Page 55 of Vows in Sin
She always argued for pop music. I always won.
Rested and hydrated, the little girl in my lap hops up to join the game, and my eyes go right back to him. A magnet. He’s clear across the field, but I feel his energy as if he’s right here beside me.
He’s looking right at me.
My stomach wrenches. I imagine how my best friend since sixth grade will feel when I have to eventually confess to having dirty, nasty, filthy…delicious—my heart beats faster, my skin heating, a tingling taking over my entire body—sex with my best friend’s father.
She loops her arm in his, beaming at him.
20
Reign
As we step onto the tarmac, a swarm of people surrounds us. Congratulating and praising me as if I were a war hero. The attention makes my shirt feel too tight at my neckline, and the strap of the makeshift sling I wear is clinging and hot.
“I heard you went back in to get teacher Cary,” someone says.
“It’s true,” another adds. “He didn’t even flinch when the third bomb went off.”
“No one would’ve made it without him.”
Tabitha stares up at me like I hung the moon. I don’t bask in the praise. Instead, I deflect it to the team. “Our young men were brave. They gave their all.”
“Still,” Tabby says. “It was your hunch that kicked off the evacuation.”
“The weight of lives lies on many shoulders.” I end the conversation.
Tabby and I make our way past the crowd towards the big white tent at the far end of the field. She’s convinced I need to be seen by a medical professional. I’m too tired to argue.
“I still think it’s way past overkill that you made me come,” Tabby says. “I’m pretty sure I was fine in the city. No one even knows you are my dad. I mean, no one knows my dad is a Bachman.” She goes quiet, then says, “Anyway, you know what I’m saying.”
“I’m not taking any chances with your safety.” It's a good thing she’s not the one making the decisions. I don’t say that, of course. Don’t want my eyes scratched out. Instead, “You were looking for a break from your job. Think of this as an opportunity to get your head together. Do some thinking. Decide what direction you want to take your career.”
“Or,” she says, “I could lay out by the pool. Paddleboard in the lake. Work on my tan.”
I chuckle. “We both know I’ll be leaving you in the medical tent once I’ve been looked over. I’m sure I won’t be seeing you till well after midnight.”
“Depends on how long it takes to patch everyone up. Including you.” She nudges an elbow into my side. “But, yeah, don’t wait up.”
After college, Tabby lived with me. She completed EMT training and worked as a paramedic before she became a stylist. When she was ready to have her own place, she wouldn’t accept help with rent. She relied on her design degree and found work as a consultant.
We’re almost to the tents when Tabby Cat changes direction. “There she is!” She accidentally digs her nails into my arm inher excitement. Her voice lowers to a whisper. “She’s literally the only other person I know here other than you.”
I look to where she points. Seraphina.
What will she think when she sees me, beat up and worn out, looking every bit my age? Now with my singed beard. The angry burn that streaks the side of my neck. Flashes of painful heat come off it, reminding me it’s there.
Then I remember what Fifi told me.
Seraphina is here for Dame.
Every step I get closer to her, the louder my heart hammers.
Tabby chats away. I pick up the words, “I’m dying for you to meet her. I can’t believe your paths never crossed. You’re always popping in and out with treats. And don’t think I spent those bills you hid in your last cookie delivery. I put them straight in my savings account.”
“Did you read the note?” I ask, my voice shaking, as I think of anything to say other than blurting out the truth. “That money was for you to spend on yourself.”
"Yes, but I don’t need to spoil myself. You do enough of that already."
