AllFreeNovel
Share Us
It wasn’t the slow manipulation that was the barb, it was the length of time she allowed it to happen. The signs were there, and it was her fault for ignoring them.
Jason had made it easy at first. It was nice to come home to someone and share the little things.
The nicer moments became few and far between. They always came with his method of payback which made her feel smaller.
Mel hurried to her car, slouching in the driver's seat she rested her head against the steering wheel. The thought of going home, back to that apartment, made her stomach curdle.
Her phone buzzed with an incoming message:
Credit Account #45780 is $482 past due. TO AVOID FURTH…
Another came through before she finished the first.
It was another twist to everything he’d left her with.
Feeling defeated, she snuffled, then swiped her phone to the call log and hit the first number on the list. It rang twice before it was answered.
“Jules.”
“Hey, hey! Whatcha–”
“Are you busy?” Melody cut her off with a sniffle. The armor falling away.
“You okay?”
“Everything’s a di–saSASter.” Mel hiccuped and scrunched her nose. Julia quietly listened, breathing rhythmically through the phone until Mel followed suit and reigned in her emotions. “Okay.”
“Come over, we’re getting drunk and coloring.”
“You’re my favorite person.”
THREE
Wes pulled the door to his work studio closed, leaving the material delays behind to deal with later on in the week. Sarah would be going with her uncle Graham–her mother’s brother–for the week, and he’d use the time to catch up and in theory get ahead.
With spring in full swing Sarah would soon be out of school for the summer and demand more Papa days. One flash of those bright blue eyes and nothing could make him say no.
Sarah was a spitting image of her mother, with cascading blonde ringlets and sweet dimples that deepened when she smiled. She showed signs of a stubborn streak that was bound to grow bigger than his grandfather's once her mind was set.
One, two, three, he was wrapped tightly around her finger.
From the moment he saw her, he knew where his heart belonged. It seemed impossible that such a small, innocent child could steal his heart so easily. He always felt guilt and sadness for Kathrine's absence in Sarah's life.
It wasn't his own pain that plagued him, but the thought of her growing up without a mother figure through no fault of her own. That realization was the catalyst for turning his life around.
His relationship with Kat was built on lust, neither of them at ease enough to get more than physically naked with the other. The convenience was there and it was comfortable: see you when I see you.
When Kat told him she was pregnant he offered to live together, to co-parent, and to give their relationship the effort a child deserved. She insisted she didn’t want to make any huge decisions as hormonal as she was.
The next time he brought it up, she couldn’t leave her brother.
Then, she wanted to do it on her own.
In hindsight, they were just excuses to bide her time.
He’d gotten a call from Graham on a Saturday night when Sarah was six months old and teething. Kat had packed a suitcase and left while her brother was in the shower.
Wes didn’t hear from her until his seventy-third message asking her what was going on.
