Page 34 of Mommy

“Trust me, she is a nightmare.”

“You don’t need to tell me.” The eye roll in that sentence is loud and clear.

Taking another pastry, Ezekiel glances over at me, and then gives a pointed look towards the cookie still in my own hand.

With a deep sigh I bite off a bit of the sweet biscuit and chew, staring back at him until his expression returns to normal.

Rosemary takes a seat next to Ezekiel, one hand brushing absently over the blocky head of the dog that jumped up on me earlier. If I remember correctly his name is Popeye, and they’ve had him for a few months. He’s already big and while I watch her pet him, I can’t help but realize that he looks familiar.

The splotchy white fur, the black dots around the nose, he looks like⁠—

“How is your life going?” Rosemary’s voice is soft. It always is, because she is soft. Everything about her. That’s probably why she fits every one of Ezekiel’s rough edges so perfectly.

“Same old.” I say with a shrug, but can’t help tagging on a: “Except, apparently man-buns are coming back into trend.”

The scowl on my face stretches my skin taunt, just thinking about the little fucker from earlier has my skin crawling with anger.

Or jealousy.

The last sentence draws a line of confusion on Rosemary’s face, but Ezekiel only lets out a disregarding snort.

“Pff, the lil’ black haired dude? Please. That’s a boy, not a man. That’s a boy-bun at best.”

His open dislike of mister I-can-wink-at-Ivory has me smiling.

“Are you talking about Liam?” Rosemary not so gently shoves against Ezekiel’s shoulder. “He’s a nice guy, you know that.”

I doubt he even felt that shove, but he still offers her an apologetic smile and waits for her to get up as the kitchen timer beeps before he shakes his head at me.

My smile widens the slightest bit, and I stuff the rest of my way-too-sweet cookie in my mouth.

At least one person here agrees with me.

Chapter nineteen

Ivory

Maybe it’s because I’m not sure how my mom is doing.

I keep telling myself that that’s probably it, and I’m in fact not smitten with Derek demanding me to come back to his place. I can’t possibly be this desperate for human interaction.

I still want to go back to his place tonight. It feels more like home than the house I grew up in ever has.

After Derek left, I took Viv for a walk, using the time alone to think about what I should be doing.

She walks calmly beside me, and a stoney fist clamps around my heart, remembering the news I got earlier from Liam.

About halfway back to the shelter I come to the realization that I should be going home to check in on my mom. That’s what a good daughter would do.

I don’t know what that makes me, when I don’t even hesitate before taking the helmet Derek offers me a few hours later.

Climbing onto the back of his bike, I let the wind blow any doubt from my mind and the remaining heaviness from my chest.

Everything will be okay.

That might be a lie. But at least I’ve got tonight. And tonight I can pretend that everything is okay. And more even, I can pretend that my life is perfect.

And that’s better than nothing.