AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Bee nods, pride shining in her eyes.
“Have I missed my cue?” Midge says, coming up from behind us. She wraps her arm around my back, the two of them flanking me.
“I think you’re just on time,” Bee says, giving me a little squeeze.
“So, what? You’re going to cause a scene and leave this mess for me to clean up? What am I supposed to do with all your stepdaddy’s flowers?”
“Do what you want,” I say, flickering my gaze over to the display of blooms. My eye catches on a red poppy arrangement, and I cross the room. I pick it up. “I’ll keep this one though.”
“You’re just going to leave? You ungrateful bitch!”
I pause at the door as Bee and Midge pass through. I turn around and take in my mother, standing next to a nearly empty plastic tray of sandwich fixings, wearing a frayed black sweater dress and scuffed boots. She’s only seventeen years older than me, but she looks sixty.
“No, I’m more grateful than you know. I’m grateful that you neglected me and I learned how to fend for myself. I’m even grateful that you kicked me out when you did, and it forced me to get out of Pahrump. Because if you’d been even half a decent mother, I might have never left. And then I wouldn’t have the family I do.”
Bee and Midge flank me again, and as if on cue, the baby kicks.
“Love isn’t transactional,” I repeat. “And I don’t owe you anything.” I hug the flower arrangement to my chest and stare at her.
I realize it’s not the first time I’ve heard those words. It’s what Derek said, that love isn’t transactional and I don’t owe her anything. But instead of letting me down, his words bolster me, build me up.
“So, what? You think you’re better than me?” She scoffs as the rest of the room full of neighbors and people I don’t know pretends not to listen. “Well, news flash, sweetheart: you’re knocked up, alone, and last I checked, you nearly drained your bank account. So don’t get all high and mighty with me.”
I swallow hard, feeling a fresh wash of anger over money Derek wasted on a dead man. My cheeks flush hot with anger, but I let out a long, cooling breath, and shake my head.
“I don’t think I’m better than you. But I know I’m going to try a hell of a lot harder than you ever did. I won’t do anything for my baby and expect something in return. I have a lot of love to give, and I’m going to give this baby everything I have.
“And for the record,” I say, fighting my tears with a smile. “I’m not alone.”
She makes a sputtering sound, but Midge and Bee step closer.
“She’s not alone,” Bee says.
“And she never will be,” Midge says.
I don’t take another look at my mom, but deep inside, I know this is the last time I’ll let her in like that. I’ve built this new boundary with the strongest foundation there is, and both me and this baby will be just fine.
CHAPTER45
DEREK
“You idiot. What did you do?”I ask.
Freddy had been fired. Not just fired, but banned from coaching at the collegiate level.
“It’s really not a big deal,” he says, raising his palms as he steps away from my front door.
I went to campus in a suit, prepared to have my ass handed to me. I’d already written a draft of my resignation letter and had a list of prospects for next fall that I’ve been developing.
Instead, they offered me a contract extension.
“You lost your job.”
“Yeah.” He shrugs.
“You can’t coach at the college level anymore.”
“Yeah, that kinda sucks.”
