“Thank you again for the perfume, it smells beautiful,” Tori says.
“No problem.”
“Hey, you wanna go get some food?”
“Definitely.”
We head to the food court and pick a table away from the crowds, and I head up to the deli bar, grabbing three club sandwiches and three drinks for each of us. When I return to the table, Lissy digs into her chicken sandwich as if it’s a race to see who can eat the fastest.
Once we’re done eating, Lissy begs us to stop off at the park before heading back to the house. When we arrive at the park and step out of the car, the sun has finally broken through the clouds but it’s cold. A bitter December breeze sweeping across the wide open expanse of the field that lies in a blanket of fresh fluffy snow.
“Mommy! Quinn! Come play on the swings with me!”
I glance over to the children’s play area, where half a dozen other children are playing happily. “I think we might be a little too big for that, but how about we push you instead?”
“Yay!” She jumps up and down on the spot, clapping her hands together excitedly. “Come on Quinn! Come on Mommy!” Lissy grabs both of us by the hand and drags us over to the play area.
We each take it in turns to push her on the swings as she shouts for us to make her go higher. She then moves onto the huge slide in the far corner and insists we go down with her, and from there, she turns to the climbing frame, something both Tori and I are way too big for.
Lissy spots someone she goes to school with and decided playing with us oldies is boring and that she’d rather play with her friend, so Tori and I move to sit on the bench that we have to brush snow off of, and watch Lissy play from afar.
“Well, Lissy is just the most adorable kid I’ve ever met,” I say without taking my eyes off her, watching her laugh with her friend, enjoying childhood like every child should makes my heart lighten. In some ways, Lissy reminds me of how I used to be her age. Energetic, free of the worries and stresses of adult life.
Life was so easy back then.
“She is,” Tori agrees, grinning with pride for her daughter. “She’s the best thing that ever happen to me.”
“Dwight mentioned you were my age when you had her. That’s amazing, I couldn’t even imagine having a baby at nineteen.”
“It was hard, I’m not gonna lie. A few times I almost gave up, not sure that I could cope, but I had my family, and I had this beautiful little baby girl who needed me, and I didn’t want to fail her, I persevered, and here we are.”
“What about her dad? Where’s he?” It blurts out before I can stop it and I see her body stiffen at the mention of Lissy’s dad and I instantly regret opening my mouth. “Sorry, that’s none of my business. Forget I ever said anything.” Silence falls between us for a few moments before I begin to speak in order to change the subject. “So wh-”
“I was raped,” she cuts me off. And just like that, all the air is sucked out of my lungs like a vacuum.
“W-What?” My eyes go wide as I stare in shock, searching her face. She drops her gaze to her lap, picking at the tiny lint balls that have started to appear on her sweater.
“I was in my first year of college, I studied Art. He wasn’t a professor, he was someone higher up in authority. Someone with power. I was young and naïve, and he took advantage of that.”
“Oh my God, Tori. I’m so sorry.”
“I’m not. I’ve come to terms with what happened, and you know what, it brought me Lissy. I could never regret what happened because then I’d be regretting my daughter, which I don’t. Yeah, I hate the sick bastard who did it to me, but I have the biggerfuck youto him. I have Lissy.”
I’m astounded and amazed at her bravery, her resilience over what happened. She is in no way a victim of what he did to her. She took something so incredibly horrific and turned it into something positive.
“Did you tell anyone? I mean, is he still there at college?”
“I didn’t. I was too scared and shook up, I guess. After it happened I dropped out and never saw him again, I don’t even know who he was. All I know he was someone from up above. Quinn, Dwight doesn’t know, and hecannotfind out. Promise me you won’t say anything.”
“Of course I won’t. Your secret’s safe with me.”
“Thanks Quinn. You know, you’re the only person I’ve told.”
“What? Seriously?” She nods. “Why me?”
“Because I trust you, you might not think it after how I acted the first time we met, but I do. I see it now, you’re good for Dwight, and he needs someone like you in his life. I’m glad he has you.”
Chapter 48
