“Don’t care.”
“Have you truly never looked at your social media accounts? The show’s fan page? Anything?”
“Not once.”
“Well, you have about ten times more followers than Katia.” She lifted a brow. “That has to mean something to you.”
“I can see that it means something to you, but I just don’t give a damn.”
She sighed long and hard. “I wish you’d reconsider. I’ll hold the spot open for you for a few days.”
“You’ll be wasting your time.” He grabbed his bag and took a backward step away from her. “Goodbye, Joanne. I wish I could say it’s been fun. But it’s been awful. Good luck finding another sucker. Please don’t call one of my SEAL teams. The group can’t take another one of your shows. There are so many of us already, we need a support group.”
She laughed and waved off his comment as if it were a joke. It was not. He needed to warn as many of his team as he could about New Millennia Media’s preference for Navy SEALs. He didn’t want to become one of those guys who had to gather at McP’s every few months to provide comfort and advice for some other sucker.
“You’re going to pay for Josh’s annulment and get the ball rolling on that, right?” He wanted to confirm that poor guy was also getting some help.
“Yes. That’s what we agreed to. We’ll handle it.”
“Good.”
“You’ll find a hundred thousand dollars deposited in your account first thing tomorrow also.”
Tuck smiled for the first time in hours. “Thank you for that. It will go a long way toward easing my stress.”
“Is it your mother who’s in the nursing home?” she asked, her voice kind.
“Yes. End-stage Alzheimer’s. Expensive care.”
“I’m sorry to hear that. I’ll keep her in my prayers.”
“I appreciate that. Now, if you don’t mind, I have a woman to go to.”
“Does she know what a prize she’s getting?”
“Regardless, I will spend the rest of my life making sure she knows how much I appreciate her every day.”
Joanne sighed, putting a hand over her heart. Her eyes were teary. “She’s a lucky woman.”
“I’m a luckier man.”
“Go.” Joanne pointed at the door.
“Gladly.” Tuck turned and left the set for the last time.
Chapter 24
As soon as Tuck sat down in his car, he pulled out his cell phone. He considered sending Jodi a text telling her he couldn’t wait until tomorrow and he was on his way to her apartment now. His smile fell as he noticed there were multiple messages and texts from the nursing home.
He quickly opened the message center, his hands shaking as he listened to the first message. He knew though. He knew before he even heard one word.
His mother had died.
He listened anyway as the doctor confirmed his worst nightmare. He listened to each and every message as if maybe one of them would tell him there had been a mistake.
After Tuck finished listening, he dropped the phone in his lap and stared out the windshield, seeing nothing. He wasn’t sure how long he sat there. He only knew that he was in no condition to drive yet. He needed to pull himself together.
Snapshots of his life flicked through his mind. Learning to ride his first bike with his mother running along beside him with her hand on the back of the seat. She never let go until he told her she could.
The smell of cookies baking on a Sunday afternoon while she let him eat all the batter he wanted. So much of it that he never really wanted the cookies when they came out of the oven.
Christmas mornings when she tried to stretch every dollar and get him dozens of small things that weren’t worth much just so he would have lots of presents to open. She wrapped them in the cartoon section of the newspaper, telling him it was more fun that way because later they could read the cartoons and laugh at them over and over again. She was right. They did that as a tradition every afternoon on Christmas day after he opened his gifts.
The first day of school when he insisted he loved his Spiderman backpack from last year so much that he didn’t want a new one. He was always amazed to arrive at school and find it full of the brand-new supplies he needed. He had no idea how she managed to pay for them.
So much love. She’d been the best mom ever. She’d made up for the fact that he didn’t know his father tenfold. He would forever miss her.
Finally, he wiped his eyes, started the engine and drove on autopilot to the nursing home. The night crew met him at the door with sympathetic faces and led him to her so he could say goodbye.
By the time he finished filling out paperwork and waiting for the coroner to arrive, it was almost morning. He was beyond exhausted. There was still so much to do. But first he needed sleep.
Luckily, he’d called a hotel and made his reservation earlier that morning. He went straight there, hauled himself into the room, and dropped into bed. His last thought was that he hadn’t been able to see Jodi. He also hadn’t been able to tell her about his mom. She would be sleeping now. He didn’t want to wake her. Plus, she was expecting him at noon. He would text her in a few hours and ask for a rain check. He wasn’t going to be good company anyway, and there were a dozen things to do to take care of his mother’s passing.
He lay awake for several more minutes, wishing Jodi was in his arms, but telling himself this mood of his was not how he wanted to start their relationship. Hell, he’d never kissed her yet. He’d intended to have her naked and underneath him in less than six
