Page 148 of From Rivals to I Do

When I get off work, I drive to my mom’s house to pick up Charlee. As much as I need a little bit of time to myself, seeing her is very exciting. As soon as I

walk through the door, she runs up to me and wraps her arms around my legs, smearing fingerpaint on my skirt as she does.

“Rayne I’m so sorry, I wasn’t expecting you for another hour,” my mom says as she chases Charlee down with a wet rag.

“It’s fine, it’s probably washable paint anyway,” I shrug as I take my coat off and sit down on the couch.

My mom looks at me for a moment while Charlee finishes her painting. I slouch down in the seat with my arms resting on my stomach and staring absently out the window.

“What’s gotten into you?” she asks me.

“What do you mean?”

“I know you better than you think, Rayne,” she offers in response.

I am not sure what I want to tell her. She has had her doubts about Leonard ever since I was hired so if I told her we kissed she would tell me about how she knew he was trouble. But I also don’t want to lie to her – especially in front of my child.

“It’s just been a stressful day,” I said, not lying but not telling the whole truth.

She looks at me with one eyebrow raised, obviously sensing the lack of information but deciding not to press any further.

“What time is your audition tomorrow?” she changes the subject.

“Five, but you don’t have to go,” I dismiss it with a wave of my hand.

“I want to go, and Charlee wants to see you perform,” she argues.

“Okay, just please don’t cheer or anything. The directors don’t care for that,” I plead with her.

“Of course, we’ll be quiet as church mice,” she replies unconvincingly. “I was thinking. Maybe we could invite Phyllis’ son, Chris, to dinner tomorrow night after your audition?”

Normally, I’d beg her not to do something like that and just let it be. I would pretend to have some other engagement, or I would find a way out of the

dinner altogether. But I don’t care. Who knows, maybe Chris could be the one and not giving him a chance would mean passing on that.

“Okay, but I’m not making any promises about us being together,” I add.

“I wouldn’t ask you to,” she says with a smile, pulling her phone out immediately to call Phyllis.

While she makes her call, I help Charlee wash her hands and hang her paintings to dry so we can make our way home for the night. I still have to cook

dinner and put her to bed before I can practice my lines.

Every time I read over the lines I think about Leonard. He encouraged me to audition. He read the lines with me in the office and at home, and he kissed me

while practicing. I wish he was still there reading over them with me, but instead, he is probably out at some fancy social club with his new girlfriend.

Seeing him at work is going to be torture.

***

Leonard actually shows up for work Friday morning and he acts like nothing had happened at all. He says hello and smiles at me like he always does before

walking through the doors to his office. He has a few big meetings scheduled for the day, so I help him prepare for them, but neither of us has much to say to

one another.

I’m not fond of talking about my feelings but pretending like nothing happened really hurt. I try to shift my mind away from the feeling as best as I can,

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