Page 10 of Dr. Brandt

“Mom? Hey, Mom?”

“I’m here. Hold on.” I held the phone against my chest and turned to the woman whose freshly shaped pink nails threatened to puncture my skin if I didn’t back off this cab. “Hey,” I eyed her with more shock than not. “Seriously, why don’t we—”

“Listen here, you little tart,” she snapped, and suddenly I was face-to-face with the nasty woman. “I waved the cab down first. You can wait. I might—”

“Take the fucking cab. Dear God.”

“Fucking? How dare you speak to me—”

“All right, knock it off.” A man from out of nowhere stepped between the old lady and me. “I think that’s enough.”

Honking, traffic, and a bitter old woman—combined with this dude getting in the middle of whatever was happening between her and me—were leading to mass hysteria. I’d rather walk eight blocks or eight goddamn miles just to get out of this situation.

“I said to take the cab.” The quicker she got out of my face, the better.

“I was planning on it!” she snapped before she shoved her way into the taxi and smugly flipped me the middle finger before the cab drove away.

What a sweetheart, I thought, resisting the urge to be childish and flip her the bird right back.

“Mom?” I heard Jackson’s muffled voice question again from where I held the phone to my chest.

“Right here,” I sighed, putting the phone to my ear and smiling at the man who’d broken up the senior citizen fight I’d become an unwilling part of. “Thank you, sir,” I said, hoping he knew I appreciated him hailing another cab for me to get the hell out of here.

“Just another day in the city. Have a good one,” he said, waving as my cab driver pulled into the stopped traffic on the street.

“Hang on, Jacks,” I said as I climbed into the taxi and gave the driver my address. “Okay, sorry. What were we talking about? Oh, yes. I’m going to your game if I can get home and get friggin changed.”

“Friggin?” Jackson laughed. “Coming from my sweet mom who drops F-bombs on a poor old woman? I heard you.”

I rubbed my forehead. “I’m sorry about that. I think that was the strangest encounter I’ve ever had in my life.”

“When will you listen to Warren and me when we say that grabbing a cab is old news? Just call a stupid Uber and be on your way.”

“In this city? What’s the fun in that?”

“Well, maybe you won’t go to hell for cursing out old women? That’s elderly abuse, ya know.”

“Yeah, yeah. Okay,” I said with a smile. “What do you really want, Jackson?”

“I want to know if Paige and I can hit the movies tonight and maybe…” He held onto the word maybe for a bit too long.

“Maybe? Maybe what?” I asked with a little more firmness in my tone.

“Well, you and Warren have met her parents, and we just, well—”

“The fact that you’re nervous to ask if you can stay at your girlfriend’s house tonight should tell you my answer is no,” I finished with a smile.

“Mom,” he tried to settle me down with a sigh.

“Shouldn’t you be in the locker room or something, getting ready for the big game tonight? It’s the final game of the season, and here I am, about to go over how the word no means no.”

“It’s just that—well, what if we win tonight? That means I led the team to our finals and toward another championship.”

I rolled my eyes. “There is no I in team,” I said with sarcasm, knowing it would annoy him. “So, if the team wins tonight, Paige can join you with all of your teammates after the game like the cheerleaders always do.”

“Mom,” he pushed.

“Jacks, I don’t care if Warren and I have met her parents or not. I don’t care if the NFL drafts you tonight because of how well you play. You’re not going to Paige’s house.”

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