Page 36 of Sunsets & Slow Dances

That was the problem with the telephone game of gossip. It always got twisted and blown out of proportion as it went from one “source” to another.

“It didn’t come to that,” I assured her. Although I wish it had. Any man who puts his foot inside of a woman’s door when she asks him to leave deserves to get choked out.

My mom crossed her arms in her I’m-not-going-to-let-this-go stance. “What happened?”

I knew that she wanted more information, but I’d told her the truth. There was nothing going on with me and Nadia, and nothing happened with me and Will. Even though that was the case, I also knew she wouldn’t drop it until I gave her something.

“Who did you go on the cruise with?” I countered.

I figured if I was going to let her in on my private life, turnabout was fair play. The sad news for her was I didn’t actually have any juicy gossip. So, if she did decide to go for a quid pro quo, my quo was not going to stack up to her quid.

Her lips twisted to the side, which meant she was considering her options. I waited, patiently.

“His name is Michael.”

I waited, indicating that was not nearly enough information.

With a roll of her eyes, she continued, “Michael Robbins.”

“The mechanic who owns Robbins Auto Repair Shop?”

“Yes.”

“Wow.” I couldn’t help but smile. Michael Robbins was a good guy. A standup guy in the community. If there were anyone I would deem good enough for my mom, it would be him. He started a chapter of BACA Bikers Against Child Abuse. And he worked with animal shelters to help them rehome bully breeds.

“So, should I call you Amal?”

Her face scrunched. “What?”

“Michael Robbins is Firefly Islands resident Clooney. He’s the hottest confirmed bachelor in town.”

“Stop,” she warned.

“I’m serious. You know all the girls in my class had a huge crush on him because he looks so much like Charlie Hunnam from Sons of Anarchy. They all wanted to take a ride on his motorcycle.”

I was teasing my mom, but I wasn’t lying. All the girls really did have a crush on Michael Robbins. Some of them even purposefully tampered with their cars so they had an excuse to take them into his shop.

My mom’s cheek flushed. She shook her head and lifted her hand in the classic halt move. “Stop. That’s enough. I told you who I went on the cruise with. Now, it’s your turn; tell me what happened.”

“I was there giving Nadia a quote to fix up her grandad’s place. Will showed up. She asked him to leave. He didn’t. I asked him again. He did.”

That was the gist.

“So youdidn’tput hands on him?”

“I didn’t have to.”

“Why not?”

“Because he recognized me.”

“But you would have?” Concern laced my mom’s voice.

“I’m a grown man. You don’t have to worry about me.”

“Being grown has nothing to do with it. Coming back here, I just don’t want you to fall back into your old ways and old triggers.”

Growing up, I’d had a lot of anger, and I’d taken that anger out in the wrong way. I’d gotten in a lot of fights before I had MMA to focus all of that excess energy into something healthy. Part of it had to do with having ADHD that went undiagnosed. Part of it was because my dad was high profile, and kids liked to give me shit about him. Part of it was because nothing I ever did was good enough for my dad, and I got frustrated because of that. My grades weren’t good enough. I got As and Bs, but he wanted straight As, no excuses. I wasn’t good enough at sports. I played baseball and football but wasn’t as good as Mark Lyons, who went on to play in the NFL, or Harlan Mitchell, who was a major league pitcher.

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