He just laughs. “Don’t worry—you’ll be contributing to groceries.”
For the first time since I was officially notified I was moving to Atlanta, I start to feel like it was the right move.
Chapter
Four
Jayne
“I don’t want you to go to work.” My seven-year-old sister’s sad little voice breaks my heart.
My internship isn’t optional, though. If I don’t do it, I won’t graduate, and getting my master’s degree is the goal.
“You’ll be at school while I’m working on Mondays and Wednesdays, so it’s just Tuesdays and Thursdays where you’ll miss me.”
“But who’s going to do my numbers with me?” she whispers.
God knows, her mother has the patience of a two-year-old hyped up on sugar. Not to mention, Lourdes probably doesn’t evenknowhow to do basic math. She certainly doesn’t have the ability to teach someone else if she does.
“And you always quiz me for my spelling tests on Thursday nights!” There are tears in Lindy’s eyes and it guts me, but I have responsibilities and the internship is a mandatory part of the graduation requirements.
“We can study on Wednesday night,” I suggest gently.
Tears fill her eyes. “But we always do it onThursdays.”
She’s not my child, so I usually have plenty of patience but today it’s taking a lot not to snap at her. We’ve been having this conversation for a couple of weeks but tomorrow is my first day and she’s on the verge of melting down. If that happens, and Lourdes notices, she’ll probably spank her, which is the last thing I want.
“Listen,” I say softly, pulling her onto my lap. “It’s going to be fine. And maybe sometimes you can come to work with me, when school is out or on Saturdays when they have story time. I promise I’ll make plenty of time for you.”
“You’re working Saturdays too?” she cries in distress.
“Only one Saturday a month, for story time. And that’s when you can come with me.”
“Okay.” She nestles against my chest, sighing much more deeply than a seven-year-old should. But her life is complicated for a kid her age.
She’s normally a pretty even-tempered child, but the move has been hard on her. And her parents either haven’t noticed or don’t care. I figure it’s the former with my dad and the latter with Lourdes—all Lourdes cares about is parading her around like a living little doll and showing her off at the pageants.
“Now get into bed, and I’ll read to you.”
“Are you riding to school with me?”
I always ride with her on the first day of school, and luckily the private academy Dad and Lourdes enrolled her in is on the way to the library.
“Of course.” I pull the covers up as she gets into bed and I pull out the book we’re currently reading—The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobeby C.S. Lewis. It was my favorite as a child and she’s completely enthralled with it too. My mother read it to me every night before bed, just like I’m doing for Lindy.
We read two chapters before she starts getting sleepy, and I softly close her door behind me as I pad back to my own room.
The only good thing about this move is that my room is pretty incredible. It’s en suite, so I have my own bathroom with a massive shower and a soaking tub, a walk-in closet, and even a fireplace.
My dad is the head coach for the new expansion professional hockey team here, the Atlanta Thunder, so he’s gone all out with optics. From the ridiculously large house to an SUV that cost more than a hundred grand to the trophy wife and angelic little girl. Granted, he had the wife and child before this job came along, but this was always the goal—coaching in the big leagues.
The day he signed his contract is the happiest I’ve seen him since my mom died, which is saying a lot. If I’m honest, I’m actually kind of excited about his job as well. Especially the prospect of going to the games. I love hockey and before she died, Mom and I used to watch all of Dad’s games. In those days he coached at the college level, and we went to every home game. He was different then, laid back and happy.
When he wasn’t married to a manipulative bitch.
The change in him was almost immediate once he met Lourdes, and it ramped up exponentially when she got pregnant. I don’t believe he wanted a baby at his age, which was his late forties then, but he married her and did the right thing.
But it changed him and not for the better.
