Every time I look at him and see the nervousness perturbing from him, my nerves seem to grow. As this is his first time in a paid fight, this is my first time representing someone. I jump slightly when my phone vibrates in the cup holder and before I can grab it, Harry snatches it.
"Hey!" I reach for it.
"Hello?" He answers.
"Faye?" My mother speaks on the other end. Shit.
"Give me the phone." I try to reach for it again but he pulls away.
"Faye can't come to the phone at the moment. Can I take a message?" He asks. I snatch the phone from him and take it off speaker.
"Mom, I can't talk right now." I say into the phone.
"You didn't come by today." She says. "Who was that?"
"My client." I answer. "I've just gotten really busy today. I'll come by tomorrow. Are you okay?"
"That man came to the door again, I told him to leave." She says and I sigh.
"That's the mailman, Mom. He brings your mail everyday. He's been doing it for the past five years now."
"Oh." She says, still concerned. "Okay."
"I have to go now, Mom. I love you." She hangs up without another word.
"Your Mum is afraid of the mailman?" Harry asks.
"You had no right to answer my phone." I glance at him. My mind is racing with thoughts about tonight and my mother. I just need to get through tonight and worry about everything else tomorrow.
"I'm sorry." He says. "It won't happen again."
We sit in silence, the traffic making me jittery. I tap my thumbs anxiously on the steering wheel, taking a deep breath.
"My mother has Alzheimer's disease." I speak, glancing at Harry. His eyes jump from the car ahead of us to me. "She was diagnosed a couple years ago after my father passed away. Whenever the mailman comes to the front door to place our mail in the box, she gets nervous because she thinks he's a stranger trying to get into the house." I explain.
"I'm sorry." He says. "I can only imagine what it feels like to cope with that. My mother is everything to me, I'd do anything for her."
I look to him and smile genuinely. We begin to move again and soon enough, we're pulling into the parking lot of the arena.
"This is it." I say as I park the car. As we approach the entrance, we notice a long line. Harry asks if we have to wait but we don't. I point to the entrance before we make our way towards it. It becomes crowded and people are starting to shout nasty things. It takes me a moment to realize they're shouting at Harry.
I turn back and notice how his expression has changed. He's angry. I grab his hand quickly and pull him towards the doors. As we finally get inside, we take a flight of stairs, trying to squeeze past the people who wait. They continue to criticize him and he squeezes my hand gently, a sign for me to hurry and get us out.
"Excuse me." I say quite rudely to a couple of people who block the door of the entrance to the boxing rings room. They move out of the way and we finally break free into a room, a locker room. I head over to a window where a man sits with headphones over his ears. He pushes a clip board and pen towards me. I sign Harry in for the fight and turn back to him. He's pacing back and forth, hands pulling at his hair in anger. I can tell he isn't used to being criticized this much. I jump and quickly make my way towards him when his fist slams into a mirror, shattering it.
"Harry, calm down."
"Why do they do that? I don't think I can do this." He says quickly, still pacing.
