Page 38 of Fierce-Michael

He pulled his phone out and angled it at his sleeping son with the bottle of peppermint spray in it and snapped the picture. It was easy enough to see he was on the bed too. Then he sent it to Kelly labeled “shark repellent.”

He kissed his son on the forehead and left the room. His phone went off and he wished he’d never sent the picture when she sent one back of her in bed in a tank top, with no bra and the sheets up covering anything else.Guess we both didn’t get the bedmate we wanted tonight.

He growled and hoped it wasn’t loud enough to wake his kid up.

12

GUY WITH DRAMA

“What’s for dinner today, Mom?” Kelly asked her mother on Sunday.

She got the text this morning asking if she wanted to come visit, as they hadn’t seen her in a few months.

She hadn’t realized that since she talked to her mother at least once a week but texted daily.

“You said you wanted something light,” her mother said. “I’m making roasted chicken, green beans and mashed potatoes.”

“Yum,” she said. “I went to the fair yesterday.”

“Which means you stuffed yourself full of bad food,” her father said.

“Always,” she said. “You know how it is. It’s like I save it up for that one day. I worked out before I went and then again this morning.”

“Did you go alone?” her mother asked. “Or with friends?”

She could lie and say it was with a friend. Michael would fit into that category, but she didn’t like lying to her parents.

They’d supported her through everything in life. At a time when many other parents wouldn’t have.

“I went on a date,” she said.

“And you ate like a pig on a date?” her father asked. “Must be you don’t like the guy.”

She started to laugh at the appalled look on her father’s face. “I like him a lot. I’m very comfortable around him.”

“What’s his name and how did you meet?” her mother asked. “Please don’t tell me one of those apps. Between them and the reality show, I was hoping you got it all out of your system.”

“I know him through work,” she said.

Her parents looked at each other. “Is this one of those matchmaking things with Jolene?”

“I wish,” she said. “Then I’d know it’d work out. Everyone Jolene matches together works. But no, I’ve known him for years. It’s Michael Marshall. Alex’s cousin. He pretty much runs the whole business now from an operations point.”

“So he has an important busy job,” her father said.

“He does,” she said. “He’s also a single father whose son lives with him.”

Might as well put it all out there now.

“Another guy with drama,” her mother said. “You can’t seem to get away from it. I wonder if you seek it out to offset what you went through.”

“Or so you don’t think what you went through was that bad,” her father added.

Kelly didn’t expect them to react this way. Or that they’d think those things about her.

“First off, you know I hate drama and taking on other people’s drama.”

“We do know that,” her mother said. “Yet it always ends up with you. Starting years ago with Brian.”

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