Page 32 of Made For Me

“It’s good tears,” I say, defending Max who stands now.

“Did you corrupt my grandkids?” he asks him and Matthew just smirks.

“It’s called educating,” Matthew informs him. “Now I need a meal.”

They walk out of the room and the phone buzzes in my pocket. I grab it and see it’s Chase.

Chase: Checking in to see if you are okay.

Me: As okay as I can be. Tomorrow is another day.

I press send and Bianca runs into the room and asks me to give her a bath. “There is nothing more I want than to give you a bath,” I say, picking her up, and for the next two hours I get lost in just being an aunt.

I don’t even check my phone before I collapse in the bed, and when I turn over on my back, the sun is trying to get into the room. It’s the first day I don’t wake up to an alarm blaring and I wonder if his alarm went off today. I blink away the sleep as I try to listen to the noise downstairs, but it’s eerily quiet. Tossing the covers off me, I get up and go to the bathroom, grabbing my phone and seeing it’s almost nine. I slip on my robe and slide the phone in the pocket before making my way down the spiral staircase. I hear the sound of the television coming from the family room. I walk in and see Jillian is in the kitchen cleaning up. “Good morning,” I grumble and look around. “Where are my kids?”

“Your kids”—Jillian snickers—“have all gone to school. Michael had practice, so he took them in.”

“But,” I say, walking over to the coffee machine, “I didn’t even hear them.” I shake my head.

“You must have been out of it,” Jillian says as she sits on a stool at the island. “How are you feeling?”

I turn with the cup of coffee in my hand and lean against the counter. “Like I’ve been hit with a semitruck and he brought along a couple of friends and they all ran over me.” I take a sip of the coffee. “Front and back.” She laughs and she’s about to say something when the phone rings in my pocket. I pull it out and see it’s Rosalind calling. “It’s my boss,” I say softly, my chest now feeling as if someone is sitting on it. “Hello,” I answer it.

“Julia,” Rosalind says and I can hear her voice is soft. “I just got the paperwork.” I close my eyes.

“I’m sorry I didn’t call you yesterday,” I say softly. “It was…”

“You don’t have to apologize for anything,” she replies and then I can tell in her voice that something is up. “Listen, Julia, I hate to do this to you.” I don’t know what is coming next but my stomach sinks to my feet. I put the coffee cup on the counter, not saying a word. “We were talking and thought maybe it would be a good idea for you to take some time off.”

“What?” I gasp, shocked, thinking maybe I misheard her.

“It’s not for long, only until this thing dies down,” Rosalind assures me. “You know parents like this. They are going to get tired really fast.” She takes a deep inhale. “They will go away soon enough.”Will they?I ask myself. I have ten million reasons they won’t.

I didn’t know what was coming, but I never, ever in a million years expected this. I was wrong when I said I felt like a truck ran me over. It’s more like a meteor crashed into earth on top of me. “I’m sorry, what?” is all I can say. “Nothing has been decided,” I say, not sure what to say.

“I know,” she replies, her voice going soft. “I fought as much as I could.” I close my eyes as the tears run down my face. “We have to think of the other cases you have.” I want to fight back and argue my side of it, but the lump in my throat is so big I can’t talk. “What if they come in and throw all those other cases in turmoil? We just can’t have that. I don’t want to do this, but I have no choice.” She stops talking for a second and then it’s almost as if she whispers out, “Did you call a lawyer?”

“Not yet,” I say, two words, just two little words. Two words are the only thing I can say.

“I would call them,” she urges. “Talk soon.” I don’t bother to answer her. I just hang up the phone, putting it on the counter beside me.

“What happened?” Jillian asks from her stool.

I grab the cup of coffee, pretty sure I’m in the stages of shock. However, after the last couple of days I wonder if I’m not in some big nightmare. Everything I’ve done the past six years is going to be gone in the blink of an eye. Everything I poured my heart and soul into is going to be ripped away from me. I can’t sugarcoat it, especially not with Jillian. “I think I just got fired.”

CHAPTER20

Chase

The alarm doesn’t even wake me up because I’ve been up all fucking night. It has to have been the longest night I’ve had in a long time. Getting out of bed, I walk to the kitchen and start a protein shake instead of coffee. “She’s fine,” I tell myself as I put fruit in there and ignore the pull to pick up my phone for the umpteenth time. Placing the smoothie in a to-go cup, I walk to the bedroom and dress in a team track suit.

I wash my face and brush my teeth before I head toward the rink. I park in my regular spot and I’m not surprised to see no one is here yet. Pressing the lock button on the car, the sound fills the garage when my phone rings in my hand. My heart speeds up as I think it’s her, but when I look down, I see it’s my sister, Vivienne.

“It’s really early,” I say, putting the phone to my ear. “Some would call it farmer time?” I joke with her. She is the only one in the family who thinks the day should start at ten o’clock and anything before should be deemed illegal.

“It’s not that early.” She laughs and I can hear the covers rustle from her side. “Besides, I’m calling for—”

“Oh, I know you’re calling for something,” I cut her off as I walk into the arena. A couple of the trainers have arrived and I wave at them as I walk to my office. “I mean, it’s not like you ever call to see how I am.”

---