Page 2 of Rhett

They come back in, and Oscar follows me into the kitchen and I fill his dishes. One with his kibble and the other with water. I mix up protein shakes for Marchy and me. Marchy is Cooper’s nickname, and one that I gave him back when we were kids. We all have them, and mine is Hollywood. My first and middle name are Rhett Butler, and I am good-looking.

It’s not conceit, it’s just the truth. My looks have certainly served me well all my life, especially with the opposite sex. I’ve been told I’m a male whore, but honestly, I just love women and I love sex.

I don’t do long term and have no plans to ever get married. My job is dangerous, and I don’t want to leave behind a family if something happens. I’m not a dick, and I don’t make promises. It still doesn’t mean I haven’t broken some hearts along the way.

“One of these for me?” Marchy asks as he pulls me from my thoughts.

I nod. “I’m heading up to shower.”

The others are starting to wake up when I head into the bathroom. Once I’m finished, I get my uniform on, and then head back downstairs. Oscar greets me at the bottom of the stairs. “Hey, boy.” I give him a good head scratch and then head out to the trucks. Since I’m also a trained EMT, I make sure the medical bag is ready.

When it’s time for breakfast we all sit around the table and start passing around the dishes.

2

Sofia

“Have you heard from the insurance company?” my mom asks as she sets some pancakes down in front of me. “They better be sending you a nice check. My baby almost died.”

She’s dramatic, but she means well. I’m her only child. I’ve got two brothers that are a lot older than me. My dad was married to their mom and then had an affair with my mom. She swears she didn’t know he was married, but I don’t think I’ll ever know the whole truth. Not like it matters, Dad’s wife forgave him, and he stayed with her.

Dad and I don’t have a super close relationship, but my brothers and I do. Especially my oldest brother Kirk, he’s the one that really helped me have a relationship with him and Drew. Their mom hates me and what I represent, but she tolerates me for my brothers.

I get it, honestly, I do, but if my mom truly didn’t know then she was a victim too. Why does my dad get to win? Sure, he paid child support, but other than that I got nothing from him. Mom has done the best she could and did it alone. What happened with my dad has made her gun-shy to let another man in.

I hate that for her. She’s the best mom a girl could ask for. Plus, she’s a knockout. Mom’s tall, and slender with big boobs. Heck, I’m her twin, but if someone pressed on her head, making her shorter and curvier. We have the same strawberry-blond waves, mine are longer, hanging down to my bra strap. Our blue eyes are the color of sapphires.

Yikes, that’s a lot.

“Sofia?”

I realize I was just staring off into space. “Sorry. They’re actually depositing it into my bank account. I can start helping with bills until I get my own place.”

“No, honey, use that money to replace some of the things you lost—clothes, makeup—and then save the rest for when you find your own place.” Raising her hands, she shakes her head. “There is no rush for you to leave either. I like having my girl here.”

I push away from the table and wrap my arms around her. “Thank you. I like being home too.” Sitting back down, I finish my breakfast and then set my plate in the sink. “I’m going to get ready for work.”

“Okay, sweetheart. I’m only working a half-day so I’ll be here when you get home.”

She’s a paralegal in a large firm and is good at what she does. That’s how she met my dad. He’s an attorney and they met at a conference. I know she’s still in love with him, and I hate that for her. Hell, it’s made me leery of guys. Plus, it doesn’t help that I’m shy and awkward.

In the bathroom, I quickly do my hair in Dutch braids. I don’t bother wearing makeup. My kiddos don’t care what I look like. Teaching preschool is a lot of fun, but sometimes it can be like herding cats.

In the bedroom, I throw on a pair of jeans. I slip on a light blue T-shirt that has the logo for Tiny Tots Daycare and Preschool. Mom and I wear the same size shoe so I grab the black Nikes I bought her for her birthday.

She’s grabbing her purse when I step into the living room. “I’ll see you when you get home.” Kissing my cheek, she gives me a smile and then heads out the front door.

I grab my lunch bag and stick it into my tote before heading out to my car. It’s my brother Kirk’s old BMW. When I say old, it was only a few years old when he gave it to me. I could never afford something like it, so I take really good care of it.

It takes me twenty minutes to get to Tiny Tots and pull into employee parking. I swipe my badge to get inside and head down to my classroom. My assistant, Jodi, is already in the room. Daniel will be here anytime.

After the fire I only took a couple of days off. I have the sick time, but I couldn’t take much more of my mom babying me. Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate everything she’s done for me, but it was ready to get back to my kids.

They are too young to know what happened, so they think I was just out sick. “Good morning, Jodi. How are you?”

“Hey, girl. What do we have on the agenda today?” Jodi is old enough to be my mom but acts like my pseudo big sister, which I don’t mind.

I grab a folder out of my bag and take it to her. “I found these counting worksheets that are supposed to be really easy to do. They’ve been doing really well with their counting, don’t you think?”

---