I Hate Love✅

8. Meet the Family

She fell asleep with him in bed with her, but when she woke up he was gone. No trace of him.

Except for the good pain between her thighs. He tore her up. She would not be able to walk normally for a few days. She smiled thinking about how great random sex was. It was not her thing, but she liked it. It

She hopped into the shower and washed her hair, cleaned her body, and pulled her fro back in a puff. She dressed and decided today she needed to leave the hotel. She only had a few more days left in St. Louis, and so far she was having a nice time,

That is, till she remembered the card sitting on the dresser. Her mother. Maybe.

Should she call that woman and find out more?

With shaking hands, she dialed the handwritten number on the card.

"Hello."

"Hi, this is ummm...Ginger...Hollands...you gave me your card."

"Hi, sweetie! I'm so glad you called. What are you doing today? I'm off work and I would like to see you. Do you want me to come there or do you want to stop by my place?"

"I uh..." She was not ready to acknowledge this woman as her blood. She needed more time.

"Okay, no rush dear. Any time you are ready to talk, I am here for answers."

"How about later tonight? I have some things I need to do," she lied. "Maybe tonight sometime could work."

"Awesome. I'm having a little get-together tonight with some friends, that will be even lovely."

Oh no, she was not ready to meet any more people that would probably try and rush her into a relationship with this woman she did not know.

"No, then maybe another time."

"Nonsense! Come on over. I will text you the address."

She hung up feeling some kind of way. On one hand, she wanted to wash her hands of this woman. On the other, why not give it a chance, as Pamela said.

She left the hotel and decided to go shopping at the Galleria Mall. That used to be the place to be seen many years ago. Now all she felt like doing was people-watching. She liked how she could blend in with everyone else, just the around-the-way girl next door. She looked younger than her twenty-six years, so she blended in with the loud, rowdy teenagers.

She bought a few smell-good things at Bath and Body Works, and then hit up Victoria's Secret and bought so much new sexy lingerie but didn't know who she would model it for.

She took everything to her car and then drove off. This time just drove around the city to get familiar with it again. She exited the highway near Forest Park, drove around it, and remembered days she and Anthony would run wild in the park together, hook up with some of his friends and just terrorize park attendees. The St. Louis Zoo was cool, plus there was the Science Center, Art Museum, and History Museum at the park, all things she did at school for field trips. It all brought back memories.

Then she drove down Kingshighway and remembered catching the bus up and down the major street to get to wherever she needed to go. She drove by her old high school, Central Visual and Performing Arts High School, or Central VPA. It's where she met her girls. She missed them. She would have to call them later.

Then she drove to the southside, where she was familiar with growing up. All the trouble she got into, just because she was a lost kid. That made her sad and angry. If she had her mother instead of fake people around her, maybe she would have had a better childhood.

She drove back downtown and to her hotel. She sat in her car contemplating if she wanted to see this woman again.

Yes. She needed answers.