What could I really say? The man loved Livingston, and Joe was right. There was only so much work for us to do in a small town.
I couldn’t complain. I made enough to take care of myself and my little girl.
I stretched and rose. “Quitting time.?
?
Perri grinned and looked over at me. “Heading over to your mama’s place?”
“Yeah. I am.” I frowned at her. “And you?”
“I don’t know. I guess I’m kind of a free woman for this weekend.”
“What about Carl?”
She shook her head. “That man betrayed you.”
“He didn’t betray me.” I sighed. “Come on, Perri. Make up with Carl. The last thing I want is for everyone to be fighting. That’s not going to make me happy, and he’s a good guy.”
Perri tapped her lip, thinking it over for an uncomfortably long time before letting out a sigh. “Okay, okay. I will, but only because you asked me to. But I’m gonna make it clear that he’s on notice. Sisters before misters.”
We both burst out into laughter.
Joe poked his head out of his office. “I’m going to finish up in a little bit, so don’t worry about locking everything up.”
“You sure, Joe?” I said.
He nodded. “Get going.”
I waved to him and then gave Perri a quick hug before strolling to the front door. I pushed opened the door and headed to my car, my pulse suddenly racing.
Alex had surprised me in the parking lot last time. I glanced around and then up the street. No sign of him. Of course, I had no plan if I did see him other than pretend I didn’t and run to my car.
After a good 20 seconds of Alex patrol, relief settled over me, and I headed to my car. I needed to get over to my mama’s sooner than later.
She ran a daycare center out of her house. As a retired teacher, it was an easy sell to the neighborhood, and she never had a shortage of kids. Mama needed a little bit to help her with her bills. It wasn’t like the local teachers’ pensions were a lot.
She’d gotten the idea when I got pregnant. She’d been looking into something part-time, like a retail job, but the daycare helped her make money and provided a way to help me out.
She’d given me a place I knew my daughter would be safe all day when I went to work. And the truth was, I couldn’t afford daycare otherwise.
Perri had suggested tracking down Alex for child support, but I knew if I took any of his money, he’d want to be involved, and I didn’t want a man who could be so callous with my feelings around my daughter. Even now that I knew about his accident, I couldn’t say my feelings had changed that much.
It hadn’t taken him three years to recover from his accident, after all. He obviously had gotten what he wanted that night of the reunion and didn’t care about much more, despite what he’d said.
I’m not saying I didn’t feel sorry for him. No man should have to get hurt and laid up in the hospital, but that didn’t mean I was going to forget how he’d treated me, either. I had some pride left as a woman.
As I turned the corner onto my mama’s street, I thought about what a great help it’d been the last couple of years. That was one of the reasons I tried to return the favor on Friday afternoons. Besides, it was fun. I got to play with my little Kadie and the other kids. It beat filing forms and typing things up at town hall.
I pulled next to the curb right outside of my mama’s place, smiling to myself. Thinking of the kids had put me back in a good headspace. I turned my car off, opened the door, and stepped outside.
My heart tried to leap out of my chest. So much for my good headspace.
Alex Kline was walking right down the street, straight toward me. I didn’t know if that meant he’d been looking for me, or if I was just really unlucky.
I whispered a quick prayer, hoping the Lord would help him. Figuring that trying to do anything too sneaky would only draw more attention, I strolled around my car like normal.
“Aspyn,” Alex called to me in the distance. “Aspyn!”