Ottilie raises her hand. “Second. Any opposed?”
The room goes silent.
“Good.” She scribbles down the note. “I second reinstating Greer as well.” Ottilie lifts her pen up. “Any opposed?”
Like anyone is going to say no to being in a group that i’ve been in everyday anyway.
“Greer Hestons has been reinstated as a full member. On to the second problem you have, Mindy.”
My mind is still on the first…Mindy isn’t her mother. She doesn’t have to make the same mistakes. She doesn’t have to live the same life...
Is that what I’ve been doing? Living the same life and planning on making my son live the same way?
Who says I need to live in Urbium? Get a whole bunch of nannies? Sign my son up for boarding school before he’s even born?
We could live a different life. One where he runs around playing and laughing. One where when he falls, he comes to me to fix his boo-boos. One where I’m involved in every part of his life.
“So what do you guys think? Is Maddox right? Should I quit one of my jobs to spend more time with him?” Mindy asks, pulling me out of my thoughts.
“You’re contemplating marrying him, but you’re afraid he will leave you penniless and homeless?” Cordelia slices off a piece of triple chocolate cake without leaving a single stray crumb.
“No. No. Maddox isn’t like that. He won’t leave total strangers homeless. He certainly wouldn’t let a woman he loved want for anything.”
“So why do you feel the need to work yourself to death? Because that’s what you’re doing with two full-time jobs.” Cordelia’s right.
“Not having money in my checking account makes me terrified. All those times we were homeless as a child—”
I pull out my phone and transfer money into her account. As I lift my head up, I notice that Ottilie and Winnie also have their phones in hand.
Mindy’s phone chimes. “What did you guys do?”
“It seems we all made sure you didn’t have to worry about money.” Winnie sets her phone down. “Do you have any other pesky little problems for the group to deal with, or should we talk about our upcoming trip?”
All eyes go to Mindy. She squirms a little in her seat with tears in her eyes.
“Ottilie, let’s move on.” Winnie lifts up her fork.
Bodies On The Ground
Havoc
How has my quiet life in a small town become filled with drug dealers and bombs?
Bishop’s dogs came in handy.
And that’s about the only good thing I can find about the last few weeks.
I take a pull on my beer and flip the steak over on the barbecue. There’s a chill in the air, but the snow we had a few days ago didn’t stay on the ground.
“Dad.” Creed walks outside carrying a bowl of salad and rolls. “Can I have some friends over tomorrow night?”
“Who?”
“Just some other guys from Chaos. I thought we could have a few beers and talk about…” He glances down at the deck.
“Sure. But their parents have to drop off and pick up.”
“We know the rules. None of us needs our brains splattered on the road. Or to hurt someone else.”
