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And made me do all the cleaning.
He’s lucky I’m busy right now.
Never let me go back.
I’ll drag you kicking and screaming away from him if I have to. ICK.
His anger was growing, and though he didn’t say anything in meetings or in front of my parents, I knew the second I gave in and spoke to him, he wouldn’t hold back. I told myself I would be safe if I didn’t talk to him.
But the fact that I felt that way at all put my nearly five-year relationship into perspective.
Soon after, my phone rang. I almost ignored it, but I saw that this call was from Mom.
“Why did you call your father about a lawyer, Mollie?” Mom’s voice was exasperated. “Just what is going on out there?”
“It was for a ... friend.” Cain definitely wasn’t a friend, but was Eric? Either way, the less Mom knew, the better. “There’s a child custody battle going on?—”
“Don’t get involved in the day-to-day there. It’s all petty drama.”
I knew for a fact that she loved petty drama in her neighborhood. Often, she was the cause of it when she went after people for having unapproved flowers in their garden.
“It’s fine,” I said. “I’m not too involved. I just wanted to help him.”
She gasped. “Him?”
“His gender has nothing to do with this.”
“It has everything to do with this. What does this help turn into? A date or two?”
“It’s not like that,” I said. It never would be. Did I think Cain was hot? Sure. He was a hot man who loved animals and was good with kids. Most women would melt for that.
But it was a problem when he opened his mouth. Or whenIopened my mouth.
He’d seemed shocked that I’d done a nice thing for him. But I knew it wasn’t going to change anything. Tomorrow, we would be back at each other’s throats over nothing.
At least I didn’t take shit from him. I felt like the same little girl who would say anything that was on her mind when I was here.
I needed to be her again.
“Well, what am I supposed to think? You’re taking a breakfrom the healthiest relationship I’ve ever seen to go be in the middle of nowhere with a random ma—” She paused. “Please tell me this friend you helped isn’t that farm manager who lives there.”
“Uh, it’s not?”
“You’re lying. Why is this farm manager in a custody battle?”
“I thought you didn’t want me to be involved in petty drama. Now you wanna know?”
She went silent for a long moment. “Fine. I don’t want to know. What I do wanna know is when you’re coming back.”
Cotton made its way to my throat. “Not sure. Soon, maybe.”
She let out a sigh. “I just don’t understand why you’re even there.”
“You really can’t see any reason why I’d like a quiet, small town over the city?”
“No, I can’t.”
“It’s slower here. I can talk to the people who live here.”