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“Do you want to talk about what I walked in on tonight?”
I squeeze my eyes closed because I’ve kept so many of my feelings to myself for so long it’s almost painful to tell my truth out loud. But if there’s anyone who I can talk to about this, it’s probably my mom.
“I love him,” I say.
She lets out a laugh. “Baby, I might be oblivious to a lot of things, but you being in love with Diego Townsend has never been one of them.”
She intertwines her arm in mine and leads us over to the receptionist area where there are chairs for us to sit. She picks up one of the roses that Diego placed on the counter.
“I brought these because I wanted to congratulate you on your opening before the big day. Just you and me.”
She hands me the rose. I bring it to my nose and sniff. I’ve always loved the smell of flowers.
“He’s serious about wanting to marry me,” I say as I lower the rose to my lap. I decide to skip over the fact that our relationship was supposed to have a three-month expiration date.
“That was inevitable.” She says it so casually that it surprises me a little. Another laugh spills from her. The sound of it warms my heart. I’ve always loved hearing my mom’s laugh.
Despite the whirlwind of emotions swirling around inside of me, I feel lighter somehow. Like the fact that she knows I know the truth, coupled with the cry I just had, lifted something from my soul.
“Baby, he’s a Townsend. If there’s one thing I know about the men in his family, is that they don’t hesitate when they’ve made the decision to go after the woman they love. Your father may not be a Townsend, but he has that in common with them.”
The corners of my lips tip upward because I know what she says is true. One of the things I love most about Diego is how dogged and determined he can be in the pursuit of something he wants.
“I know, but that’s the problem,” I say after a while. “What happens when I become too much for him?”
My mother wrinkles her forehead in confusion. “Too much? What do you mean by that?”
Pushing out a breath, I tilt my head toward the ceiling. “My sickness.” I gesture toward the monitor on my arm. Looking at my mom, I tell her, “I had to go to the emergency room two weekends ago.”
Her eyes balloon.
“I’m sorry for not telling you,” I immediately say. “It turned out to be nothing, and I didn’t want to worry you.”
Despite my explanation, there’s concern and a little bit of hurt in her eyes. Even as I explain the entire situation and that, for the most part, it turned out to be nothing.
“It was most likely an issue with my glucose monitor. But that doesn’t mean the next time won’t be something serious.” I hate saying these words out loud, especially because of the fear I see in my mother’s eyes.
It’s the same fear I remember seeing when I was a child. Anytime I didn’t feel well or had to go to the hospital, that same haunted look would appear. Seeing it now is a reminder of what I don’t want to bring to Diego’s life. A constant state of worry, of what-ifs.
“My ex broke up with me because it became too much for him,” I tell her.
Her eyebrows lift. “Lawrence?”
I nod. To my surprise, she rolls her eyes and waves a hand in the air.
“We all knew that wouldn’t last.”
“What?” I sit up straight, looking her in the eye.
She nods, shamelessly. “Your father and Joshua even had a bet going.” She shrugs. “Of course, I had to convince Damonnotto fly to New York to break his legs.”
She laughs at the shock on my face.
“We all never saw the chemistry between you two. He came across nice but selfish at times. Plus, there was always Diego.
“But when your father heard you two broke up, he was convinced that boy did something to you. He had a plane ticket to New York booked. I had to make him cancel it.” She shakes her head laughing.
“He didn’t do anything to me,” I tell her. “Not really. He was just honest about what he could and couldn’t handle. My illness was too much for him.”
