174
Four years later …
“Morning Simon,” I said as I sat down at the kitchen table.
“Morning Mr. Ryder, Miss Abby’s castle is coming along nicely,” Simon said.
“I still can’t believe you’re building her a castle for her birthday,” I said.
“She’s a special little girl, not much I wouldn’t do for her,” he said.
“Not much … she’s got you wrapped around her little finger,” Mary-Joe said as Simon smiled sheepishly.
“Don’t you think it’s a bit much?” I asked.
“Not for her, a princess deserves a castle,” Simon said.
“What’s her sixteenth going to look like?” I asked.
“She’ll probably want a convertible,” Mary-Joe said.
Wynter and Milo had turned ten and Abigail was almost five. Mary-Joe had met a nice lone dragonkin man and they’d gotten married two years ago. They both lived in the cottage next to the house and now Simon acted as our caretaker. We now had chickens and a vegetable garden in one corner of the farm and we now also sported about five horses and about thirty sheep that he took care of.
My days were spent taking the kids to school, helping Simon with the animals, picking the kids up and helping them with homework, training the two boys, and checking up on Amy and Doug that ran the lake cottages on the plot of land that I’d bought four years earlier.
Two weeks earlier I’d brought Lindy home to meet my children. We’d been seeing each other for about three months but I never brought her home to spend the night. I still missed Megan and talked about her to the kids. I also told Milo stories about Felix and the little I knew about Ava.
“Hey,” I answered my phone.
“I packed a weekend bag,” Lindy said.
“For?”
“This weekend silly,” she said.
“It’s Abby’s birthday this weekend,” I said.
“So?”
“So I’ll be spending time with my kids,” I said.
“Why does it sound like you don’t want me there?” she asked me.
“It’s not that I don’t want you here, it’s just going to be a busy weekend,” I said.
“Good, I’ll be there tomorrow night then,” she said and disconnected the call.
I looked at my phone in disbelief and put it away. Lindy was nice but she wasn’t someone I saw becoming a permanent fixture in our lives. She was twenty-three now, belonging to no lair because I had Lucas check. I wasn’t going to get caught again and I was never going to be forced to bond with someone.
Simon had downplayed the castle a lot, it had turrets and I couldn’t see what else it would need. It was pink and silver and he had even planted flowerbeds against the outside wall. It was a miniature version of a fairytale castle that she could actually play in.
“It looks done to me,” I said as Simon and I stood looking at the wooden castle he’d built.
“It just needs some touching up,” he said.
“You’re going to be her hero after this weekend,” I said.
“Who says I’m not already?” he asked and I started to laugh.
“Go count your sheep and do something productive,” I said.
“It’s your turn to brush the horses,” Simon said and started walking to the pasture where the sheep were grazing.
Two hours later I was finished with the horses and I made my way back to the house to wash up for lunch. We had a peaceful life here in Georgia and I’d made some friends. I’d never have a friend like Felix again but I tried. We talked horses and sheep and sports and we played poker every Wednesday night.
I had met Lindy at a bar, no surprise there, I know. She was interesting that night and adventurous as she directed me to her apartment in town. She was nice for a while and then I realized we didn’t have much in common, she liked to be spoiled and she liked money more than she liked my lifestyle.
The hesitance was there in her eyes when I told her I had three kids but then she called me the next day and said it could be another adventure, so I’d kept seeing her. It took a month of nagging for me to finally invite her over for dinner to officially meet the kids and it was stiff and awkward so I had no idea why she wanted to spend the weekend with them.
I never splurged and I didn’t take her to fancy restaurants. She kept trying though but what she lacked upstairs she made up for in the bedroom. It was wrong of me because I wasn’t in love with her and I didn’t love her but in the end I justified it that we were both using each other.
I’ve been stalling for the past week to go up to Atlanta to meet her family. She worked as a nail technician in town and lived within walking distance from her work. I had no intention of ever getting married again and I was quite happy to raise those kids by myself with Mary-Joe and Simon’s help.
“Hey Ryder,” Maggie said as I walked towards the front gate of the school to wait for Abigail.
“Hi Maggie,” I said as we stood under the shade of a tree.
“Bronwyn’s so excited for Abby’s party Saturday,” she said.
“Don’t spoil the surprise but Abby’s got her own princess castle for the party,” I said.
“Oh wow, going all out this year,” she said.
“Did you know that Alexis is the class bully?” I asked her.
“Apparently she gave Billy a bloody nose last week,” she said.
“She took Abby’s unicorn juice bottle and is refusing to give it back,” I said.
“Yeah, good luck with that one, we’ve been there and her mother Nova just says it’s not at their house and her daughter doesn’t steal,” she said.
“Point her out to me,” I said in a hushed tone.
“She’s the one standing all by herself in the blue dress,” she whispered.
I walked over to Nova and she looked skeptically at me. I knew people perceived me as different with my tattooed arms and the biker boots I preferred to wear, but once they got to know me, people liked me.
“Hi, you’re Alexis’s mother right?” I asked her.
“Nova,” she said.
“I’m Ryder, my daughter’s Abigail.”
“Okay, why do I sense that there’s a problem, because I saw you talking to Maggie Know-it-all,” she said.
“Alexis took Abby’s unicorn juice bottle and she’s refusing to give it back,” I said.
“Yeah, I see where this is going, my daughter is the outcast because I’m a single mom. I went to school with Maggie and it was the same back then too because my mom was a single parent, I got excluded from everything. Have you ever asked your daughter why she isn’t friends with mine? Let’s see how honest she is, because my little girl has feelings too and being excluded from everything hurts, she’s turning five on Monday and nobody’s going to come to her birthday party.”
“You didn’t get an invite to Abby’s party on Saturday?” I asked her.
“No, we didn’t. Not that it matters,” she said and looked away from me.
“Then I’m inviting you now. I’ll have a talk with Abby and we’ll expect you on Saturday at noon,” I said.
“We’ll ruin the mood of the party,” she said.
“Leave that to me. See you Saturday,” I said and walked back to the front gate just as the bell rang.
Miss Walker unlocked the front gate as children followed their teachers outside in a straight line. They had a set protocol for picking up the kindergartens and the teachers knew us all by face and name. Abigail waved when she saw me and I smiled despite the conversation that I had just had with Nova.
“Daddy!” Abigail shrieked as she ran towards me and I picked her up in a hug and kissed her cheeks as she giggled.
“Let’s go wait for your brothers in the car,” I said and unlocked the car. “How many friends does Alexis have?”
“She doesn’t have any friends,” Abigail said.
“Why not?”
“Because their poor,” she said.
“Excuse me?” I asked and my head snapped towards her. That certainly wasn’t the answer I was expecting to hear from my almost five-year old.
“Her mommy works at the diner and their poor, the rest of us aren’t,” she said confidently.
“You’re discriminating against her because she’s poor?” I asked loudly, shocked to the core of my soul.
“What’s discriminating?”
“It’s what you’re doing right now. Alexis can’t help that they’re poor. Her mother probably works her ass off to provide for them and you’re being a mean little girl to another little girl,” I said.
“But nobody wants to be her friend,” she said.
“I think I know why Alexis took your unicorn bottle. You’re going to march over to her right now and give her this extra invitation to your party or you’re not having a party on Saturday. Do you understand me?”
“Yes Daddy,” Abigail said and hung her head.
I handed the invitation to Abby and took her hand as we walked over to where Nova was hugging Alexis. It looked like she was crying about something and I cleared my throat as Nova looked up.
“Hi Alexis, Abby wants to give you something,” I said with a smile as the little girl looked up at me.
I could see now that Alexis wasn’t dressed like Abby was. Her clothes were older, faded a little and now I could also see that Nova’s dress was a little washed out. It broke my heart to know that my daughter was a snob and even probably a little bitch.
“Will you please come to my birthday party on Saturday?” Abby asked her.
“Really?” Alexis asked as her eyes lit up.
“Yes, we’re having a princess party and there’ll be cake too,” Abby said with a forced smile.
“Can we Mommy? Please?” Alexis asked.
“We’d really like you both to be there. I’m firing up the grill for the parents and there’ll probably be enough cake for us too. Here’s my number if you want to talk details,” I said and gave her my business card.
“Thanks, I guess we’ll see you on Saturday,” Nova said as she placed the card in her worn purse.
“Great!” I said and took Abby’s hand and led her back to the car as the other bell rang and Wynter and Milo appeared at the front door.
“I expect you to be nicer on Saturday than you were just now. I’m very disappointed in you Abby.”
Log in with Google Account
Chapters
Favorite
Settings
