Page 36 of Creed

“Well, the days might not feel so long if you had someone to come home to… You should start dating again.”

“What?”

“I mean it. Brian’s seeing someone, and like you said, it’s been a year.”

“I don’t think I have it in me to do the whole dating thing again.”

“Of course you do. You’re smart, you’re beautiful, and you’ve got a good job. You just need to put yourself out there and…”

“I went out Saturday night.”

“What? With whom?”

“Laura. We went to the new casino. Played a few games and had a few drinks.”

“Oh, well,” she said, completely unimpressed. “That’s not exactly what I meant by dating.”

“We had fun. I drank too much, and I stayed out too late. But it was nice to get out, and I enjoyed spending some time with Laura. Oh, and umm… I saw Jameson today.”

I don’t know what I was thinking. It just came out.

The line went silent. I wasn’t sure if the call had dropped, so I asked, “Mom?”

“I do not like that boy.”

“Oh, good grief. He’s not a boy,” I countered. “He’s a grown man. And you loved him when we were dating.”

“Well, that was before he hurt you. Now, I don’t like him, and I’m not sure I ever will.”

“We were kids. We hurteach other.”

“You forgive too easily. You always have. That boy broke your heart. You were a mess for months. Years, if we’re being honest, and that’s not the kind of thing you just get over.”

“I never said I was over it, but we’re different people now. We’ve both grown and learned things, and from what I could tell, he seemed good. Even better than he was back then, and that’s saying something. He was really good to me.”

“Until he wasn’t.”

“He was never bad to me, Mom. He just couldn’t… It doesn’t matter. We both made our mistakes.”

“I still don’t understand why he had to keep you two a secret. It made no sense. It still doesn’t.”

“It was complicated, Mother.”

“Oh, you called me Mother. That means I’ve hit a nerve. I’ll stop while I’m ahead. Just know I’m not a fan of him or his motorcycle. The very idea of you riding on that awful thing.”

“And to think, I rode it and lived to tell about it.”

“Yes, I definitely hit a nerve. Might ask yourself why.”

“I’ve gotta go. I have a ton of papers to grade, and I have class in an hour.”

“Okay. Okay.” She sighed, long and heavy. “I’ll just say one more thing... I’ve always been one of those who believe there are far better things ahead of us than anything or anyone we leave behind, but if you think there’s something unresolved between you two, then you should go figure out what it is. Otherwise, you will spend God knows how long wondering if he’s your one.”

“Okay. I’ll think about it.”

Her words dripped with sarcasm when she added, “Who knows? He really could be the one. I don’t think so, but stranger things have happened.”

“Um-hmm… Goodbye, Mother.”