Page 53 of Second Chances

They were night and day, even when it came to how the men had dealt with Simona. Sure, Brock had been an average father and, to her knowledge, he’d never harmed Simona. But the way he’d talked to their daughter was proof that he’d never fully loved her either.

She’d been… a thing. Something he could use to get attention. After the divorce, Brock had used their daughter as a prop to get women. He’d even gloated about it on several occasions.

“I’ve got so many women lined up to be with me,” Brock had said one evening when he’d dropped Simona off. “They all want to sleep with me. Too bad you’re missing out. Who would want you now that you look the way you do?” He’d meant her stretch marks from giving birth. She had tried everything to hide them from Brock after Simona had been born. But he’d noticed them. He’d noticed every single one of her imperfections. He’d made fun of her for each and every one of them their entire time together.

At one point, she’d tried to fight back, to point out the fact that he’d been gaining weight, getting a beer gut, but that had turned out worse. He’d bent her fingers back, twisted her wrist until she’d believed it would snap, then slapped her until she’d almost blacked out.

She’d never mentioned any of his imperfections again, even after they were divorced.

There had been so much that she couldn’t do around Brock. For years she’d felt like her true self had just… disappeared.

How long had it taken her to feel like she could be herself again? Until she’d felt like she was free to purchase items without asking for permission.

Even simple little things like spending money on groceries had caused guilt for the first year after the divorce. Then Brock had started embedding himself in their life again, and she’d sank back into her old ways.

So much of who she was was because of how he’d treated her. Now that she was free of all that, she didn’t want that to happen again. No way did she want to feel like anyone was in control of her or her daughter. Never again.

It was one of the reasons she wanted to keep things casual between her and Todd. She’d trusted before and had paid the price for it.

At least now Brock was locked up and, if the rumors were true, he wasn’t going to be getting out anytime soon. He’d not only broken the terms of his parole, but he’d broken the law and, according to one report, had caused an accident.

There was no way he was going to be in her or Simona’s life for a while now. They were safe once again.

She was slightly surprised to see Todd come in one afternoon for a massage. Since she was busy with a customer, he smiled at her, held up a bundle of purple flowers and made a show of setting them on the counter for her, then waved as he headed to the back room.

After the customer left with their purchases, she walked over and buried her face in the flowers as she glanced over the appointment books to see that he was marked down for two massages that week.

This was twice now that he’d gotten her flowers. If she wasn’t careful, she could become used to it.

When he came out of the back room, he walked directly over to her and wrapped her in his arms.

“Thanks for the flowers,” she said as she held onto him.

“I saw them and thought of you. Now I feel one hundred percent.” He kissed her.

She smiled. “Problems?”

“I’ve been working on the flooring, which means a lot of hours bent over.” He stretched his back. “The massages help.”

“Yoga would help even more,” she suggested. “Tomorrow morning, I’ll be here in yoga pants.” She smiled.

“You make a very compelling argument.” He pulled her back into his arms. “What time do you get off work?”

She glanced down at her watch. “Half an hour. Kayla’s going to bring Simona by, and we were going to grab some pizza.”

“Care if I tag along?” he asked, making her smile.

“We’d love it.”

“Good. Until then, I have some stocking up to do. I’m supposed to get…” He pulled out a slip of paper from his pocket. “Some oils and lotions to help with my soreness.”

She took the paper from him and walked over to grab what he needed while he shopped for other items.

By the time she was done checking out all of his items, Amy was there to take over the store.

Kayla walked in a few moments later, looking a little flustered.

“Sorry,” she said quickly. “I’ve been running late all day.” She rolled her eyes.