Page 210 of The Bonus

“When I was standing at the gate, I heard Zoe’s mom tell her friends that our dad is a real dilf.”

“Zoe who?”

“Zoe Fox.”

Felicity Fox…AHHHHHHH.

I grip the steering wheel so tight that it’s a wonder it doesn’t disintegrate in my bare hands.

“What is it?” he asks again.

“It’s a…” I search for the right lie. “It’s a zoo animal.”

“A what?”

“Because he’s big, she must think he looks like an ape.” I fake a smile. “It’s a funny joke, isn’t it? Ha-ha.”

Dom curls his top lip, unimpressed. “He doesn’t look like an ape at all.”

That fucking wench, if she thinks for one minute that she is going to get her claws into him, she can think again. As if my life isn’t hard enough at the moment, I don’t need perky-boobed Barbie to complicate things further.

“Mom!” Lucia yells, interrupting my murder plans. “Are you listening to me at all?”

No, actually, I’m not, Lucia.

“Of course I am.” I grit my teeth.

“My big toe ripped out of my sock today,” she continues. “It was poking out and rubbing on my shoe all day.”

I pinch the bridge of my nose. I need a drink, and I need it now.

“And now we have to clean my bag because it smells like egg,” she raves on.

Fuck my life…

“I can hardly wait.”

We arrive at home and I park the car, we amble inside and I go straight to the fridge and get a bottle of wine. I open it and as I look for a glass, I take a swig out of the bottle.

I’m beginning to understand how people become alcoholics.

A knock sounds at the door and I hear it open. “Hello, I’m looking for Dominic and Lucia Porter?” a man’s voice asks.

“That’s me,” Dom replies.

Who is that?

I come flying around the corner from the kitchen to see a delivery man. ”I have two packages. One for Dominic and one for Lucia,” he says.

“Who is it from?” I ask.

“Gabriel Ferrara, their father.”

I stare at the delivery man flatly, this is no normal delivery driver, how does he know who their father is? Has he flown all the way here to hand deliver these packages?

The kids’ eyes widen, and Lucia begins to bounce on the spot.

Ugh… Don’t even.

---