My Fake Fling

THEA

“I’ll be fine,” I assured the last volunteer to leave.

“But you said no one is supposed to be here alone,” she reminded me.

“I have Kona and my brother will be here any minute,” I said. “I’ll be fine. I’ll walk you out.”

I followed her to her car with Kona right beside me. I made sure she was on her way before I went back inside. I refused to live in fear. This was my shelter and I was not going to let a bunch of thugs take it away. I was going to fight tooth and nail.

There was a knock on the front door. “Thea, it’s me!”

I grabbed my purse. “Let’s go, Kona.”

“This place is pretty rough,” Rich said. “I think you seriously need to think about finding somewhere else to have your shelter.”

“Yeah, that should be easy,” I said. “I can’t even find a place for me to live, let alone a hundred animals.”

We walked to his truck with Kona hopping in the backseat. “Heard from Dad?” he asked.

“Nope. I texted earlier and crickets. I don’t expect to. I’m sure she has hidden his phone. She probably deletes the messages before he ever sees them. He might already be gone.”

“No way,” he said. “He would call us to say goodbye.”

“Would he?” I asked quietly.

“Let’s grab dinner,” he said. “You don’t need to rush home for the other two, do you?”

“No. I mean, I can’t be gone a long time, but I can have dinner. But we have Kona. We’ll have to go to one of those dog-friendly places.”

I usually had Kona with me. I knew all the dog-friendly places in town. Rich drove to a café with plenty of outdoor seating and they allowed dogs. Kona lay at my feet, half under the table. My reason for dinner had an ulterior motive. After talking with Ally earlier, I felt like I should listen to her advice. She made some good points.

After ordering burgers and fries with Cokes, I took a minute to gather my courage. “Rich, I wanted to talk to you about something.”

“If it’s about Dad, I don’t know what else to say,” he said.

“It’s not,” I replied. “It’s about Reese.”

“Oh, what’s going on with him?” he asked. “You got him home the other night?”

“I did. He’s doing better. I talked to him this morning.”

“Good,” he said.

“Reese and I have been spending a lot of time together,” I said.

“Yeah, I noticed. It seems to be working for his reputation rehab. I haven’t read anything about him in a while.”

“Well, it might be a little more than just to rehab his reputation,” I said.

“You’re friends again?” he asked. “I figured that out at the hospital. I’m glad you guys have been able to put your differences in the past.”

“We have,” I said. I wasn’t sure how to come right out and say it. “Rich, it’s more than friends.”

He was drinking his Coke and stopped. “You’re back together with him?”

“I wouldn’t say we’re together, but we are seeing each other,” I answered honestly.

“Thea, come on,” he groaned. “Reese is still the same guy he was ten years ago. You know he’s a player. That’s why you’re in this situation to begin with. He’s only going to hurt you again. I’m not going to stand by and let that shit happen a second time. The first time was bad enough. Don’t you remember what you went through?”