Page 6 of Broken Daddy

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KAYLA

“Hello?”

The minute I heard my friend’s voice, it was like an overwhelming wave of emotion hit me.

“Faith,” I murmured, tears choking my voice. “Is that really you?”

There was a sharp intake of breath before she responded, “Kayla?”

I nodded, then realized she couldn’t see it, so I said, “Yes, yes, it’s me!”

“Oh my God, Kayla!” Her voice was trembling with excitement. “I’m so happy I finally found you!”

“I thought you were dead,” I said. I had lived with that guilt for the past year, feeling like it was my fault.

“Well, I’m not,” she responded. “I’m…I’m actually married now.”

I shook my head in disbelief and horror. The last person Faith dated was a manipulative SOB who abused her. Ivan. He and his cousin Ambrose had been some of my close friends back when I lived in Anchor, Louisiana, and I had introduced Faith to them. Ivan became obsessed with Faith while they were dating, and I thought he eventually killed her. Even though I had advised her to leave him and told Ambrose to get his cousin in check, I had no idea what transpired between the three of them after I left for New York with my mom. At least not until Faith called me one night and told me to stay out of town because Ivan was more dangerous than we had suspected. She hadn’t gone into details but told me that she would not contact me with that phone number ever again and that if she ever did, it was Ivan trying to lure me back.

Still, I wanted to go back to help Faith, but then my mother had her accident. Right after she passed, I discovered that Ambrose’s home, where Faith had been staying, was burned down with no survivors…God, it had all been a shitty and stressful week. I assumed Ivan had killed Faith and might be coming for me next, so I followed Faith’s advice and stayed away, not answering any calls from that number unless it had our secret texted code first. Even though the guilt of not knowing had eaten me up, I did it.

But now here she was, alive and married…to who? Apprehension had me questioning. “Is it…?”

“Oh God, no. I didn’t marryhim.” Then, there was a brief pause. “He’s actually dead now.”

“Oh.” I didn’t know what to say to that. Neither “sorry for your loss” nor “good, he deserved it” seemed to quite cut it.

“Yeah,” she responded awkwardly, then rapidly changed the subject. “Oh my God. I missed you so much. Where have you been?”

“Here and there,” I said, not wanting to get into it. “But I’m actually in Alabama now. On the outskirts near Mobile.”

“I’m in Gracetown, Louisiana. It’s only a few hours away from you, I think.” She paused as if in thought. “Could we…I mean, if you want to…only for a few hours….”

“Yes,” I said, without giving it much thought. My friend still had that reservedness, always holding back before she said anything, worried about how the other person would take it. I wanted to remove any doubt that I wanted to meet her, if only to assure myself that she was still alive and apologize for everything. “Yes, I do.”

* * *

As emotion cleared,it was coming to hit me that this seemed like a colossally bad idea.

Of course, I didn’t realize it until I was in Monty’s car, and we were driving at several miles per hour on the highway. Not even when I had stepped to the side to call Ella, asking her to take care of Hunter for a few more hours, tops.

"Could you watch Hunter for a few more hours? I'll be back by tonight." I told her.

“Why?” she asked. “I mean, I’d be happy to. I’m just curious.”

“It’s a long story,” I replied. “I’ll explain when I get back.”

“Sure thing,” she responded chirpily and then hung up.

I took a deep breath, trying to get all my emotions in order.

Monty had seemed surprised at my decision to go to Gracetown with him, although he was certainly happy with it if the little smile he gave me was any indication.

Truthfully, I agreed to go with him for two reasons. The first and most important reason was that I wanted to get him out of town as soon as possible before he discovered Hunter’s existence. I had no idea if he had seen Hunter while following me or not, but I didn’t need him asking around and finding out about my child, so to appease him, I went with him.

The second reason was that I really did want to see my friend, Faith, again. I had thought Faith was dead, having perished in a fire set by her obsessive boyfriend at the time. I had lived with the guilt, knowing I introduced the two of them and that I had been the one to encourage Faith to leave him when his behavior started showing problematic signs. He had gone after her when she did, killed one of our mutual friends, Ambrose, to get to her, and then set the house on fire. I thought Faith had died in the fire, which made me inconsolable for some time. I couldn’t help feeling that if I hadn’t done any of the things I did, perhaps she would still be alive. I almost had a mental breakdown at the time when I found out, and only the knowledge that I was pregnant enabled me to pull myself together. I may have messed up, but it wasn’t my baby’s fault, and I now had someone else to take care of, so I couldn’t give in to despair.

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