I looked to the other side of me, and Michelle was holding my left hand and grinning. The dream was short, but that’s all I needed to remember. I woke up and shook my head again. The damage had been done. Nothing else was important to me. All I thought about was my trip to San Fran to meet up with Michelle again after four years, and to meet the daughter she claimed was mine.

Just as I had planned, I ignored phone calls from everyone but my mother and sister. I even failed to return calls on new modeling jobs. I didn’t need to take all of them.

My mother called me early that next week and asked me, “Have you called Geneva Pitts yet?”

“No,” I answered, “and I don’t plan to.”

“Well, why not, Terrance? What’s wrong with her? She’s pretty enough for you, isn’t she?”

Truth was, I didn’t feel like starting over with anyone. Geneva made things seem way too hard, and I didn’t feel up to it, especially after the recent events in my life. I needed to focus on just one thing for a change.

I said, “Mom, if you’re calling to do the matchmaker thing again, then I’m gonna have to cut our conversation short.”

“Are you saying you’re gonna hang up on me?”

“I’m saying I have other things on my mind right now.”

“Like what, knocking on more doors?” She was loving that line and kept using it. She said, “Terrance, there is no future in that lifestyle. You’re thirty-three years old now.”

“I know how old I am. And I’m thinking about that every day now.”

“Are you really?”

“Yes I am.” I was telling her the truth. Thinking about a possible daughter I had never met before made me reevaluate a lot of things.

“Well, I’m not gonna keep you long. I’m just calling to check up on you. I haven’t talked to you since you left me that little letter on the kitchen table last week.”

I smiled. “So, you read it.”

“Of course I read it, but I was giving you enough time to talk to Geneva before I called you.”

“Well, don’t hold your breath on that,” I told her. “But I may have another surprise for you soon,” I hinted.

My mother said, “I don’t need any more surprises. Now what are you gonna surprise me with?”

“If I told you, then it wouldn’t be a surprise.”

“We’ll see. All right, well, let me go on back to work before these people take away my retirement. These corporate folks are mean nowadays.”

My mother was always running her mouth about something. She sure had a lot of character though. I imagined her around Michelle’s reserved shell and doubted if my mother would ever like her. She would immediately think the woman was hiding something. And how could I blame my mother? Michelle had been hiding a daughter for three years. Or not really hiding, she just didn’t say anything about it.