Don't Hate the Player...Hate the Game (20 page)

Suddenly, her eyes snapped open, and she gazed over
at me. There was a guilty look in her eyes that told me she still
hated herself for hitting me. It was then replaced by one of
relief. She was glad I was home. “Noah,” she said, as she as she
pulled herself up on the couch.

She started to say something, but then she saw the
flowers in my hand. When she caught my gaze, I smiled. “These are
for you.”

“They’re beautiful.”

I drew in a deep breath. It was now or never time.
“Mom, I was a real jerk to you earlier. I wish I could take back
what I said and did, but I can’t. I want you to know I didn’t mean
it, I promise.”

Mom refused to look at me. Instead, she kept her eyes
on the flowers.

“And I think it’s great that you’ve met a guy as nice
as Greg, and I’m sure you’re going to be very happy.”

Her head jerked up, and she stared incredulously at
me. “You do?” Mom questioned.

“Yeah.”

She reached out and touched my cheek. “I’m so sorry I
hit you, Noah. I shouldn’t have done that.”

I shook my head. “Yes, you should have. In fact, you
should have decked me one. I mean, I said a real shitty thing to
you!”

“Language,” she half-heartedly admonished as a smile
crept on her lips.

“Okay, it was a really crappy thing to say.”

“That’s better.” She reached over and hugged me. In
her arms, I felt safe again like I had earlier with Maddie.

“I love you, Noah,” Mom whispered in my ear.

“I love you, too.”

That night when I got ready to get into bed, my eyes
fell on the bookcase across from me. More specifically, they honed
on the Sullivan family Bible. I got out of bed and slowly walked
over to the bookcase. I pulled the ancient book off the shelf. As
soon as I held it in my hands, the smell of age and dust filled my
nostrils. I opened it and started thumbing through the pages.
Suddenly, it flipped open to the Book of Genesis with the part
about Noah, and an envelope fluttered to the floor.

“What the hell?” I murmured. I quickly bent down and
scooped up the envelope. Scrawled across the front was my name, and
it was in Granddaddy’s handwriting. With trembling fingers, I
opened it. The only thing inside was a check for five thousand
dollars. On the subject line, it read, “Noah’s Treasure”.

I stood dumbfounded in the middle of my room for a
few minutes, just staring at the check dated two years ago. Then I
threw open my bedroom door and ran down the hall to Mom’s room. I
knocked on the door. “Come in,” she called.

Propped up in bed reading, she stared at me in
surprise. “Honey, what’s wrong? You look like you’ve seen a
ghost.”

I strode over to her bedside and thrust the check
into her hand. “I-I just found this in the Sullivan Bible.”

“Uh, huh,” Mom replied.

My mouth hung open. She didn’t seem a bit floored.
“Um, hello, it’s a check for five thousand dollars!”

“Yes, I see that, sweetie.”

I raised my eyebrows. “Did you know about this?”

Mom nodded.

I snorted. “Then why didn’t you tell me?”

“Because Daddy told me not to. He wanted you find it
yourself when you were ready—more precisely when you went searching
in the Bible.”

“And what if I hadn’t?”

Mom smiled. “He knew you would.” She handed the check
back to me. “And so did I.”

I couldn’t believe it. “But it’s been so long. Won’t
the check be void?”

“No, Grammy has the money waiting on you.”

“Grammy knew about it too?”

“Of course, she did,” Mom said. She gave me a pointed
look. “Where exactly did you find it?”

“In Genesis with Noah.”

The corners of her lips turned up in a pleased smile.
“I thought he might put it there—course Romans was his favorite
book. Do you know why I named you Noah?”

“Cause it was Granddaddy’s middle name?”

“Yes, but I also knew you were going to face a lot of
struggles in life—not having a father and being what people would
label ‘illegitimate’.”

“More like bastard, isn’t it?” I questioned, with a
grin.

Mom rolled her eyes. “Whatever. I just wanted to name
you after someone who was looked at negatively by the world but who
was favored by God.”

I shook my head. “Aw, Mom, you’re so deep,” I mused,
trying to avoid the serious look that was creeping in her eyes.

She smiled. “That’s right. Be a typical man and
change the subject—anything to avoid the touchy feeling stuff,
right?”

“Maybe,” I admitted.

“Okay, I think I’ll let you this once and not push
it.”

“Good.” I leaned over and kissed her on the cheek
before heading into the hallway to my room.

When I finally collapsed into bed, my mind was
whirling. It’d been a hell of a day, and I was pretty sure there
was more to come.

***

The rest of the week flew by. Everything was
winding down at school—talk of graduation practice and parties were
on everyone’s lips. Then on Monday afternoon when I breezed through
the garage door, I found our kitchen had been transformed into
Wedding Central. I raised my eyebrows as Mom and a dude I’d never
seen before were hunched over the kitchen table buried in a
mountain of books. Grammy was sitting across from them furiously
taking notes. I cut my eyes over to the stove where Greg stood,
arms folded over his chest.

I grabbed a bottle of water out of the refrigerator
and went over to him. “Dude, what the hell is going on?”

“Your Mom’s scaled back her hours for the next few
months, and I traded with Dr. Sanchez to have this afternoon off to
discuss… the wedding plans.”

I leaned over and lowered my voice. “Um, who’s
that?”

Greg rolled his dark green eyes. “That would be
Gerard, the wedding coordinator,” he grumbled.

I eyed the guy in the pale pink suit with a fake rose
in the lapel. “Wow,” I murmured.

Greg nodded. “I totally understand that Maggie has
waited her entire life to have the wedding of her dreams, but him,”
he paused and gave me a look like he wanted to hurl at any minute.
“I don’t get
him
.”

Stifling a laugh, I nodded. “Dude, I feel your
pain.”

Greg grinned as he held out his fist for me to bump.
Normally, I would have thought he was a total douchebag, but I
rethought my strategy and decided to give him a chance to try to be
my future step-father. I knocked his knuckles with mine and
smiled.

Mom glanced up from the pile of papers and magazines
to see me. “Noah, come here and let me introduce you to
Gerard.”

“Okay,” I said, reluctantly before shooting Greg a
look.

As I walked over to the table, Gerard jerked his head
up to take me in. A smile widened across his lips shimmering in
pink lip gloss. “Now look at this fine piece of male specimen!” he
exclaimed. He turned to my mom. “Maggie, when you told me you had a
seventeen-year-old son, you didn’t tell me he could’ve hopped right
off the runway at Fashion Week!”

Mom beamed in appreciation of his compliments of me.
I, on the other hand, wanted to slap the shit out of him. I didn’t
like the way he was ogling me—like I was a pretty piece of flesh or
something. Ugh.

“Noah, it’s a pleasure to meet you. Your mother is
one of the most promising clients I’ve had in years. Why her
wedding just might make it into
Atlanta Brides
or another
magazine,” Gerard drawled.

“Oh, um, wow. Great. Thanks,” I muttered since I was
totally unsure of what to say.

He gingerly shook my hand, and then he turned back to
my mom. “Isn’t he going to look absolutely divine in his tux, and
when I think about him giving you away—” Gerard flapped his hand in
front of his eyes, trying to calm himself. “I just want to weep at
the moment!”

Dumbfounded, I stared in surprise at Mom. “You want
me to give you away?”

She smiled. “Of course, I do. You will, won’t
you?”

Wow, I hadn’t expected that at all. My heart did a
funny flip-flop in my chest. “Yeah, course I will. It’s just you
hadn’t mentioned anything, and I don’t know—I guess I thought Uncle
Mark might do it since he’s your oldest brother.”

Mom shook her head. “Nope, it’s you all the way,
sweetheart.”

“Oh, that’s just precious!” Gerard gushed.

I glanced over my shoulder at Greg who was doing his
best to stifle his laughter behind a dish towel. He removed the
towel and held his hands up in self-defense.

“Okay. I’d love too,” I said.

“And I’m sure there’s probably a hundred girls vying
to be your date at the wedding, you yummy little dream,” Gerard
said.

Then he did the unthinkable. He. Pinched. My. Cheek.
He better be damn glad it was the cheek on my face and not my ass,
or he would have been picking himself up off the floor.
Involuntarily, my fist curled, and I had to fight not to smack him
regardless. When I shuddered violently, Greg turned a laugh into a
cough. I shot him a death glare to which he winked in response.

Mom tried not to laugh at the expression on my face.
Instead, she cocked her head. “So, who are you going to bring?”

I was still contemplating my revenge on Gerard.
“Huh?”

“You don’t have to bring a date, but I was just
thinking you might.”

A date? Huh, I hadn’t even thought of that. The truth
was even though I was more accepting about the wedding, I still
wasn’t too thrilled to think or talk about it. But I’d probably
look like a big loser showing up dateless to my mom’s wedding.

“Yeah, I’ll find someone.”

Mom smiled. “Oh good.” Then she bit her lip like she
always did when there was something she wanted to say but wasn’t
sure she ought to.

“What is it, Mom?” I questioned.

“Well, I was just going to tell you that I’ve asked
Pastor Dan to marry us.”

My eyebrows shot up. “You have?”

Gregg nodded as Mom replied, “Yes, we did.”

“But you barely know him,” I countered.

“That’s true, sweetie. But after Pastor Phillips died
last year, I really haven’t connected with any of the other
ministers at our church, and I don’t know, there was just something
I really liked about him the other night at the Nelson’s. Plus,
he’s so good to visit the sick, and he always comes to the hospital
to pray over the new babies.”

I didn’t really know what to say. “Then I think
that’s a good idea.”

A pleased expression came over Mom’s face. “Oh good,
I’m glad you think so.”

Gerard clapped his hands. “So sorry to interrupt this
family moment, Maggie, but we’ve really got to press on with the
details. We’re on a tight schedule here you know.”

“Hey, people who are already pregnant get married all
the time!” I exclaimed, jumping to Mom’s defense.

Trying to hide a smile, Mom shook her head. “Gerard
wasn’t talking about my pregnancy, Noah. He’s talking about how
Greg and I have moved the wedding up because of our schedules,” she
explained.