“Ezekiel Reid.”
The name was familiar. “The basketball player?”
She nodded. “We were so close, so in love for so long. But most of our relationship happened in secret. Our families were super close and only a handful of people knew about us. We wanted to keep it to ourselves. Well,Iwanted to keep it quiet.”
“Why?”
“My reasons seem so convoluted now, but part of me always felt like it wouldn’t last. I loved him, but we wanted different things in life. He loved being a pro-basketball star and I liked my lowkey life. I’d decided to open my own practice and wanted to give it my all. I couldn’t do that flying out every weekend to watch his games. So it was easier to not tell anyone. If our families didn’t know, there would be no expectations for weddings and babies and happily ever after.”
“That must’ve been hard.” Hearing that Dallas had loved once before didn’t have the effect I thought it would have. I was just happy she felt safe enough to talk about him with me.
“The secret wasn’t hard to keep. Actually, it was a thrill. He was my first kiss, the first man I ever…” She sighed. “But we were young. Andhewas younger than me. He was ready for us to go public, and I wasn’t. I broke up with him on the night he died.” I held her tighter, sensing she needed the support. “It’s been five years, but I can’t help but think about that night. He was upset when he left me and I always wondered if that caused the accident.”
“From what I read at the time, it wasn’t his fault. He hit a slick spot on the expressway.”
“I know, but still… I lied and told him I wasn’t in love with him anymore. I saw how emotional he was when he walked out of the hotel room, and I didn’t tell him to stay. I was so focused on what I wanted, even though it gutted me.”
“You can’t blame yourself for doing what you thought was best for you at the time. And if he knew you, if helovedyou, he knew that.”
Her chin trembled. “I’ve always been like this. All about business, all about my career. Sometimes I wonder what would’ve happened if I’d followed my heart and not my ambition.”
The emotion in her eyes did something to me. It almost felt like I was looking in a mirror, listening to someone articulate my own thoughts. Relationships had never been a priority for me. I’d been with women, but I’d always kept them at a distance. No one had been more important than my work, than my goals. Now I was faced with the possibility that the woman I wanted would never make room for me. “I understand that more than you know.”
“You do, don’t you?”
I swallowed past the hard lump in my throat. “Absolutely.”
We stayed in my truck for quite some time, until Dallas had a craving for ice cream. On the way home, I stopped off at the Cold Stone Creamery inside the Greektown Casino and bought her favorite concoction.
I wrapped my arm around Dallas. “Who eats peanut butter cookie dough ice cream?”
“You—” she held her spoon up to my mouth, “—once you try this. You’ll thank me later.”
I sampled the cold treat and was pleasantly surprised. I groaned. “That is good.”
“Told you,” she chirped. “Should’ve got you one.”
“I’ll just eat yours.”
Dallas cracked up. “That’s what you think.”
A scream drew my attention to a crowd gathering around a lady who’d apparently passed out on the ground in front of the casino.
“I hope that woman is okay,” Dallas said. “Maybe we should call someone.”
“Maybe,” I murmured, pulling out my phone to make that call. But as we neared the group, my heart sank. Because the woman was my mother.
“Shit,” I grumbled, taking off toward my mom. “Call 911.”
Chapter Thirteen
I Don’t Wanna
Preston
The DMC Detroit Receiving Hospital was crowded, with patients lying on beds in the hallway and a slew of people in the waiting room. Fortunately, my mother’s arrival by ambulance and her precarious condition had enabled her to be moved to a private room within the emergency department.
It had been a few hours, and she’d been in and out of consciousness. I stared at her sleeping form, so small in the bed. The thought that our prior interaction could’ve been our last made me sick to my stomach. But that could’ve very well been the case. If I hadn’t been there, if I hadn’t acted so fast, she could’ve… Knowing that my mother could potentially kill herself with her addiction was one thing, but actually giving her CPR in front of the casino was something else entirely.
