“She’s married? Did you see her? Talk to her? Did you meet her husband? Is he a good guy? Please tell me he doesn’t hurt her.”

She’d gone years without seeing her mother, and her first thought was for her mother’s safety. How could this spectacular woman ever think he’d want to be away from her? All he wanted was to make her dreams come true.

“I only saw them from a distance, and they looked happy. I did a background check on her husband, Anthony. He’s clean. No priors, not even a parking ticket. He’s a high school teacher with a great reputation.”

She exhaled with relief. “Thank goodness.”

“But, baby, he’s been married once before. His wife had an affair and took off. He has sole custody of their two teenage daughters, Anna and Malia, which means—”

“My mom has a whole new family,” she said with disbelief.

“But that doesn’t negate you.”

“I know.” She stared vacantly at the floor.

He turned her face toward his, her teary eyes cutting him to his core. “Baby, I have her address. You can see her, talk to her, work things out.”

“I want to do that.”

“Then why are you crying? Talk to me, Trace. Are you sad? Happy? I’m not great at reading tears.”

She smiled, tears spilling from her eyes. “I’m both, and I’m scared. What if she doesn’t want to see me? What if she’s moved on, and she really did mean the things she said to me?”

“Then you apologize, and you tell her that you wished you had listened but that you’ve moved on, too. That you’re not that naive teenager who trusted someone she shouldn’t have.” His throat thickened as more tears slid down her cheeks. “Tell her you know you were wrong, but that everyone makes mistakes and you want to fix things between you two. You tell her how much you love her and that you’re worthy of her love, and you don’t walk away until she hears you.”

Tracey buried her face in his neck, crying. He wrapped her in his arms and kissed her head. “I’ll be there with you, baby girl, whenever you’re ready to go.”

Her head popped up. “I want to go next weekend. After working out with Lior on Saturday if we can get the time off. I can talk to Dixie. It shouldn’t be a problem now that we have Dana on board, and maybe you can talk to Jed about taking your shift?” She wiped her eyes. “At least that way I’ll know for sure.”

“I’ll make it happen. We’ll go right after the gym.” He kissed her. “She’s your mom and she loves you, Trace. That’s why she tried to use tough love.”

“I was too stubborn for it to work.”