Page 33 of Fierce-Jax (Fierce Matchmaking #18)

HOW TO PLAY THE GAME

“ I t sounds as if everything went well last week when we were gone,” her mother said on Tuesday when she got out of work.

Jax went home. They weren’t at the stage where they were all but living together.

For now, the weekends were working and they’d had three nights because of the holiday.

“It did,” Dillion said. Then added that she had to have Jax pick up Gianna for her on Friday.

“I’m sorry that happened. You need to have more backups than your father and I.”

“I know,” she said. “I figured there would always be someone in my office I could send.”

“You shouldn’t think or rely on that,” her mother said.

She sighed. “It’s not their job. I know. I wouldn’t make a habit of it. It was an emergency. But I told Gianna she could have a playdate so I’ll get some of the girls’ mother’s information.”

She wasn’t about to get on social media and contact them that way. She did her best to stay off of it and out of any drama.

“That would be good. Gianna has been talking about having some friends over at some point.”

“I’m so tired at the end of the day,” she said. “Then on the weekends, there are things to do. A house to clean, laundry to catch up. General maintenance.”

“You pay a service to mow your lawn,” her mother said. “You should have a cleaning service come in and take care of the house too.”

Her mother didn’t clean while she was here during the day, but she picked up whatever she and Gianna had done. It was still helpful.

“I’m thinking of it,” she said. “I have to get over it being wasteful. You never paid for that.”

“But your father has wanted it done for years. Since you were a kid. I just feel it’s intrusive and I don’t work. But you do.”

She sighed. “If I have to sit around on the weekend while they are here cleaning, I might as well do it myself.”

“Have them come on a day I’m home with Gianna. I’m serious. Think about it. There is no shame in not being able to do it all, Dillion. You have to stop thinking there is.”

“I don’t,” she said. “Not anymore.”

“But you did for a long time,” her mother said. “We all know it.”

She had the guilt that her mother had to uproot her life to move to Charlotte so she could finish her residency. Then living with her parents during the fellowship.

There was a time when it felt like her mother was more of Gianna’s mother than her and it was difficult for her to get past those early years and she was trying to make up for it now.

Days where she only saw her daughter for an hour before she left for work and was lucky to tuck her into bed at night.

“I know how lucky I am,” she said. “I’ve always known. It doesn’t take away from the fact that I need the help.”

“Married couples need the help too,” her mother said. “Stop thinking otherwise.”

“I know,” she said. She looked outside and saw Gianna playing in the sandbox. “I appreciate everything. I’m glad you two had an amazing time on your trip.”

“We did,” her mother said. “Or I did. I could never get your father to go before, but since you bought it, he’d never say no.”

“I know how to play the game,” she said.

“And your daughter is learning too.” Her mother picked up her purse. “I’ll see you in the morning.”

She nodded her head. “See you then.”

She opened the glass doors. “I’m home.”

“Mommy,” Gianna yelled and got up from the sandbox and came running, toys and sand particles flying everywhere.

Dillion put her hand up. “Shoes off before you come in.”

She learned the hard way that half the sandbox filled her daughter’s shoes.

Gianna sat on the deck and pulled them off and then her socks, then came to her for a hug.

“I’m hangry,” she said. “Grandma told me to go play though and I’d forget about it. I didn’t.”

She laughed. It was better than tears if her daughter used that word.

“How about I start dinner now,” she said, moving to the kitchen. She opened the fridge and pulled out a package of chicken tenders. They’d cook quickly in the air fryer with some seasonings on them.

She grabbed a big sweet potato and stabbed at it with a knife, threw it in the microwave, and then pulled out two containers of berries to mix and add to their dinner.

Well rounded enough and would be finished in about ten minutes.

“Can you play while I go change?”

“I’m going to color.”

She walked upstairs once she knew Gianna was set and changed out of her clothes. When she returned, the potato was done so she pulled it out and cut it in half to let it cool, then turned the chicken over to finish on the other side and grabbed the mail on the table.

Most of it was junk, but a handwritten envelope addressed to her caught her eye.

No return address, but it didn’t seem to be junk either.

She ripped it open and blinked her eyes to see the handwritten letter.

She scanned it quickly, her heart racing that Alec’s mother was reaching out to her.

Dillion hadn’t even known his parents knew she existed let alone that Alec had a child.

But they knew now and they were threatening to go to court for grandparent visitation and that they hoped it wouldn’t come to that.

She was shaking her head rapidly, the air fryer was beeping, and Gianna was calling her name.

She finally felt Gianna tugging on her shorts. “Mommy. I’m hangry and dinner is done.”

Her eyes shifted to her daughter.

Her child.

She would not let anyone take her child.

Least of all people who didn’t know she existed and she knew nothing good about them.

She put the letter down for now.

“Let’s eat,” she said. Though she knew the food wouldn’t go down well.

All she did was move it around and put a few pieces in her mouth.

Gianna didn’t notice or didn’t understand and it was for the best.

After her daughter’s bath and a few bedtime stories, she reread the letter again, then pulled out her laptop to research if they could even take her to court for that.

There was nothing saying no and a lot of things saying they could be granted if it was in the child’s best interest to have a relationship.

Nope, it wasn’t. She’d be arguing everything Alec ever told her.

But considering Alec’s lies in the end, could he have been lying about everything in his childhood too?

She sank onto the couch and cried.

Just when life seemed to be going so well.