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Karla cackled. “You know, you should get a new car, Emma. This one looks like it was already secondhand back when—”
And my car chose that moment to roar into life, spewing a cloud of dark smoke from the exhaust and right onto Karla, who was still standing by my trunk.
Oh God.My car justfartedall over Karla!
I couldn’t help the giggle that bubbled in my chest as I watched her from the rear-view mirror, coughing and sputtering curses at my old car.
I patted the dashboard as I drove off and cooed, “Good job, Betsy. You really showed that mean lady something.”
***
I picked up the clothes on the floor and placed them into the hamper, ready to go into the laundry. Dillan never could put the clothes in the hamper no matter how many times I reminded him.
As I picked up after my husband’s mess, my mind wandered back to Julian and I shook my head wistfully at the thought of him loading his shopping cart with cereals and instant ramen.
Julian had always been good-looking even back when we were in high school, and I knew a lot of girls back then who had a crush on him. With his own architectural company, he was practically every woman’s dream wrapped up in a perfect package.
I couldn’t understand why he was still single and eating off a box.
A man his size needs more than just cereals to survive,I thought, shaking my head.But who was I to tell him to eat and what not to eat? I’m barely managing to get food on the table myself with our tight budget…
I sighed to myself as I made my way to my son’s room. Luckily, Max was nothing like his dad. He was pretty good at tidying up after himself and I didn’t have to do much except dust the shelves and vacuum around a little.
That was when I found them—several action figures in pristine condition, gathering dust under Max’s bed.
My heart fell when I realized that these were all the toys Dillan had given Max to make up for all the times that my husband had missed a soccer game or school play.
I sighed and got out a basket, placing the toys in them. Dillan had absolutelynoclue what his son wanted.
By the time I was done cleaning, it was time to pick up Max from school.
“Hey, Mom!” Max greeted me, sliding into the backseat. “Guess what happened today?”
I smiled at him. “How was your day, honey?”
“Remember that technique you taught me for Math? Well, I used it and guess who got the highest score in class?”
“Who?” I grinned.
“ME!” he crowed.
I laughed, allowing his cheerful voice to fill the silence in the car as we drove back home. It was one of the reasons I never found it necessary to have my broken radio fixed.
When we got home, I started preparing dinner while Max brought his homework down with him to the kitchen.
“Julian told me I’m really making progress,” he beamed after he was done with his homework. “He said that I have definitely come a long way since I started.”
“Well, we saw each other at the supermarket today and he told me the same thing,” I winked at him.
Dinner was getting cold but there was still no sign of Dillan.
“I might need to buy new shoes,” Max told me.
I nodded absentmindedly as I glanced at the food on the table and then the door, hoping Dillan would magically appear.
He was late.Again.
At that moment, my phone lit up with a message from my husband.
