Blind Spot - Katana Collins Page 0,103

and she jerked back as I held on to her hand. “Damn…that really backfired.”

Her laugh was like poetry, and my entire body warmed with the sound. It felt like ages since I heard that laugh.

“C’mon Archie. Let’s go home.”

Epilogue

SHELBY

Nine Months Later

I pulled up to the tutoring center in my Prius. Tate had convinced me it was worth the extra money because it was so reliable and I’d save that money in gas within a year. The bottom line? He knew cars more than I did, so I trusted him.

My cap and robe hung draped across the backseat. One more day. One more day as a college student, and then I would have a week’s break before beginning my job with Hilton. Since my job would involve a ton of travel, Tate and I planned to be based out of Chicago, where he would go to grad school. Well, med school, to be exact.

It was bittersweet. I couldn’t wait to begin our life together. And yet, our beginning also meant saying an even bigger good-bye to my mom, in a sense. Good-bye to the tutoring center, and Cathy, and the best French fries and mint chip milkshake I’d ever had. Even though Tate was working on perfecting his milkshakes, they still weren’t as good as the diner’s. Probably never would be.

I swiped a tear from my eye. But today was about Sophia and her elementary school graduation party at the tutoring center. Confusion slammed into me as I scanned the huge crowd waiting outside.

I carefully climbed out of my car and saw Tate standing at the front of the crowd with a wiggly Sophia holding his hand. A giant red ribbon stretched across the front door and a large white sheet blocked the facade.

Next to Tate was Ryan, flanked by Harrison, Reagan, and numerous students I had tutored through the years. “Tate…” I laughed nervously. “What’s going on?”

He met me halfway, taking my hand and pulling me toward the crowd. Sophia and her mom stepped up first, handing me a rose. Sophia’s mom smiled warmly, nodding for her daughter to talk.

“I didn’t know your mom well. But she always smiled and pretended to grab my nose when she came to visit you. I don’t know what it’s like not to have a mommy. I hope I don’t ever have to know,” Sophia finished, so excited she hopped around in place.

She stepped back, and Ryan moved forward, handing me a rose. “When I first got the job here, I almost didn’t take it. I didn’t know what I was doing with my life.” He swallowed, looking at a bench near the front door. “I sat on that bench for an hour, and your mom came over from the diner with a chocolate milkshake for me. She told me to follow my gut, and that the center would be lucky to have me. She’s the reason I’m here. She’s the reason I’m fulfilled every day in my job. And she’s the reason I am addicted to those dang chocolate milkshakes.” He grinned, leaned forward, and dropped a chaste kiss to my cheek before moving to the back of the group.

Hot tears burned my eyes as Cathy stepped forward. That’s when I lost my shit. I don’t even know that I heard what all she said because I collapsed into her arms. She spoke quietly into my ear and whispered that she loved me, and how she still felt my mom’s love each day. Pulling back, she squeezed my shoulders, pressing the rose into my palm.

One by one, people from my mom’s life—from my life—stepped forward, expressing their love for the most important woman I ever knew. After dozens of stories, Reagan handed her phone off to Harrison, and he continued videoing as she dove forward, hugging me. Sobs quivered in my chest, and I looked into the bright sun to stop the tears. If I didn’t calm down, I’d become dehydrated in seconds.

“Your mom called me,” Reagan said, her own tears falling onto the hot pavement between our feet. “I never told you…but she called me when she was first diagnosed.” Reagan didn’t even look up into my eyes; she kept her head cast down, bobbing with each word. “She…she told me that I was brought into your life for a reason—to be the next Dee Stevens. She told me not to let you get away with bullshit. She asked me to watch out for you and to make sure you knew when