My Fake Fling

In one hand, I kept my keys, and my other hand was on the bear spray tucked into my pocket. I wasn’t necessarily worried, but with Lucas, I had to make sure I was ready to save him. Ally would kill me if something happened to her baby. We climbed in, buckled up, and set off for Ally’s house.

“Thanks again for all the help,” I said to Lucas when I pulled to a stop in front of his house. “You’re a good worker. You know the job and you get it done. That’s hard to find these days.”

“Thanks for letting me hang out with you instead of being stuck at home,” he said.

“You’re welcome. Be nice to your mom. She’s trying. Tell her I will see her tomorrow. And you write that letter. Tell her what you need her to know. She’s going to be thrilled to get it.”

“Maybe,” he said.

I watched him walk to the door and didn’t leave until he was inside. On the drive to my townhouse, I called Dad. It was almost nine, which was usually when he binged his favorite Law and Order TV show. I often called him on my drive home. At least, I used to.

He didn’t answer, which I supposed wasn’t really a surprise. We hadn’t talked since Rich dragged me out of his house. He was probably pissed at me. More like Stacey was pissed at me and Dad had to be mad at me because she was.

I hated that I had let Stacey get me riled up. She had likely done that on purpose. I made it easy for her to pull Dad away from me. She was probably pouting and making up a big story about how mean I was.

I wasn’t going to let her win that easily. If she wanted to take my dad away, she was going to have to fight me for him. I was going to show up again this weekend. Maybe my appearance would provoke her to let down that bullshit mask she wore. My dad would see her true colors and maybe he would finally see the light.

One could only hope.