Page 10 of Maid in Heaven

Passion.

Companionship.

Love.

The movies always made it seem so easy…

Boy meets girl. Boy marries girl. Boy and girl have a baby and live happily ever after.

His life, however, had beenanythingbut a fairy tale. His was more likeboy meets girl. Boy and girl have a baby. Girl discovers drugs. Girl leaves boy and baby for her dealer…

Starla was his life now.

He cherished all that he had but longed to have someone with whom to share it. He was stumbling through life with a daughter, one painful learning curve at a time.

Will scooped up Starla and carried her to her ballerina-themed bedroom, walls the color of Pepto Bismol. He laid her down and swiped her bangs from her cherubic face. He’d nearly made it back to the door when Starla stirred.

“Papa?” she cooed.

“Yeah?”

“You gotta do it like a burrito.”

He laughed, understanding what it meant. He returned to her side, tucking the covers atop her in snugly on both sides until she was encased in a snug wrap.

“Thank you,” she muttered with a yawn, extremities tucked in tightly to her sides as if rolled in a soft tortilla shell.

“You’re welcome. I love you. Get some sleep.”

“Love you, too.” She blew him a comically loud kiss, and Will left the room, leaving the door ajar.

Walking back down the hallway to the living room, he was struck by the wall of lonely, almost deafening silence. He settled back into the couch and pressed play on the remote. As the classic film roared back to life, he glanced at the precariously-balanced stack of films on the TV stand. Every tale full of romance and new adventure. People taking risks, baring their souls, clutching on to old love letters, seeking out a soulmate in a single glass slipper, holding boomboxes on suburban streets, and chasing moving trains all in the name of love.

Will wondered if he would ever find a love worth fighting for. A woman who completed him. A romance that John Hughes would pounce on the movie rights to.

As Casablanca droned on, he fed Gremlin a handful of cold popcorn and tried to shake the gnawing and pointless notions from his mind. Who was he kidding? He was no prince with a castle waiting to sweep a beautiful stranger off her feet.

He was just a shirtless Cinderella, scrubbing floors in off-season Halloween outfits to afford insulin and a mortgage on a two-bedroom house with a crumbling back porch.

4

Ava’s curtains yanked open.Sunlight flashed into the room, blinding her. Batting her eyes furiously, she finally made out a shape.

“Get up, Dingus. We’re going to the gym.”

“The hell I am,” Ava groaned as she rolled over.

“Oh, yes, you are,” Madison growled, grabbing Ava’s bare feet. “Are you gonnawalkthere, or am I gonna have todragyour ass there?”

“There’s no way out of this, right?” Ava asked, rubbing sleep from her eyes, desperate to focus.

“I mean, nothing short of assault.”

“I’m not putting on makeup. You get meau naturalor not at all.”

“You can go in boxers and asombrerofor all I care, as long as you get your flat ass moving.”

“Fine!” Ava tossed back the blanket and stormed toward theen suitebathroom. “By the way, I hate you.”

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