Page 86 of Scoring Chances
She wouldn’t do that… right?
Chapter 24
Cassidy
Two weeks have gone by since I gave my virginity to Joshua Hicks. And since that time, our interactions have grown more and more few and far between.
I can’t say it’s all him.
I know I’m actively avoiding him. And he tends to avoid anything that happens to be cause him to feel anything other than joy or pleasure.
God forbid the man actually has to deal with something heavy like–I don’t know–the loss of a parent. Or informing a young sibling about the loss of their parent.
Or how about his plans to send his own siblings, children that share his blood, into the foster system.
Even the thought of it now has me riled up. These kids deserve so much better. And I wish I could do something about it. I wish I could hold Maddie, who I know isn’t going to have her mom with her when she gets her first period or her first heartbreak.
I wish I could jump with Parker on trampolines and watch him do back flips that will make his cautious tumbles right now look like child’s play.
I want to see Cole, driving my car to pick up his girlfriend. She’ll be sweet and funny and love the sensitive part of him that cares about little things.
And that makes me the most sad of all. Because I want all those things but their own brother–he wants the path of least resistance.
So for now, I’ve let the days float by in a summer blur. Filled with activities to keep the kids–and me–occupied and away from Joshua. Away from someone who would so easily just give them up.
Library story times. Indoor playscapes. Outdoor hikes. And lots and lots of pool time.
Maddie, Parker and I have permanent tans from our swim suits that just get even more noticeable the more time we spend at the pool.
Cole works on my car almost all the time. He heard that there’ll be a drift event coming to the Houston area this coming weekend. His goal is to have my car ready to participate in an amateur drift event.
I like that he’s at least getting out of the house.
Yesterday, I got an email from UH about fall classes. I can’t believe it’s already August. I barely have two weeks left working for Joshua Hicks and his family.
I talk to Lillian almost every day. She’s been helping me with my apartment search. I know the second I get paid–I’m going straight to a leasing office.
“I can’t believe you didn’t get paid anything up front,” she scoffs on the phone while the kids are watching a movie.
“Yeah, well, it’s not like I have much to worry about. Food, lodging, gas, clothes–he’s been paying for everything.”
“You’re a kept woman,” she says, smiling into the video chat.
“Hardly. If anything he’s a kept man. Maids to clean up after him. Chefs to cook. Nanny to watch his kids. You tell me that’s not an easy life?”
“Well, it’s not like he doesn’t work hard to afford it.”
“I guess.”
“I feel like you’re actively trying to find reasons not to like him,” she says.
I am. I definitely am. Because if I focus on the longing. I end up just getting mad at myself.
“Never mind, Joshua. Tell me about, Eddie.”
She smiles and she’s giddy. The day after the Booktrovert speed dating session–I did receive a call from Angie about a match. And it was Eddie.
Later that night, I also got a call from Lillian telling me that she and Eddie matched.