Page 12 of Confined Space

"I have to get a hold of the attorney to see if I can access more money from my trust so I can afford to get a car, recover so I can return to work, and prepare to work the graveyard shift until I can return to full duty." I slap my good hand over my mouth. I just word vomited everything to these two women.

"What trust?" JoAnna asks, her eyes flash over my shoulder for a moment.

I turn to see a woman walking toward us, her hips swinging. She looks to be maybe a few years older than me. Her makeup is on point, and her blond hair is perfectly styled around her shoulders. She's curvy and tall.

"Hello, JoAnna.” She stops right in front of us. “How is Rowdy doing?" she purrs.

Hearing his name from her lips makes me want to punch her in the face and causes a pain in my chest. I rub it with my right hand.

"Hello to you also, Melissa. I'm not my son's keeper." JoAnna's voice is tight. Melissa looks at Archer and then at me. Her eyes take me in. I'm bruised all over the left side of my face, and I still have the bandage on my temple. Her lip curls slightly and she turns away from me, dismissing me instantly. I'm used to it. Back at UCLA, I was the hick girl who caused problems for the golden boy. I didn’t dress stylish enough for a lot of the girls there. I was backwards as far as they were concerned.

"Well, if you see him, tell him I said hello and I'm free next week." She walks off in her high heels with her hips swinging again. Her heels clicking along the pavement.

"Come on, Archer, Granny Jo is going to get you in your car seat so Grandma Georgie can take your momma home to rest. She looks like she’s about to fall over."

"What!" the blonde screeches and wiggles her way back toward us. "That's your grandson?" She points a manicured red fingernail at my son.

"Yes. Isn’t he a cutie?"

"Who is his mother?" she screeches again. I’m sure dogs two states over heard the decibel she hit.

"I'm his mother," I grumble.

"Who are you?" She points her fingernail at me now.

"I'm Coral. Excuse me." I push her hand out of my face and go to grab my son.

"You're with Rowdy?"

"No," I say at the same time that JoAnna says yes. I look at her, my eyes flaring wide.

"Well, which is it?" She looks between both of us.

"How about, it's none of your business," JoAnna says.

"Well, I never." Melissa swings around and stomps off again.

"Floozy," Georgia mutters under her breath.

"Well, on that note, I think we really should get going." I try to get them motivated to leave.

"I'll put Archer in his car seat, and you go load up." JoAnna acts like she didn't just lie to that woman.

I walk around the car, my brain starting to get fuzzy from my headache getting worse. I climb in and try not to think of Rowdy with that woman. Or any woman for that matter.

* * *

Rowdy

As I pull up to my house after another long shift, my cell phone rings. I glance at the screen and see Melissa's name pop up. I dated her once. Actually, we didn’t date, we fucked. But now she continues to call me and bug me to go out again. I ignore her call and climb out of my truck as Blu comes running up to my door. I'm tired and ready for a couple of days off. I throw the ball a few times for Blu and then head inside for a beer and some Supernatural.

I'm woken up to the sound of pounding on my door. I stretch, my body stiff from falling asleep in my recliner. My plate from the leftovers I ate for dinner is sitting on the coffee table.

I look around for Blu but don't see him, which means whoever is at my door is someone he knows because he's not barking, trying to chase them away. The pounding sounds again, followed by my mother's voice.

"I've been out there knocking," she says as she walks right in and stops when she sees me standing there. "Is that what you wore to work yesterday?"

"Yeah. I got home last night, and I guess I fell asleep in my chair."

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