The Sweetest Love (Love Conquers All Book 5) (7 page)

“Mom?” Roxy called, gently nudging her mother.

“Oh, I’m sorry baby. What did you say?”

Squinting her left eye, she studied her mother. All morning her mom had been distracted. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” she lied.

I don’t believe you.
“I was asking you if you like this leather pullout sofa bed. It’s on sale for nine hundred bucks.”

Rubbing her hand across the dark brown leather, Reba smiled at her daughter. “It looks and feels nice. Come on, let’s sit on it.”

Roxy smiled at her mom. Taking a seat next to her, she lightly bounced up and down. “No lumps.”

“No lumps,” Reba laughed.

“We’ll take it,” Roxy told the salesman hovering nearby.

Roxy sat on the center of her mother’s bed as she waited for her to come out of the shower. The day had been perfect. Well, almost perfect. She had overslept thanks to Adam not leaving her place until three this morning.

Warmth spread through her as she remembered them kissing and talking, and then kissing and talking some more. They agreed to meet for dinner Wednesday night. Rolling on the bed, she buried her face in a fluffy pillow to muffle her scream. She was going on a date with Adam West!
I wonder what Abby would say?
she thought, wishing her friend was alive.

Jolted awake by the ringing of her cell phone earlier that morning, she profusely apologized to her mom for being late for breakfast. After treating herself and her mom to manicures and pedicures at Heaven Day Spa, they had lunch at CinCin.

From there they drove out to the Raymour and Flannigan outlet where in addition to the leather pullout sofa bed, she found a coffee table with a matching end table, and a lamp. The next stop was HomeGoods, where she stumbled on a nice area rug with neutral shades of browns, tans and beiges. She squealed and did the Snoopy happy dance when her mom, after rummaging through the curtains, found two panels in brown with swirls of beige. By the time they got to Home Depot to pick up some paint swatches, mother and daughter were all tuckered out.

Rolling over on her back, she glanced up at the ceiling. She wanted to tell her mom about Adam, but figured it was too soon. What if after a few dates, that special connection she thought they shared wasn’t there?
I’ll wait it out before I say anything,
she wisely advised herself
.

Besides, she needed to get to the bottom of whatever was troubling her mother. Several times during their day together she would catch her mother staring off in space. She really knew something was up when her mother suggested, “Why don’t you stay with me tonight? We can take our showers, then climb in the bed and watch movies like we used to when you were a little girl.”

“It’s about time,” she teased when her mom came into the bedroom in her robe with a towel wrapped around her head.

“Oh hush your little fresh mouth up. I washed my hair and you know how long that takes when I do it in the shower.”

“Don’t I know it,” Roxy mumbled under her breath as she crawled on her knees to the nightstand. Picking up the wide-tooth detangling comb and Carol’s Daughter Healthy Hair Butter, she positioned herself behind her mom.

Reba’s long, damp tresses fell down her back as Roxy removed the towel. She smiled as her daughter began to tenderly comb through her hair. The pair sat in comfortable silence and enjoyed the ritual they’d been doing for years.

Parting the hair down the middle, she plaited the one side. Working the loose hair in small parted sections, she began applying the hair butter to the scalp and hair. “Mom, your hair is so long and pretty. Why do you keep it up in a bun all the time? You should wear it out. Get it cut in long layers or something.”

Why was she still wearing her hair in an old granny bun? And why was she still shopping at thrift stores? And why hadn’t she been on a date in years? And why did she feel so much older than her forty-five years?

Going to meet Harold and then running into Donna and sharing her story had stirred up memories she’d fought to keep buried. For the last few days all she could think about was her life from the time her mother had abandoned her. Until she had her daughter, there was never a soul who cared about or loved her.

“Mom? What’s wrong?” Roxy asked again, her voice strained with worry. All this spacing out was so not like her mother.

Snapping out of her reverie, Reba turned around to face her daughter. The worried expression on her face was tearing her heart into a million pieces. “Oh, come here baby,” she whispered, opening her arms.

Roxy willingly went. Her body began to tremble as silent tears ran down her face. Something was wrong with her mother and she didn’t know what it could be. Was she sick and not telling her?
Oh God, please no!

Her body began to tremble even harder at the thought of something happening to her mother. What would she do if she lost her mother… just like she lost Abby?
Oh God.

Reba tightened her hold as Roxy’s heart began to pound so fiercely that she could feel it. “Oh baby, calm down,” she soothed. The last thing she wanted was to have her go into a panic attack.

“I… can’t… something’s… wrong… with… you…” Roxy wailed in between hiccupping sobs.

Roxy tightened her hold when Reba tried easing her out of her arms. Nope, she wasn’t letting her go.

Good Lord, I’m going to need the Jaws of Life to get this child off of me.
“Roxy, baby, mommy can’t breathe.”

She took in a deep breath of air when she loosened her grip. It was time to tell her what was going on. All Roxy’s life she shielded her from the ugly truth; mostly because she was ashamed to tell her about her past. But she wasn’t a baby anymore. It was time for her to know everything.

Roxy quietly listened as her mother shared her story. “I want to meet him.” Roxy declared, dashing away angry tears.

Come again?
“Well… um… are you sure?” Reba stammered. This is not how she envisioned this conversation going.

“Yes, I’m sure.” Oh boy, was she sure. She’d want to meet her cruel grandfather if he was still living, too. How could anyone treat her mother as if she was nothing more than a piece of trash? Didn’t they know she was the kindest, gentlest human being alive?

She wiped another tear away. “Mom, how did you make it? How did you survive?”

Tenderly, she cradled her daughter’s cheek with the palm of her hand. Looking deep into her eyes she told her, “You. You’re how I survived.” Reba kissed her daughter’s forehead and then her nose. This made Roxy smile.

“From the moment the nurse put you in my arms and I held you close, I knew I had to make it. I knew I could never let what happened to me happen to you.” A tear slid down Reba’s face as she lovingly stroked Roxy’s cheek. “I knew it would be just me and you against the world.”

Roxy touched her mom’s face mimicking her touch. “Just me and you.”

That’s no longer true baby.
“Not anymore. Remember you have two sisters.”

Moving back to her position behind her mom, she went back to her task. She didn’t know how she felt about this new revelation. Honestly, part of her was excited and another part was fearful. What if they didn’t want to acknowledge her? What if they didn’t like her?
But they might,
a tiny voice encouraged.

Breaking into her thoughts, Reba queried, “Don’t you want to meet them?”

She hesitated before answering. “Mom… I don’t know.”

Reba had to laugh at that one. “You crazy kid. You want to meet your deadbeat daddy, but not your sisters?”

Roxy laughed, too. “That’s because I got a few things I need to say to the sperm donor.”

Silence fell over them as Roxy gently combed through Reba’s hair. Thinking about it for a few more minutes, she said, “Mom, I think I’d like to meet my sisters.”

Roxy’s fingers moved over the number keypad at a rapid, rhythmic pace. One of the other accountants had called out sick on Friday and again this morning, leaving a quarterly variance analysis report uncompleted. The report was needed like last week. She didn’t mind being put under pressure. If anything it was helping to keep her mind off of her weekend of revelations.

She hadn’t thought about her father in forever. Not since she was a little girl. She would never forget the look on her mother’s face when she had to tell her that the man who had been partially responsible for her existence didn’t want to see her. “But why Mommy?” she’d asked, her lips trembling as she wondered what she had done wrong.

“Baby, I don’t know,” was all her mother could say as she softly rocked her.

Boy had that hurt. Roxy’s childhood mind couldn’t comprehend why a daddy wouldn’t want to see his little girl. Especially when she had written him a letter telling him all the fun they could have together. She remembered wanting to wear the prettiest dress out of the three she owned to take her school picture. She’d wanted her picture to come out real pretty for her daddy.

Although she had told her mom she wanted to meet her dad, what would she say to him? Would she badger him with a series of questions, such as: Why didn’t you tell my mom you were married with children? Why did you leave us and never look back? How come you never loved me?”

Now she was having second thoughts. Did the answers to her questions really matter? Would he be honest with her, or just give her a bunch of sorry-behind excuses for why he hadn’t manned up and took care of her? Would he even care what it was like for her not knowing him growing up?

The biggest bomb that her mom dropped on her was the news about having sisters.

After her mom had drifted off to sleep, she tossed and turned most of the night. This was one of those times when she really could use a best girlfriend. She really had needed someone to process all the emotions rushing through her. She had contemplated calling one of her work buddies, but decided against it.

She had gone so far as to dial Adam’s number, but just couldn’t bring herself to hit the send button. She told herself that she had already unloaded on him enough. Besides, they had just reconnected and she didn’t want to run him away with her family drama.

As her fingers continued to move at lightning speed, Roxy let out a deep breath.
I probably should just cancel our date.
All this new information had her emotions all over the place. She reasoned she wouldn’t be in a good frame of mind by the time Wednesday rolled around for their date.

Adam’s biceps and triceps quivered as he finished his last rep of bench pressing one-hundred-fifty pounds. Sitting up on the bench, he grabbed his water bottle. Twisting off the cap, he drained the bottle in less than three gulps, before returning to his rigorous workout.

The ringing phone disrupted him just as he was fifteen minutes into his forty-five minute cardio workout on the treadmill. Deciding to ignore the call, he increased the speed on the exercise equipment. He let out a groan when his mother’s voice filled his home gym.

“Hi baby, I guess you must be out this morning. I was just calling to remind you of your lunch date with Lisa. She’s Sister Wilma’s great-niece from church. I’m sure you’re going to like her. Call me and let me know how the date goes.”

“Woman! Get off that phone and leave that boy alone!”

Adam chuckled at hearing his father’s voice in the background. He knew his mother meant well, but he wished she would stop trying to play matchmaker. This was the sixth date she’d set him up with in the last three months. She was on a mission to get him married and get her some grandbabies.

He grew tired of counting all the times he told his mother he wasn’t ready to settle down just yet. At first he balked at his mother’s meddling. The more he balked the more she meddled. To appease her, he would agree to a lunch date and before the hour was over he’d made it clear with his
date
that he wasn’t interested in an affair of any kind.

Jumping into the shower, the thought ran across his mind to cancel his date with Linda… Leslie… Leah… whatever her name was. What he should do is call Roxy to see if she was available for lunch. If he didn’t think he would hear his momma fussing his ears off about hurting Sister Wilma’s kin folk’s feelings, that’s just what he would do.

Roxy had been on his mind all weekend long. Each time he started for the phone on Saturday, he remembered that she was spending the day with her mom. By the time Sunday rolled around he was too annoyed to talk to anyone after his momma had sprung another blind date on him.

But today was a new day. Gone was his surly mood. He told himself the sooner he got this date over and done with, the sooner he could get back to getting to know Roxy. And he would definitely tell his mother to stop with the matchmaking!

With a pep in his step, Adam headed out the door.

Don’t you dare cry.
The sight of Adam having lunch with some woman at the trendy eatery was tearing her up on the inside. Well, not so much that they were sharing a meal together. It was the heifer giggling all up in his face and sliding her hand up and down his forearm that got her right in the pit of her gut.

“And is he smiling at her?” She incredulously gritted out to herself under her breath. She could not believe this!

Roxy glanced over at the table one last time before she picked up her takeout order.

Yep, he was smiling at her.

Roxy felt like a fool. Just three days ago he was all up in her place kissing her like nobody’s business. And when he finally left, he had a nerve to make a date with her. She should have known something was up when he didn’t call all weekend after promising he would. He was probably getting more than kisses from giggle girl.

I am so not going on that date for real now!
Snatching her sandwich and beverage off the counter, Roxy stormed out the eatery. Did all men have canine blood running through their veins or what?

Stop it!
She chastised herself. All men weren’t dogs. There were still some really good ones out there. Roxy wasn’t about to become one of those men-hating, men-bashing women. But she wasn’t going to hang around and be dogged by Adam or any other man either.

Turning the corner, she did not want to go back into the office. First thing this morning Sonia, Jen and Kay were in a huddle around her desk. She was sure they wanted the scoop on Adam.

She thanked her lucky stars when her boss, Mr. Dawson, called her into his office for an impromptu meeting before they could start in with a plethora of questions.

Getting her assignment, she returned to her desk to find nosy boxes one, two and three had gone on about their business. Dropping the stack of papers on her desk, she sat in her chair and breathed a sigh of relief. She wasn’t ready to divulge her budding relationship with Adam just yet.

Budding relationship… yeah right! What a joke!
She hissed to herself after replaying the scene from the eatery in her mind.

Easing the door open to the break room, she took a deep breath. Sonia, Kay and Jen were in deep conversation.

Good.

Maybe they’ll be too interested in what they’re talking about to worry her with a bunch of useless questions.

“Well speak of the devil,” grinned Kay.

Or not.

“You sit your pretty little self right here,” Jen drawled out in her best Texan accent.

Roxy laughed. It was pretty hard to hold on to her anger with these three around. Sliding into the chair next to Jen, Roxy pulled her sandwich and drink out of the white paper bag. She held her hand up to silence whatever Sonia was about to say.

“Okay guys, let’s just cut to the chase. His name is Adam West.”

Kay did a little shimmy in her chair. “Ooh, like in Batman.”

Roxy frowned up her face. “What? Batman? What are you talking about?” she asked confused. Didn’t George Clooney, Val Kilmer and Christian Bale play Batman in the movies?

Giggling, Sonia explained, “You know, Adam West, the actor who played Batman on television way back in the day.”

“Yeah, he was sexy in that black bat get-up,” Jen said just before spearing a slice of cucumber and munching on it.

Roxy lifted a brow at Jen. “I never watched that show.”

Twisting off the cap of her drink, Roxy took a healthy swallow. Setting the glass container down, she picked up her sandwich. Letting out a sigh, she said, “He’s my best friend Abby’s brother. We ran into each other, he took me home, end of story.”

Roxy shoved the sandwich in her mouth, hoping her lunch buddies would take this as a sign that there were no juicy details to tell. After all, she hadn’t exactly lied to them. She just didn’t tell them about the kissing, their plans to go on a date or her seeing him with another woman. No biggie.

It was Kay who held her hand up in the universal stop signal. “Hold up… wait a minute. You have to come better than that girlfriend.” Swiping her finger around the table, pointing to everyone with the exception of Roxy, she narrowed her eyes. “We saw how Batman was all up in your personal space. Looking like he was ready to scoop you up and fly you off to the bat cave for some hanky-panky.”

I’m not looking at y’all.
She ignored them as they started cackling at a joke she found so not funny.

Roxy took another bite of her sandwich and chewed. If they only knew how much of her personal space he’d invaded, and how she loved every minute of it.

Jen piped in with, “Do you think the television Batman’s
thing
was as big as those big black boots her wore?”

Tilting her head to side as if in deep thought, Sonia came out with, “Probably so. That’s why he wore that huge black cape. You know… to keep him balanced so he wouldn’t tip over from his big ding-dong.”

She had just swallowed her food in time. Otherwise, it would have gotten sucked down her windpipe. She couldn’t help but to laugh along with them at their foolishness. As soon as she got back to her desk she was googling actor Adam West.

“OMG! You guys are nuts!” Roxy wrapped up the half of sandwich she hadn’t eaten and then put it back in the white paper bag. Going over to the fridge, she slung her leftover lunch on the shelf.

Leaning against the counter, Roxy crossed her arms over her chest. Turning the conversation back on safer ground, she told them, “Adam and I are old friends.” Shrugging a shoulder she said, “Don’t make too much out of us holding hands. It was strictly a platonic thing.”

She almost choked on the lie. Holding his hand had made her feel like his girl, if only for the short distance to his place.

Gazing into each of their faces she could tell they hadn’t believed a word she said. Jen was staring back at her with a smirk on her face. Sonia was shaking her head. And Kay rolled her eyes.

“Well, I guess I better get back to my desk.”

A smile curved Roxy’s lips as she went back to her office. The heifers didn’t even have the decency to wait until she was out of earshot before they started their giggling.