In my peripheral I can see Dave, the security guard, at the entrance of the hallway where he’d been standing outside the boyfriend’s room. He’s murmuring into his radio, but besides that, I’m not sure there’s anything he can do.
“Tell me who you are!” the woman seethes at Liam. “Tell me why you look like him or I’ll shove this needle right into her jugular.”
I watch Liam’s eyes narrow. He catches what she says just like I do, and he’s trying to process it. Trying to figure out if he can place the woman. “Why don’t you explain to me who I look like, and then maybe I can help you?”
“Him. You look like him,” she whispers in a tone that tells me she’s flying higher than a kite.
Liam remains patient with her. “Who is him?”
“My husband. You look like my husband.”
“Okay,” Liam nods tolerantly. “Who is your husband?”
Her entire body shakes against mine, like she’s shaking in refusal. Still, she answers the question. “Eddie. Eddie King.”
Chapter 28
Liam
Thewordssmackintome like a freight train. They carry so much weight, so much force, that I don’t know how I’m still standing as silence hangs in the air between us.
Eddie King. My dad’s name. But that can’t be. She called him her husband, and my dad has only been married once, and that was to my…
Holy fuck.
The dots start to connect. I’m damn near the spitting image of my dad, especially when he was my age. In this woman’s drugged out mind—because clearly she’s high with the way she’s screaming and fidgets behind Jordan—she thinks I’m my father.
I say this woman, but this woman isn’t just any woman. After twenty-three years, I’m staring at my mother.
“Mom?”
The word comes from a dry mouth and scratchy throat. My voice is hardly a whisper, but she hears it loud and clear, making me instantly wish I could take it back as the needle dances dangerously close to Jordan’s neck.
“No!” she shrieks, jerking Jordan around as she becomes animated in her movements.
My stomach bottoms out while my heart pounds furiously in my chest, fear threatening to overwhelm me. I need to do something to get this situation under control before something happensto Jordan.
“Okay, okay! You’re right, I’m sorry,” I say, my hands up in surrender as I take a half step closer. If I see an opening I’m going to lunge and take her down, but only if I know Jordan won’t get hurt in the process. “It’s Eddie… let’s just take a deep breath, Sandy. Okay? Can you do that?”
The moment her name comes out of my mouth the anger diminishes. I watch her blink a few times, like she’s clearing her head and rejoining the land of the sane and sober. Her jerky movements stop, and she focuses directly on me.
I’ve never seen so much hope in someone’s eyes as I do in hers. “You remember?”
“Of course I remember. How could I forget? You gave me life.” The words slip past my lips before I can stop them, but I need to remember that I’m not playing myself right now. I’m playing the role of my dad because that seems to be soothing her, and that’s what I need. It’s what Jordan needs. “You gave Liam life, and he became my life. You gave me something to love forever.”
“Liam…” she whispers my name, and I can see the tremble in her chin. I can only imagine my seven-year-old face dancing through her memory. “My boy…”
I’ve spent years compartmentalizing things in regard to my mother. I’ve had years of practice burying her deep down where I don’t think about her or allow her to affect me—at least that’s what I told myself. Truth is, she’s affected me my entire life, and I refused to see it. Refused to deal with it.
Until Jordan.
Hearing this woman call me her boy makes me feel sick, but I can’t deal with my feelings or emotions right now. I can’t allow her to get to me. Jordan is in danger, and I need to do something. I need to play this cool and try to get that needle out of my mother’shands.
My eyes dart to Jordan’s long enough to ensure that she’s holding it together while this woman holds a needle to her neck. Her chest is rising and falling more quickly than I’d like, and a look of pure terror has turned her face stark white, but when she meets my eyes I know she’s okay. All things considered.
“Yeah,” I nod, urging my mother forward on the topic of me. Taking a deep breath, I put my dad’s shoes on and disassociate myself from the situation. “Yeah, your boy, Sandy. He’s not a boy anymore, though.”
“How is he?” she asks, taking a step towards me which has Jordan taking the same step. “Is he okay? You know I love him. I always loved him… But the drugs…”
