Don't Hate the Player...Hate the Game(44)

“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.

***

Chapter Fourteen

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.”