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Her phone buzzed beside her on the nightstand. Leaning over, she scooped it up as Jeff’s name flashed up on the screen. Flicking her hand along the screen, she answered.
“Hi,” she said.
“Hey.”
“How was your day?
“It could have been better.” Did she really want to tell him about the kids calling her that?
“Yeah, why is that?” he asked.
“Well, today Max came home from school and asked me what a gold-digging slut is.” It had been hurtful enough being called a slut when her parents had said it. Having it come out of her son’s mouth, even as a question, and knowing he had to deal with that had nearly destroyed her.
“Are you kidding me?”
“I wish I was. No, apparently some little shit at school told him that his mom was a gold-digging slut.”
“I’m so sorry, Key. What did you say?”
“What could I say? Obviously, I told him I wasn’t, but… I didn’t honestly know what I was supposed to say.”
“Obviously it’s not true,” Jeff said.
“I know, but… Doesn’t make it any easier to have to answer the questions. Doesn’t make it any easier to have to explain to him why somebody might say that about me.” She flipped onto her back and covered her arm across her face. “It just sucked.”
“Understandable.” Jeff paused. The silence on the phone was deafening.
Kia sighed. “He wanted to know if you really liked me and if I really liked you or if I was just hanging out with you for money. He didn’t understand why somebody would like somebody for money.”
Jeff chuckled. “Oh, to be young. Does that mean you finally told him we were dating?”
“No, it didn’t really seem like a good time to explain any of that. He was confused enough already.” She rubbed her hands over her face. “I was hoping by not openly dating, this wouldn’t even be an issue. No one even knows about us. Why would someone even say that?”
“I don’t know what to tell you, Kia.” He paused for several seconds, and she wondered what he was going to say. Finally, he spoke, “What we have is more than that.”
Hearing him say that made her stomach flip. “I’d like to think so.” Shoot, this whole thing had her emotions all jumbled up. She was all over the place. “But is that honestly what people think of me? Do people really think that’s the kind of person I am? Does my kid have to deal with that shit at school?” Frustrated, she smacked her palm on the mattress. “What the hell kind of parent would even say something as stupid as that? Even if it was true, how dare they say something like that to our son?”
“I’m sorry, babe. Do you want me to talk to him? You want me to call him?”
“No, I think I handled it. It just sucks that he even had to go through that. That he heard that, period. He was so hurt. Kids don’t wanna play with him because of it.”
“Little fucker,” Jeff said. “You know I don’t think that about you, right?”
“I know.” She sighed. “It still sucks that other people do. Normally, I wouldn’t care what some asshole said about me. But when it affects Max, I do.”
“Why don’t you guys get away for a week? Come see me in Phoenix. I’m sure Viper would give you the time off.”
As nice as the idea of escaping sounded, she couldn’t. “I can’t. Max has school.”
“He’s in kindergarten. I somehow don’t think it will be a big deal if he misses a week of school. He’s already light years ahead of everyone else in class with his reading.”
“I know he is, but it’s not just about that.”
“What is it then?”
“I don’t know. How am I supposed to teach him the value of school and the importance of not skipping and stuff if I just pull him out whenever?”
“It’s one week, Kia.”
