Page 54 of Naughty Nicky

“Mommmm,” I groan. “I was with Nick for three days. No one falls in love that quickly.”

She brushes a piece of my dirty hair out of my face. “But you’ve known him for years. A lot can happen in three days when you’ve known someone on a different level for a lifetime.”

I chew on the inside of my cheek. Because I don’t know what she’s getting at. Do I love Nick? There is no way. It was three days!

“Let me tell you a story about a time before I met your father.”

I roll my eyes, and she bops me on the nose.

“Listen, you may learn something.”

“Doubtful,” I mumble.

She ignores me and starts talking. “Back when I was your age, I met this guy who I thought I was going to marry. We had only been dating for two months, but I just knew he was the one. He was everything I wanted in a man even though your grandmother would say he was a walking red flag.”

I laugh because Mom said the same thing about Derrick.

“Now this guy had me head over heels. He was in love with me as much as I was in love with him. He made me feel special and desired and loved. I thought I was going to marry him. And we hadn’t known each other that long, but I just knew. You know that feeling, don’t you?”

I lift a shoulder in a half-shrug. I don’t want to admit it to her, and I never have, but that’s how I felt about Derrick.

“Well, this guy was a bad apple. He was the bad boy, if you will. But I didn’t care. His rebellious spirit was what lured me in. I was convinced we were going to run away together. Then one day I got home, yes, we were living together after just two months, and I found him in bed with another woman. This manwho bought me gifts and treated me like a queen had just been doing it so I would keep a blind eye to his real actions.

“I was so heartbroken. I laid in bed for two weeks. Your grandmother was so worried about me. I was barely eating. I hardly did anything except go to the bathroom. I think she wanted to admit me to a mental hospital. So, I get it, honey, when I say I know it hurts. Whether you know someone three days, three months, three years, or three decades, when you lose someone who felt like part of your soul, it feels like your entire world has shattered.”

“So how did you get over it?”

She smiles at me so deeply it makes my heart clench because I know exactly what she’s going to say. “I met your father.”

“But how did you get out of bed?”

“Your grandmother literally pulled me by the hair until I couldn’t take it anymore. Then she forced me into the shower, put clothes on me and told me to go for a walk, and that I better not come home for at least two hours.”

I laugh, imagining Grandma saying that because she is a feisty woman, and I know that is exactly what she would do.

“If she were here now, she would be doing the same thing to you,” Mom says. “I’m just nicer and not going to pull you out of bed by your hair.”

“When you met Dad you were heartbroken over another man?” I ask, knowing good and well the story of Mom walking in the park and nearly getting run over by someone on a bike that turned out to be my father. She always told me she was having a bad day and not paying attention to her surroundings, I had no idea it was because she was heartbroken.

She nods. “Yeah, and everything changed after that.”

“So let me guess, you want to get me out of bed and me to go on a walk.”

“Hardly, it’s not even ten degrees outside. But I do think you need to get out of bed and sit with your family on Christmas Eve.”

“I don’t want to see Wes.”

“I don’t blame you. But it’s Christmas, and you need to spend it with your family.”

I groan and flop onto my back. “What was the point of your story, Mom? Are you telling me that I’m going to go to the grocery store and meet the love of my life?”

She laughs softly. “No, not at all. Honestly, I think you might have just spent the last few days with him. I think he’s your Jonathon.”

I turn and look at her. “Why do you say that?”

“Because out of all the pain I felt when Mikey broke my heart, I always knew there was something else waiting for me.”

“But how do you know that’s not the same for me?”

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