“They will understand once you tell them you haven’t seen me in a few years, won’t they? Come on, Olivia; I have news to share with you.”
Regardless of how horrible of a mother she was to me or how unloved I felt, I still seek acceptance from her. Maybe we can view this as a fresh start and build a relationship from here. I hang up and call Ren who says she’ll be happy to watch Alex for a few hours. On the drive over to her penthouse, I call Alexander to let him know where I’ll be, but it goes to voicemail. I tell him I’ll be downtown at Café Letti for lunch but home in time for dinner.
“Are you sure she doesn’t want to see Alex? That is so strange for a grandmother, especially when she has never even seen him. I could go with you and wait in the wings with Alex, so if she asks about him or changes her mind, we will be right there. Besides, I don’t think Troy will want you going to meet her alone.”
“I appreciate your offer, but I don’t want to expose Alex to her kind of venom. She will have no reservations about hurting my son who she considers offspring of sin. I left Alexander a message telling him where I will be so he won’t worry and I shouldn’t be longer than an hour, two tops.”
“I just don’t feel good about letting you go alone. Derek doesn’t let me go anywhere alone, nor does Jax let Tori. Maybe I should just ride with you and wait in the car.”
“There is nothing my mother could do to hurt me any more than she already has. I will be fine; we are meeting in a public place, so maybe that will calm her poisonous tongue. Besides, it is Alex’s nap time and he really needs to sleep.”
I hop in my trusty Honda and drive into Boston. A feeling of dread settles in my gut and I almost turn around, but I feel as though I need this closure to move on completely with my life. If my mother chooses to change and be a part of our lives, I will have strict guidelines of what I will allow. She misled me through my entire life; I will not allow her to damage my son’s thoughts and actions while he grows up.
As I pull down the street, I see a car pull out from a metered spot and I easily move in and take its parking space. The café is across the street and I can see my mother sitting at an outside bistro table with a big orange sun hat to match her orange dress and dark glasses. She is always trying to warn me of sun damage, saying that I will age before my time, but my mother is fair skinned where I must have got my coloring from my unknown father.
When she sees me approaching her table, she stands and holds out her arms as if we are long-lost friends. I am pretty sure an alien has taken over my mother’s body, or I am about to get punked.
“Darling, it is so good to see you.”
She air kisses both cheeks and sits back down while I stand there dumbfounded.
“Sit, sit, Dear. You will draw unwanted attention. I’m glad to see you look healthy and other than wider hips you can’t even tell you had a baby. When I had you, it destroyed my body and took years for me to bounce back.”
I haven’t seen her in years and the only thing she mentions is my hips. They happen to be the same size as when I was in high school. As a single mother, any spare money I had was spent on my son, so I still wear some of the clothes I had before I even had Alex. Not often anymore because Alexander has spoiled Alex and me both. We have completely new wardrobes and a completely new worry free life. I refuse to let her jabs affect me, so I just smile and sit.
“So Dear, tell me of your life. How is that boy of yours? How did you end up in Boston?”
Her questions bring another wave of dread, and my skin starts to crawl. How did she know I was in Boston? When she called and asked to meet me, I didn’t even question why she was here or how she was able to find me. My phone has been the same number for years and even when I was no longer on her phone plan I kept the same number, so that wasn’t suspicious. Why now, though? I glance around and see nothing that should cause alarm, but this feeling of being watched doesn’t go away. Just then, I remember her saying she had news to share, and I just want her to spit it out so I can leave and put her behind me.
“Mom, what is your news you wanted to share with me? I really have to hurry and get back to Alex.”
“Oh, right. You remember John, your old boyfriend. Well, he contacted me and wanted to see how you were doing. Since you no longer talk to me, I wasn’t able to tell him anything. It turns out he happened to know that you lived in Boston and paid for me to come here with him to see you. I thought a vacation is just what I needed. He even offered me vacation pay. To me, this was a win-win. I got to have an all expense paid trip to see my daughter and he will get to see you too and catch up on old times. He was such
