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“Say you miss me, bitch, or I’m going to get a complex!” She sniffed. “And get off the toilet. That’s disgusting. Imagine if your hotties could see you now. They’d think you let yourself go.”
“I do miss you. You know I miss you. I miss you so much that I’m going to go against my better judgment and beg you to come here this weekend. I have a little extra money and I can pay for the bus ticket. I guess it’s a big football game, or something. I don’t know. The guys invited me and Jesse and I don’t want to go alone.” I smiled when she scoffed. “And I really miss you and want to see you.”
“Fine. I guess I could come to your college town where all the guys seem to be smoking hot and lusting for Oakley blood.” She sighed wistfully. “I’m going to make sure I shave and wax everything before I come. You want to pay for that, too?”
I gagged. “Keep it up and I’m going to put the child leash on you, too.”
“Tell me you’re not going to break out the child leash in public, Liv!”
“It’s supposed to be a huge crowd! I don’t want to take any chances. Jesse’s got your devious mind sometimes and I don’t know what people might be looking for a beautiful kid to steal. He’s leashed or we’re not going. Especially after the locker room incident.”
Lydie let out a frustrated growl. “That kid got you laid! You should be thanking him, not leashing him like a dog. I’m coming and I’m going to save his future. With you at the helm, that kid’s going to need more therapy than either of us will ever be able to afford. Wait… Do you think your new boyfriend with the bike money has therapy money, too?”
“I’m hanging up on you now.” I did just that and had just finished washing my hands when she called back. “Yes?”
She grumbled. “I love you. Tell Jesse I love him. Don’t tell him I’m coming, though. I want to surprise him.”
“You mean scare him.”
“Same difference.”
I shook my head at her antics. “Fine. I love you, too. Jesse loves you more.”
We’d just hung up when someone knocked on the front door. A bolt of excitement ran through me since no one knew where I lived except for the guys. Even as I tried to tamp that excitement down, I found myself grinning into the mirror as I made sure I looked okay before practically skipping to the door.
I’d been so busy with work and class and Jesse that I hadn’t seen them in a few days. Jerry’s niece had started driving me to and from work as part of her punishment for sneaking into a neighbor’s farm to tip cows. Her name was Terri and she was a little rough around the edges, but she listened to good music and she drove a vintage pickup truck that made me wish I was a flower child in the sixties. We’d become friendly with each other instantly, even though I was part of her punishment.
I pulled the door open, huge smile in place, and it immediately slipped away when I saw Taylor standing on the other side of my door. He had his arm braced on the top frame of the door and a look on his face that made me think he was trying to be seductive, but it was a flop for me.
I frowned. “What are you doing here?”
He bit his lip and smiled. “I just wanted to come by and check on you to see how you’re doing. You seemed a little low the other night.”
My lip naturally curled up like I’d smelled something dead. “What are you doing? Stop it.”
“What do you mean, Livie? I’m just checking on my favorite girl.” He at least had the good sense to stay on his side of the door.
“Gross, Taylor. I’m not your favorite girl and you’re not even a guy I want to speak to unless it pertains to our son. How’d you get my address?” I knew the guys wouldn’t have given it to him. They seemed to dislike him almost as much as I did.
“I have my ways. When I want something, I get it.” He stood up straight, ditching whatever posing he’d been committed to. “You wanted me to make an effort, babe. Here I am.”
I shook my head. “No. Just no, Taylor. I wanted you to make an effort with Jesse. Yet, you came here, uninvited, when Jesse’s in school and you haven’t asked about him once.”
“Um. How is the kid?” Rubbing his jaw, he smiled. “Starting to take after his dad with the ladies?”
My hands itched to punch him. “Go away.”
“Come on, Olive. How am I supposed to show up for Jesse when you act like this? What’s your deal? I’m here and it’s still not good enough for you.”
“Oh, so youdoknow his name!” I started to push the door closed but he put his hand out to stop me. “Go away, Taylor.”
“What’s going on with you and Jack? What are you telling him? That asshole said something to me about being a better father. How does he even know I have a kid?” Taylor’s happy-go-stupid smile faded into something uglier. He was angry that he wasn’t getting his way.
I hadn’t known Jack spoke to Taylor. After seeing the anger and hurt in Jack’s eyes as he held Jesse that day at school, it shouldn’t have surprised me. “Was he wrong? Youshouldbe a better father.”
“What business does he have knowing about it?” Raising his voice, Taylor still blocked me from shutting the door. “Are you fucking him?”
I saw red. I opened my mouth to rip him a new one but it was Andrew’s voice I heard instead of my own.
