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And then she somehow slipped from my hold and snuck out of my bed.
My apartment.
My life.
Thirty
Billie Rose
Two weeks after I’d left Joel’s bed in the middle of the night, feeling like shit and desperate to put some distance between us, I was sneaking up onto a porch of a newly repaired home, on a street of newly repaired houses.
The first neighborhood to be completely back to normal—houses, landscaping, streets, lights, even the fucking stop signs were new.
But not all of my people were doing well.
Some had been stretched to the breaking point with the effort and cost of rebuilding.
So…I came bearing gifts.
Quietly, I set the basket on Thelma’s porch, not wanting the older woman to have the chance to reject the offering.
Thelma was stubborn.
She was also not eating enough.
How did I know this?
River’s Bend had one grocery store and a handful of restaurants that were in good repair.
And I’d heard from Frank—the owner—that her grocery purchases weren’t coming frequently enough or in big enough quantities to sustain an adult woman.
Even one with a small appetite.
So…River’s Bend would look after her.
But I knew Thelma wouldn’t accept the basket of food and toiletries. I knew that if there was an opportunity to reject it, she’d shove it right back in my hands.
That was okay.
I could be sneaky.
I’d done it regularly, had perfected my sneaky skills in avoiding Joel.
A trait that went perfectly with knowing all—like when practice was and when the Rush games were and when Joel’s car was in the parking lot because he was trying to track me down.
I’d left his apartment in the middle of the night.
He wasn’t an asshole. He’d come calling multiple times when he hadn’t been traveling with the team.
But…harpy. After the shower. After giving me my fantasy. After…
I’d hoped.
He’d called me that name again, in that irritated tone, and I knew that even though he’d given me the locker room, given me the gentle and sweet, in the end,harpywould be all he’d give me.
I’d needed to stop things. Stop before I let that hope take me over.
Stop before I let him in further.
