I don’t intend to shove a camera up between my legs just for him to know what my pussy looks like. Sure, he sounds hot over text and I have reason to believe that his dickisactually that big. But the man needs his ego toned down a notch. Men just take until there’s nothing left, and leave afterward to move on with the rest of their life.
Even though they made promises to spend a future with you…
I will be the first to finish whatever Mr. Anonymous and I have got going on here. But for the time being, I’m pretty content. The attention is a nice pick-me-up. Tossing dirty messages back and forth is just about all I have time for, anyway.
Sonny takes first priority. And I intend to work my ass off to ensure he doesn’t grow up to become egotistic like all the other men in my life.
I check out of my shift and walk home. Maple Crossing is a quaint town with lots of appeal. Soft bells jingle from the yachts that sit in the harbor. The gentle sea breeze is pleasant, cooling the sweat that has been stuck to my face for most of the morning.
Summertime attracts a lot of visitors that pop in for a rest stop on their way up to Canada, and they always compliment the town along with their coffee order, completely awestruck like they’ve accidentally stumbled upon paradise.
I saw it that way too…for a short while.
A fisherman lifts a fresh net of red lobster into the air—something that would immediately get my appetite going if it wasn’t for the unyielding dread in my stomach that I’m currently carrying around like an unborn child. I take heavy steps like I’m in my third trimester. The summer breeze can’t even improve my mood. Not much can when you’ve gotta spend the bulk of your paycheck on new kitchen appliances that will probably be broken again in a few years’ time.
The grief subsides some when I return home and see Sonny leaping over to me with a cheesy grin on his face. “Mommy! You were gone forever!”
A few hours at most.
But time moves differently when you’re young.
“I know, buddy, I had to work. What do you have here?” I squat and take a look at the plastic plane—similar to the one we flew in on our way to Saint Lucia.
“Jessy got me a present. It’s a Boring.”
“Boeing,” I correct, a laugh slipping out of me. “And did you tell Jess thank you?”
“Yep,” Sonny says.
I hand the plane back to him and he runs across the room while mimicking a real one, spreading his arms wide to create his own wingspan. The sound effects almost send me into another bout of laughter.
“First time on a plane.” Jess chuckles as she walks over to me. “I had to get him something. The little stinker wouldn’t shut up about it.”
“You really didn’t have to do that,” I say. Jess makes the same disappointing wages that I do at the coffee shop. Neither one of us is made of money.
“I couldn’t resist. Your kid makes me soft.”
He tends to have that effect on people.
My heart squishes as I watch Sonny pivot, reenacting a real plane as he spins back around in a blissful world of his own, the toy plane held tight in one of his small hands.
My phone pings. I hate the way my pulse has started to fluctuate every time I get a message, in anticipation that it’ll be Mr.—
“Anonymous?” Jess guesses with a teasing smile on her face. “Your bottom lip twitched.”
“That doesn’t mean shit.”
“It sure as hell means something. Give me that—” She rips the device from my hand when I’m least expecting, tapping the screen to life. “‘I start work in an hour and want to think about you, princess, before I go. Help give a man strength before his twelve-hour shift.’” Jess laughs, reading the message aloud. “Holy shit. Twelve hours. That’s nothing on Bean There hours. What does he do?”
“Dunno,” I reply with my arms folded defensively over my chest. “Don’t wanna know.”
Jess shoves the phone back into my hand and mimics my posture. “Honey. It’s been eight years since you?—”
“Realized I was pregnant with Caleb fucking Rourke’s baby, after he’d already left me? Yes. Excuse me for being a tad distrusting.”
“Have faith that not every man in this world is selfish. Meet him. You know his age?”
“Forty.”
