“Breathe, baby,” he said, his voice much quieter now. I closed my eyes, listening as he guided me
through a few deep breaths. “That’s my good boy. Remember, I promised I would always help you.
It’s going to be okay.”
“I know, but can you just tell me? Rip off the band-aid,” I pleaded.
“Lisa came over to drop off Willow. She’s running a bit of a fever so she couldn’t go to preschool
today, and Lisa said she has a big exam,” he explained.Fucking Lisa.I shook my head, wishing it
wasn’t so easy to believe my ex had pulled a stunt like that. And why in the hell hadn’t she called to
let me know Willow was sick? “Maybe it was the wrong thing to do, but I offered to stay here and
watch Willow when we couldn’t get in touch with you.”
“She always does this shit,” I complained. “She could easily call her sister, but no, she doesn’t
want to impose on them, so she thinks it’s acceptable to show up at my place unannounced and thinks
nothing of leaving my daughter with a total stranger. What sort of fucked up is she, that she thinks
that’s okay?”
“Hey, calm down,” he urged me. “I get that you’re upset but I told her I was a friend of yours. She
was skeptical until I tried calling you from my phone and left the voicemail you obviously haven’t
heard yet. Then, she apologized and thanked me. It’s not like she just dumped Willow off at the door
and took off.”
Fuck, maybe Iwasoverreacting. Yes, this was typical of my ex, but that didn’t give me the right to
act like it was a travesty for William to be with her. I trusted him more than anyone else. If I could
even consider trusting him to choke me without killing me, I should be able to lean on him for this.
“There’s a booster seat in the hall closet,” I told him. “Tell her to put some books and markers in
her backpack and I guess you can bring her down here. She’ll have to sit in the back room until I can
find someone to cover for me. I’m the only one here, so I don’t know how long that will take.”
“Or I could bring her down there long enough for you to check up on her, I can get the ingredients
for chicken soup, and either come back to your apartment or take her to my place,” he suggested. “You
don’t need to have a sick kid at work with you. Let me handle this.”
“You’re supposed to meet with Jack later,” I reminded him.
And shit. I was supposed to work at the club tonight.
“Jack will understand,” he assured me. “I’ll call him when Willow’s taking a nap and explain the
situation. If you want, I’ll also let him know you can’t work tonight. He can probably ask Slade to
