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Daniel found a parking spot and climbed out. As he approached her door, he heard raised voices.
He paused for a moment, wanting an idea of what he was walking in on. The voices were muffled, but he picked out at least two. One belonged to Ali. The other to another woman.
Not willing to wait any longer to find out what was going on, Daniel used the key Ali had given him and opened her door. When he stepped through, two heads turned to face him. Ali’s was full of relief. The other woman’s—older than Ali by at least twenty years—was not nearly as pleased with the intrusion.
“Get out!” the other woman yelled. “I don’t know who the hell you are, but we don’t want you here. This is a man-free zone.”
Ali ignored the woman, coming to him and wrapping her arms around his waist.
He embraced her, ignoring the other woman. “I’ve been trying to call you. Why aren’t you answering your phone?”
“She took it. I’ve been trying to get it back for the last two hours.”
Daniel looked at the other woman. When she swayed to the left, he caught sight of something purple peeking out of her back pocket. He was betting it was Ali’s cell phone.
Before he could ask who this was or how the woman had come into possession of Ali’s phone in the first place, the woman spoke again. “Did you not hear me? Get out! We don’t want you here. Right, Ali? Go on. Get.”
That was when he realized she was drunk. Or at the very least, on her way to being that way.
His gaze landed on a bottle of vodka on the coffee table. Someone had made a decent dent in it, and he didn’t smell any alcohol on Ali’s breath.
“Mom, stop it.” Ali paused. “Please.”
At this revelation, Daniel took another long look at the woman. Now that Ali had pointed out the relationship, the similarities were obvious. The other woman’s hair was the same shade of brown as Ali’s. She was a little taller but had the same build. She also had Ali’s beautiful blue eyes, although they looked full of sadness.
“Why didn’t you tell me your mother was coming to visit?” He asked the question, but he was already positive he knew the answer. She hadn’t known.
Zelda Foster threw her hands up and plopped down on the couch, sitting on Ali’s phone. She reached for the bottle of vodka and brought it to her lips.
“I didn’t—”
“Who the hell are you anyway, barging in here like you own the place or something? That’s the problem with men. They think they can take anything they want. Take, take, take. Well, fuck ’em. Fuck ’em all.”
It was obvious he wasn’t going to be able to have a conversation with Ali while her mom was in the same room. He turned to his son, who’d followed him in. “Could you stay with Ms. Foster while Ali and I talk?”
Bradley glanced at Zelda, who was narrowing her eyes at them. “Yeah.”
Not waiting for any further remarks from Zelda, he took Ali’s hand and led her into her bedroom. Closing the door behind them, he got down to business. “Now explain what’s going on.”
* * *
Ali was so glad to see Daniel. She knew he’d be upset she hadn’t called, but her mother had her cell and she didn’t have a landline. “I needed to get a few things, so I swung by my apartment after work. I was almost ready to leave when there was a knock on my door. It was my mom.”
“I’m assuming you had no idea she was coming?”
She shook her head. “I never do. She just shows up and it...it’s like this.” Ali bit her lower lip. “I’m sorry I didn’t call. I tried, but she took my phone.”
“Why did she take your phone?” he asked.
Ali averted her eyes, but he didn’t let her. He lifted her chin and forced her to look at him.
“Because she wanted my attention.” Ali paused. “Her latest boyfriend broke up with her.”
Daniel knew Ali’s relationship with her mom was screwed up, but he hadn’t expected it to be this bad. Ali’s mom was a mess. “Is it like this every time?”
“Pretty much.”
He looked at her for a long moment. “We’ll discuss this more when we get home.”
