AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I burst into laughter, and Boston laughed, but he wasn’t stopping for anyone, best friend or not.
“We aren’t fucking,” I yelled back to her. “We’re making a baby!”
There was a shocked silence, and then a whoop of a cheer. A second later, more cheers joined hers, Phoenix, and Echo, our bartender, as well as Lucinda, our DJ, joining in the party. I thought I even heard Terry the bouncer’s voice in there, but I hoped not because he was kind of like my surrogate dad.
Terry listening or not, Boston came with the cheers of our found family outside the door, and nothing could have been more perfect.
12
LYRIC
Saturday afternoons were family time. While for other families, that probably meant an outing of some sort, maybe to the movies or an amusement park, none of that was in my budget. But it was special to me anyway, and I was sure Gran and Amelia enjoyed it too. Sometimes, if the weather was bad, we just snuggled up on the couch. If the weather was nicer, we’d walk Amelia down the road to the park, even if it did mean checking the ground for broken glass or worse, before she was allowed to run off and play.
But today she wanted to play a board game, and her current favorite was a thrift shop copy of Operation. So Amelia, Gran, and I had spent the last forty minutes giggling at the buzzing noise the game made as we not so deftly tried to pick little plastic body parts from the game board with wonky tweezers.
“I’m going to be a doctor one day,” Amelia declared after winning the first round.
I was so freaking proud of my kid, there was no doubt in my mind when I said, “You can be whatever you want to be, Slugger. You’re so clever, you’d make an amazing surgeon. You’d save lots of lives.”
“And earn lots of money so I can go on fancy vacations and buy you a new house, Mommy.”
Two things I’d probably never be able to give her. As much as I didn’t want it to, the comment plucked a painful string inside me.
My gran glanced up at me, and seeing the hurt look on my face, addressed Amelia. “That’s a nice goal to have. But your mommy provides a very nice home for you right now though, don’t you think? You have games and toys and lots of food in the cupboard. We’re safe and warm and most importantly, together.”
I had never been more grateful that today was one of her more lucid days. I’d needed that pep talk.
“Yeah, but it doesn’t have a pool. I want to swim.”
I pulled myself together, knowing my daughter hadn’t meant anything malicious by her words and that she was just a kid. Plus, who didn’t want a pool when Saint View sweltered in the summertime? I ruffled her hair. “Me too, Slugger. Me too. Study hard at school and you’ll be floating around in no time.”
A pounding on the door interrupted, and I got to my feet to answer it. I peered through the peephole since I wasn’t expecting anyone, and random strangers loved to bang on my door at all hours of the night. Curses of the ground-floor apartment.
But the man outside the door was one I knew well, as was his beautiful tall girlfriend who clutched her purse to her chest and shot worried glances up and down the empty hall like someone might jump out and mug her at any moment.
I opened the door. “What are you doing here, Lleyton? Hi, Kat.”
Lleyton leaned on the doorjamb and grinned at me. It was the same stupid, charming, all-American-boy grin that had led me to bed with him in the first place. It did nothing for me now. His blond hair and blue eyes held no interest in comparison to Zeph’s dark ones.
“Came to see my baby girl.”
“Daddy!” Amelia sprinted from the living room and threw herself at her father. She circled skinny arms around his legs, and he hoisted her into his arms, wrapping her in a tight bear hug and peppering her face with kisses.
It was nice to see. Amelia was such a great kid, and Lleyton wasn’t the worst. He was mostly a good guy, even if he was too irresponsible to be a parent, as indicated by his inability to pay school fees on time. Or, you know, turn up for visitation on a regular basis. But it wasn’t his fault he was a spoiled trust-fund baby who had never had to grow up. It could have been so much worse. He was always happy and carefree, and I did wholeheartedly believe he loved Amelia, even if he couldn’t be a full-time parent.
Kat crowded the two of them, brushing a loving hand over Amelia’s long hair. “Hey, cutie pie.”
Amelia grinned at her. “We’re playing the doctor game! Want to play?”
Kat shook her head and looked to Lleyton who looked to me.
A sinking feeling rose in my chest. “Why do I feel like I’m about to really not like whatever you’re about to say?”
Lleyton tugged at my shirtsleeve. “Don’t be like that. We decided to take a trip. Just a short one for the next few nights. We want Amelia to come with us.”
I frowned. He’d barely taken her overnight at all, let alone for a few nights in a row. She had daycare on Monday. But Amelia was already squirming excitedly in his arms.
“Where? Is there a pool? I like to swim!”
