“You’re not losing weight again, are you?”
“We hadpuddingfor dessert on Sunday. I ate all of it. I’m up a whole tenth of a pound.”
And this is why we weren’t here in time for Junie to do soccer tryouts.
Mom looked sick the last time I went to visit her, and since I feel partially like I’m abandoning her, too, on thisrun away and find myselfjourney, I had to stay long enough to make sure she was okay.
“Good. Eat more. And if you start to feel feverish—”
“Stop worrying about me and—”
The line clicks and goes dead abruptly, which means Mom heard her two-minute warning and didn’t tell me.
Probably hoping the system would malfunction and we’d get to keep chatting.
She’s an eternal optimist when it comes to breaking the rules.
I pocket my phone as a shadow falls across me, and I spin in the swing, ready to karate chop whatever animal is looming in the settling darkness.
But it’s not an animal.
It’s Flint Jackson.
Which might be worse.
I don’t like it when people don’t like me, though after my divorce, I’m getting better at telling myself that’s their problem.
There’s no question he’s seen me at my worst today. And I probably didn’t handle that bombshell about how he’s been using Uncle Tony’s ranch the best way.
But my biggest issue?
When he startled me, my head bumped the chain wrong, and now I can’t move because my hair is stuck.
“Ow!”I yelp as I realize moving any farther will rip everything out by the roots.
And I just had my roots redone.
“What—” he starts. Then he does one of those sighs through his nose that makes his nostrils flare. Doesn’t matter that the sun’s dipping low and the light’s dim. Pretty sure I’d see that nostril flare inside a pitch-black cave. “Are you stuck?”
“What? No. Not at all.” I try to move my head away from the chain, and my hair threatens to rip out again.Crap.I am totally stuck. “Fancy meeting you here. Can I help you?”
He lifts two Styrofoam containers. “You left your dinner.”
I grimace in the midst of trying to untangle my hair before I can stop myself. “Thank you. That’s very kind.”
“Tony would’ve wanted someone to watch out for you.”
Right.
This isn’t about me.
It’s about a man who wants nothing to change from how his life has been. He has no idea how much I cannot afford the liability insurance that would be necessary for him to keep bringing kids out to the ranch.He also has no idea how much more I donotneed the publicity and scrutiny that a kid getting hurt on the ranch would bring.
Junie and I need to stay squeaky clean. Raise zero eyebrows. Cause zero problems.
I want her to have a true opportunity for a fresh start, not more drama dumped on our doorstep.
And there’s only one way I know to get what I want.
