“I was always listening. I just never wanted to hear you because every time you told me how you were feeling, it was like you were holding up a mirror in my face, and I couldn’t take it. So, I let you push me away because I couldn’t admit that you were right.”
My heartrate still hadn’t found a resting beat and the right words still hadn’t found their way to my tongue. “Wow, Mom. I—I don’t know what to say.”
“You’ve said enough over the years and now it’s my turn. After the diagnosis, I started to put a lot of things into perspective. I started finally allowing myself to deal with the death of your father.”
Hearing her news had me wondering how I would deal with losing another parent after losing my father six years prior. “I’m glad you’re trying to work on yourself, Mom.”
“Gotta do it while I still have breath in my body to do so, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Listen, I didn’t mean to bring down your day with all my sadnews. How did your presentation go?” she questioned, changing the subject.
The uptick in her voice made me smile for the first time during our conversation. “It went good. I got a lot of good feedback after.”
“I knew it would. I’m so, so proud of you, Cassidy.”
“Thank you.”
“But listen, your aunt just got here, so I’m going to talk to you later, okay?”
“I’ll call you tomorrow.”
“Sounds good.”
I hung up the phone and sat dumbfounded. It would have been impossible to try and process everything my mother had just told me right then and there. After making sure my eyes were dry, I glided past a store with my nose in my phone, trying to find a good meeting point for my Uber to pick up me and take me back to my hotel. I was no longer in the mood for retail therapy.
“Cassidy?”
I froze before turning around, allowing my mind time enough to process the male voice that had called out to me. “Omar?”
nine
. . .
Cassidy
I turned to see Omar Devante Greyson’s pecan brown eyes staring back at me. I was sure I still looked visibly upset, but I tried my best to hide it. I always envisioned that the moment we crossed paths again would be a day of reckoning. Yet, I was puffy-eyed and snot-nosed, just how I was the last time he’d seen me.
"You good?” he asked, assessing my mood and snapping me out of my twisted fantasy at the same time.
“Me? Yeah, I’m good.”
“Yeah? Life treatin’ you good?”
“Yeah. You?”
“Same. It’s crazy running into you here. What are you doin’ out in Miami?”
“Work conference,” I answered, keeping my responses short.
“Oh, cool.”
“And what about you? You’re a little far from Tallahassee, right?”
“I am. We made the move out here a couple months ago.”
I dipped my head in a quick nod while driving my eyes past him. “Cool. Listen, it was nice seeing?—”
