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"Go away," I told Nico. "Or do I need to get a restraining order?"
He grasped my shoulders and tugged me closer, lowering his lips toward mine.
I slapped both hands on his chest, stomped my foot down on his, and shoved him away.
Nico stumbled but didn't fall down. "Shit, Mara, what's your problem?"
"You, obviously."
The clacking of high heels made us both glance down the hall.
My mother was marching toward us, looking like a general about to kick the ass of her most derelict soldier. A general dressed in designer clothes. And wearing stiletto heels.
She rammed her stiletto down on Nico's foot and kneed him in the groin. "Get away from my daughter."
Doubled over, he gasped for air.
Mom bent to aim her glare straight into his eyes. "If you keep harassing Mara, I will call in every favor I'm owed to have you arrested and charged with stalking."
Nico finally caught his breath and straightened, though he cupped his privates like he thought Mom might nail him in the balls again. "You attacked me."
"Did I?" my mother said in her most frigid tone. "There's only one witness. What did you see, Mara?"
"Looked to me like he tripped."
Nico gaped at me. "And did what, hit my dick on the doorknob?"
I shrugged. "All I know is you fell before my mom got within ten feet of you. Maybe you had a few beers before you showed up at my apartment to harass and assault me."
"Assaultyou? I'm the one whose balls got burst like a balloon."
My mother dismissed his claim with a hand gesture and a soft snort. "You'll survive and still be fertile. Unfortunately."
"You two are crazy." Nico eyed us like he thought we might both jump on him and start tearing the flesh off his body. "I'm done with you, Mara. Done for good."
"Hallelujah," I said, raising my hands to the heavens.
Nico scurried off down the hall, practically flinging himself into the elevator when the doors opened.
Mom ushered me into my apartment. We both sat down on the sofa.
"Is that a Bruce Willis movie?" she asked, glancing at the TV. Her eyes lit up the way they often did at the prospect of aDie Hardmovie. "Let's rewind and watch it together from the beginning. I love it when he takes his shirt off."
Yep, my mother loved her man candy. It was the one thing we'd always agreed on, and the one thing that always brought us together. Mutual appreciation of hot, sweaty men beating the bad guys to a pulp.
"Sure," I said. "Let's do that. I'll make popcorn."
"First, I need to talk to you." She stared down at her lap for a moment, then raised her head to look me in the eye. "There's something I've never told you, and it's time I did. I hope it will help you understand my behavior a little better."
I tucked my feet under me cross-legged style. "Okay."
"You know your father and I were married for four years before we had you, our miracle baby." She hesitated, biting her lip the way I often bit mine. "Two years before you were born, I had a miscarriage. The doctors told us I couldn't have children. Your father and I were devastated, and we even started talking about adoption. Went to an agency a few times too. Then the miracle happened. We found out I was pregnant---with you."
"Wow, I never knew that." Miscarriage? No hope of having a baby? God, I couldn't imagine going through something like that.
"The point is that I worried about losing you, while I was pregnant and after you were born. I smothered you because I was terrified something might happen to you." She sniffled and paused to dig a tissue out of her purse, dabbing her eyes with it. "Even once you were old enough that I didn't need to worry about your physical well-being, I still worried you might get hurt in other ways. Emotionally. So I tried to shield you from all of it and prepare you for whatever I couldn't see coming. That's why I was hard on you."
"I get that, Mom, I do. And it's okay." I clasped her hand. "You've always been there for me when it counted. Who stood beside me during the whole divorce court thing?"
