gyms downtown? You won’t find a better trainer than my Pops, no matter where you go in town.”
Holy shit. This is fucking unbelievable.
I grab her hand again and start walking into the store. “Come on,” I say. “We’ll talk about this while we shop or we’re never going to get out of here.” I grab a shopping cart just inside the doors and continue on inside. “So tell me more about this gym. How much time did you spend there?”
Chapter 32
Alex - Years of Near Misses and a Sweet Kiss
It feels nice to have Connor holding my hand, like I was missing it all these years and didn’t even know it. It’s hard to believe that someone’s mother would do something as underhanded as change their phone number and tell lies about it, but Connor seems sincere, so I think I can believe him.
“I pretty much lived there when I first moved here. I spent every day after school there, and most of every weekend. Pops didn’t have as many trainers working for him then, so I had to be there if I didn’t want to be at home alone. As I got a little older, I started spending more time with Becca on the weekends. And then just before I turned 20 I moved out and started culinary school.”
“So you’re saying that you basically lived there until you were 20? Every day?” Connor asks with a lift of his eyebrow.
“Yeah,” I say. “I don’t know how to fight very well, though. I’m just not bloodthirsty enough for it or something.” I laugh. “Why?”
“Just curious.” Connor stops pushing the cart and looks at me. “Did your Pops help you move this morning?”
“Yeah, he did.” I say. “He insisted on it, actually. Because I didn’t know who I was going to be working for, he wanted to come and make sure it wasn’t some dirty politician. I don’t know that he’d be much more approving of a famous rock star though.” I tease him a little. I get the feeling that he doesn’t enjoy being called a rock star by his friends.
“Oh, I think he may be cooler with it than you think.” He looks at me with a knowing glance. “Have you told him yet that it’s me?”
“Not yet. I wasn’t sure if I could since he hasn’t filled out the NDA. I haven’t told Becca yet either, because her background check hasn’t come back yet. Well, those reasons and I haven’t exactly had time to talk to either of them since I found out. We left the house to come here as soon as I found out, remember?”
“You should call him. Wouldn’t want to keep him waiting. He’s just worried about you. Plus, I have a feeling we won’t need to worry about him going to the tabloids with any insider information on me.” He gestures to my phone. “Go ahead, I can wait.”
“Ok,” I drawl. “Pops will appreciate the call, I’m sure. Thanks.” I pull up my contacts and call the gym.
“Westborough Boxing. Ryan speaking.” comes the voice on the phone.
