Page 41 of Fight for Me

CHAPTER IX

“WHERE ARE YOU GOING?” Rita wobbles into my room with Henry in her arms, before she eyes me as I try on the only presentable dress I own at the moment.

“I’m meeting with some friends,” I respond noncommittally, and glance at my reflection in the mirror. As usual, I’m not wearing any makeup, but I did try to arrange my hair into something different from the tangled knot on the top of my head. I braided it to the side, leaving a few loose curly strands to frame my face. It’s been awhile since I wore anything besides sweats or my waitress uniform, so it instantly makes me feel more confident about going out.

“Friends?” The older woman scoffs and comes closer to tug on the hem of my dress, which ends at mid-thigh. “Dressed like this? You better not fuck around behind my son’s back.”

Giving her a side look, I smack my lips irritably and say, “Don’t make it seem like I’m going naked. I went to job interviews in it, and you said I looked presentable back then. And not that’s any of your business, but as I said, I’m going to hang out with some friends, not to fuck around.”

“You should’ve told me before, that I’m going to be stuck here with the little one,” Rita grumbles but pats Henry on the head.

“You’re not. He’s going with me,” I turn to her fully and retrieve Henry, who giggles happily when I tickle his feet before I place him on my hip, and move to retreat my bag with all the baby stuff from the nightstand.

Right before I exit my bedroom, I pause next to a glaring Rita and give her my serious face. “Before I go, let’s make one thing clear. I am grateful for you letting us stay here, but know that this doesn’t earn you the right to comment on my private life. I’m not going on a date or whatever it is you’re thinking. But if I were, it shouldn’t be a problem. I’m done with your son, Rita. Ricky had his chance and he blew it.”

“Ricky is a good boy. If you’d finally answered his calls, and let him explain. He made some mistakes. That’s it.” She raises her chin at her grandson. “And he’s still Henry’s father. You shouldn’t keep his son away from him.”

“I have nothing to say to him, so you can tell him to stop calling. And while you’re at it, tell him that doing the bare minimum before ending up in a prison doesn’t make someone a father. And if Ricky didn’t want to be kept away from his son, maybe he should’ve thought of that before he and his idiotic friends decided to steal a goddamn car.” I pin her with an icy stare and then look down at Henry. “We’re going on a trip! Say bye to grandma.”

My son smiles and waves excitedly at Rita, completely oblivious to the daggers the woman still shoots at me, and exclaims, “Byeee, nannnyyy!”

“Yeah, bye nanny,” I sing cheerfully with a wink and exit the room.

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SINCE PUTTING AN OVEREXCITED two-year-old into a car seat always proves to be a challenge, it’s not surprising that I’m running late. My palms sweat as I park in front of the shelter. I take a deep breath to calm myself as I eye the building that I escaped from three years ago. Now it feels like it happened in another lifetime, so much has happened since that day.

When Henry starts kicking the passenger seat to express his impatience, I snap out of it and exit the vehicle before letting him out and retrieving the big bag from the passenger seat. From the corner of my eye, I can see my son is ready to take off and turn quickly to get a hold of him, only to witness him running straight into a pair of jean-clad legs.

Brody catches him right before he can bounce off to the ground with a chuckle. “Whoa, hey there, buddy. Where are you off to? Aren’t you gonna wait for your mommy?”

Surprised by the giant in front of him, Henry grabs onto his leg and tilts his head all the way back, before putting his hand to his mouth in awe.

“Toy...” Henry mutters right before I lift him from the ground.

“You mean Thor, baby, not Toy. And this is my friend Brody. Say hi.” Henry extends his hand shyly toward the man, and then hides his head in my neck.

I peer at Brody, who looks at us with a soft expression and laugh awkwardly. “Sorry, I’ve just introduced him to some superheroes. I guess, he thinks he just met a celebrity.”

“That’s cool. Being called Thor is so much better than the Hulk.” He winks at me, and I smirk. “Let me take this...”

“Oh, no, that’s fine...” I mutter as Brody takes the heavy bag off my shoulder, and of course, it falls on deaf ears because he already turns toward the entrance and waves us in.

“Come on, Ruth has been so thrilled to hear that you’re coming, she’s been all over the place.”

Just as he says this, the woman herself steps in the doorway and almost rams into Brody in her haste to get to me with her arms wide open.

“Jenny! I’m so happy to see you!” Aunt Ruth embraces me, squishing Henry between our bodies. Then she moves back to look at the toddler. “Oh my god, aren’t you the cutest? Come to your auntie, I swear I will spoil you rotten, you little heartbreaker.”

I’m surprised when Henry willingly goes into Ruth’s arms, looking enchanted with her puffy white hair.

“Let me take a look at you.” The woman surveys me from head to toe and shakes her head in disapproval. “My, you’re way too skinny. We’ll need to feed you right away.” Her hand moves to my face with a sincere smile. “But you did grow to be even more beautiful. No wonder the boy lost his head,” she says only for me to hear, then calls over her shoulder, “Damon, doesn’t Jenny look beautiful?”

I feel my face heat immediately and look toward him, thinking that he’ll laugh it off, but I’m frozen in place when our eyes meet, and I don’t see any humor in his stare.

He looks at me from head to toe, and then replies in a raspy voice, “She sure does, Aunt Ruth.”

I gulp and contain the need to fan my face, which probably is tomato red right now. Shit, this can’t be happening to me. I thought I was over my teenage crush on the man, and now here he is saying shit like that, and I’m back to being seventeen.

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