Page 19 of Demo

Paige was sorry to see Demo leave. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d had such fun. Their flirting certainly wasn’t ethical on her part but was a relief all the same. Demo had been a distraction to the worries and shame of her current life.

She looked down at her phone where the notification on the fetish site still stood open. She’d seen it come in while letting Demo rest and it had immediately soured her mood. Frankly, she was a bit surprised it hadn’t been snatched up yet. She hadn’t looked to see what the private request was. Demo’s cash and tip were still sitting on her counter. She did not like the idea of accepting a fetish modeling gig after the time they’d just spent together.

But she had to feed her babies. Demo’s treatment bill had been her standard rate of one-twenty-five and he’d given her a generous tip of fifty dollars on top of that. One-hundred and seventy-five dollars should not be the saving grace it was. But it still wasn’t enough. She was over a thousand short this month between her mortgage and insurance payments, paying back rent, and utilities. The electric company’s error helped, but it would only give her a break for maybe the next month.

Paige glanced at her phone. She shouldn’t be so ashamed of becoming a foot model. The site was anonymous, so it wasn’t like there was a glaring sign that stated she wasPaige Hannigan of Mount Grove, Pennsylvania.No one knew they were her feet in those pictures and videos. She knew that some models, both men and women, did foot fetish posts for a living. She had nothing against those people. That was their choice and she did not shame them for it.

But there was a difference between choosing to become a foot model because shewantedto and becoming a foot model because shehadto.

Paige had a Doctorate of Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine. She’d spent four years of her life studying at Michigan State University with over twenty-one hundred lab hours and eleven-hundred training clinical hours. She was proud of her profession.

Perhaps part of her guilt derived from allowing Richard to talk her into quitting her job when she became pregnant with Mikey. She hadn’t wanted to quit. She’d argued against it for months, but Richard had been insistent. She knew his words were meant to hurt now. They’d been manipulative and made her already emotional state worse. He hadn’t told her shewasa bad mother by staying at work. Instead, he’d said,“You don’t want to be a bad mother, do you?”She’d taken his words as genuine concern for their child.

Stupid and foolish.

After Mikey had been born, she’d discussed going back, but Richard had convinced her she would only have to quit again once she got pregnant with their next baby.“You want more kids, don’t you?”

And she did—shestilldid.

The difference was, she refused to bring another child into this world without knowing she could financially take care of him or her. She was barely taking care of the two she had. If she didn’t have Cindy willing to watch them for free and had to pay a daycare to do so, she had no idea where she would be or how much deeper into financial debt she would be. Cindy might not be able to help her out with physical cash, but she was able to help her out in other ways.

Would CPS see her inability to pay for a daycare as a bad thing? Would they hold that against her?

Her anxiety spiking, replacing the joy Demo’s visit had given her, Paige turned her phone over on the reception counter. Even if the money was worth it, she was not in a good frame of mind to answer a private request. She needed to go clean the therapy room she’d just been in with Demo. After that, if her mood had improved and the request was still open, she would consider it.

She needed to find a way to better stomach those requests. She knew itshouldn’tbe shameful, but it was.

“Um, Paige?”

Paige jumped at the voice coming from the front of her clinic. She quickly put down the disinfectant spray, took off her gloves, stood, and donned her lab coat. Rushing out of the therapy room, she found Kelly, the waitress from the diner, standing in her lobby.

Kelly was one of the few locals who had welcomed Paige and Richard when they’d first come to town with a smile instead of a sneer. Then, after Richard had walked out on her, Kelly had whispered to Paige that her boys could stay at the diner with her while Paige looked for work. It had been one of the sweetest conversations she’d ever had with a complete stranger. Paige had never taken her up on it but had nevertheless appreciated the offer. At the time, neither Cindy nor Ronald were speaking to her much and Paige had felt extremely alienated in an unknown town by everyone except Harper.

To this day, it made Paige wonder if Cindy or Ronald knew something about Richard walking out on her, even though they swore they didn’t. Their four-month silence suggested otherwise. But Paige was too desperate for help to argue with them. At the very least, she knew her kids were safe with their paternal grandparents. Richard might be an asshole, but his parents loved her boys.

“Kelly, hi.” Paige walked forward with a gentle smile. “What can I do for you?”

Kelly held up a white plastic bag filled withStyrofoamto-go containers. “I got your lunch order.”

Paige blinked, confused. “My lunch order?”

“Yeah.” Kelly placed the bag on the counter and then lifted a second bag with even smaller containers inside. It was just as full as the first. “Demo said you wanted your usual. I put in your garden salad with grilled chicken order and he practically balked. Told me to tell you to stop eating like a ‘fucking rabbit’. He added on an order of chicken parmesan and an order of a BLT, not knowing which one you would prefer. I also have the boys’ chicken nuggets and fruit cups here.” She put her hand on the bag with the smaller containers and said, “I hope you have a fridge or freezer in here. If not, I can hold this one at the diner for you until you’re ready to go home. I’ve got three slices of apple pie, three cups of vanilla ice cream, and three cups of caramel drizzle for you guys to pig out on later. Demo said it wasn’t a part of your order but he wanted to do something to say thank you for helping him.”

Paige’s jaw dropped. “I don’t… I didn’t…” The diner was a relatively cheap place for her to take the boys to eat. Their portions were generally big enough where she had leftovers for one or two of them for a later meal. But this order was going to take a good chunk out of what Demo had just paid her.

“Here’s your receipt.” Kelly passed over a long thermal piece of paper.

Paige took it and looked down in shock. In big red lettersPaid in Fullwas scrawled at the top. There was even a spot at the bottom where the tip was filled in and Kelly had crossed out the delivery fee of five dollars and ninety-nine cents.

Shehadn’t ordered this food and she certainly hadn’t paid for it. Obviously, Demo had. But for some reason, he made it sound likePaigehad placed the order. Why? He’d made a comment before about her not eating enough, but that didn’t meanthis. Who goes out and buys a massive amount of food for someone they, technically, just met? Their doctor, no less.

“So I have a question,” Kelly went on, either ignoring or completely oblivious to Paige’s shock and confusion. “I have an old knee injury from when I slipped and fell in the diner. Mrs. Groveton keeps begging me to go into Pitts to see an Orthopedic there, but I keep putting it off.” She shrugged, a little self-consciously. “I don’t really have the extra time or money for something like that. The Grovetons are great with their employee benefits, but it’s still a small-business insurance policy and the injury is old enough that insurance might not cover it. Anyway, I was wondering if you could take a look. Demo said you worked wonders on his shoulder in only one session.”

Paige felt like someone had taken an AED to her brain. “What?”

“Do you have time now?” Kelly asked hopefully. She pulled her phone out of the pocket of her white apron around her waist. “I have a little more than forty-five minutes left of my lunch break before I have to be back.”

For some reason, her statement stuck Paige as odd. “You brought me food on your lunch break?”

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