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I was going to have an aneurism before I hit forty. I just knew it.
And because my morning couldn’t get any worse, my phone chose that moment to ring again.
I swiped the screen aggressively and brought it to my ear. “I swear to God, if this is another one of my employees calling in sick, I’m firingeveryone!” I barked through the line.
“Hardy?”
I stopped the tasks I had started of wiping my filthy counters and dropped my head back on a silent scream.
“Hardy? You there?”
“I’ve asked you a million times not to call me that, Keith.”
He cleared his throat across the line like he was suddenly uncomfortable. “Yeah. Right. Sorry.”
“What do you need, Keith? I’m really busy right now, trying to get out the door.”
“No, I know, it’s just... Look, there’s something I want to talk to you about. Do you think we can meet up later this week maybe?”
He’d never been one to hem and haw around a point before, or to ask to meet up, for that matter. Our conversations usually consisted of him calling with some excuse as to why he had to miss yet another milestone in his own daughter’s life. I’d get pissed and end up yelling at him for being so selfish, then he’d accuse me of always nagging him before hanging up on me.
It was a vicious cycle that hadn’t changed in the seven years since Hazel had been born.
“Are you calling to cancel your weekend with her? We’ve talked about this, Keith. You can’t keep—”
“It’s not that. Jesus, Hardin. Can we not fight? Just this once?”
I closed my eyes and pulled in a breath, trying desperately to find my calm. It wasn’t even eight in the morning, and I was already wishing this day was over. I’d have given anything to strip off my clothes and crawl back into bed with the covers over my head.
“What do you want, Keith?” I repeated, trying to keep my voice calm.
“Like I said, I’d like us to meet up soon. Whenever you have a chance.”
My frustration was quickly beginning to bubble over. “Why can’t you just say what you need to say now, over the phone? I don’t exactly have a lot of free time.”
“Then I’ll come to you,” he spit out, his tone way too upbeat. “Just name the time and place.”
Alarm bells were ringing in my head, but I didn’t have time to hound him until he came clean. I had other, more important things to worry about at the moment, such as our daughter, who I did roughly ninety-nine percent of the caring for. If Hazel didn’t have such a good time with her father—on the weekends he actually came through—I would have asked him to sign over parental rights a long time ago. It wasn’t like losing the child support would have been a big deal. Starving artists weren’t exactly big on paying their share.
I’d accepted a long time ago that my daughter’s welfare was going to fall on my shoulders alone, and I was okay with that. I’d made the decision to be with Keith. It wasn’t like he hadn’t shown me his true colors. I’d gotten careless and wound up pregnant. I hadn’t really been known for my stellar decision-making in the past, so when things got tough and the man I was tied to for the rest of my life flakedagain, I couldn’t place the blame on anyone else.
I’d learned a long time ago to pull up my big-girl panties, stop whining about how unfair things could be, and handle my shit like a responsible grownup.
“Fine,” I said on a sigh more to get him off the phone than for any other reason. “I’ll call you later and we’ll set up a time to meet. But I really have to go.”
I could actually hear the smile in his voice as he said, “Great! Thanks, Hardin. That means a lot. We’ll talk later. Give Hazel girl my love, yeah?”
My brain screamed,because he can’t be bothered to give it to her himself? But before I could finish that thought, he’d disconnected.
I wasn’t sure how I’d pull it off or when I could make it happen, but there was one thing I knew for certain:I needed a break.
2
FORD
Istood beneath the freezing shower spray, the water feeling like millions of tiny needles pricking my skin.
My body was exhausted. The call came in hours ago. Some asshole had thought it would be a good idea to start a burn pile on his land just outside of town in the heat of the day, despite the burn ban we were currently under. He had a bunch of dead limbs, trash, and even a couple tires he’d carelessly lit on fire.
