“BiPap. For when she sleeps. She doesn’t need it all the time.”
“That’s good, right? That she doesn’t need it all the time, I mean.”
“It is,” he says with a nod. “She had a feeding tube placed a couple months ago, but she can still eat some. She likes to taste, you know?”
“Yeah. She’s a baking boss babe, so I can see why,” I say with a laugh, and he smiles in the exact way I was hoping for. “Thanks for letting me meet her.”
“Thanks for being willing to meet her. And for acting...”
“Yeah,” I force a smile. “Of course.”
He doesn’t have to say it. Thanks for acting like everything was normal. For not acting like she’s got a terminal disease. For not acting like her son and I are enemies. Thanks for pretending.
This whole situation sucks.
“Why does she call you Alex?”
“She just always has. She likes it more than Riggs. My dad wanted Riggs and they couldn’t decide, so they flipped a coin for it. Mom lost, so they made Alexander my middle name and she’s just always used that.” He laughs. “She’s the only person who calls me Alex. Well, until you...”
I don’t say anything, and an awkward tension blankets us. Until me because I called him Alex. Because he told me his name was Alex. Before I learned that his name is actually Riggs. Unease starts to unfurl in my belly, but Riggs changes the subject.
“Feel confident about tomorrow?” he asks as we walk back into the kitchen and start cleaning up.
“I do, actually.” I wipe down the gorgeous countertops, and Riggs places the Chum Chum in a glass storage container. “I think practicing was just what we needed.”
I let Riggs give me a tour of the rest of the condo. Both stories, the other three bedrooms, the terrace and balcony, the home gym and a friggen theater room. We talk strategy as he shows me around, and he tells me little stories about his childhood. Memories of things that happened in each room.
I’m relaxed as we head back down the spiral staircase. I’m feeling light and even, dare I say, happy. I’m smiling to myself as we head through the hallway that leads back to the foyer, and I continue to smile the entire drive back to the hotel.