“Hey, Leah. This is Evan Lincoln. I’m looking for Maggie. Can you tell me where I can find her?”
“Oh, damn!” the saleswoman muttered. “I knew I shoulda let the phone keep ringing.” The last bit was under her breath but I heard every word loud and clear.
What the hell was this bitch smoking?
“Do you know where Maggie is?” I demanded.
A click sounded, and then buzzing dial tone.
“Hello?” was my demand. “Hello?” Shit, did that ho hang up on me? I dialed back, and this time the call went straight to voicemail, a recorded line telling me that DoggyMart was closed for the night.
Fuck! What the hell? In my mind, I was already at DoggyMart and beating some answers out of this stupid Leah person. But by the time I got there, she’d probably be long gone.
I stopped.
But what else could I do? What other options were there?
Her father. Maggie talked about her father once. What the hell was his name again? Oh yeah. XXX Lake. My fingers felt as big as sausages as I typed the name on my phone.
Come on, come on!
And soon enough, some creeper service located XXX Lake’s number and address. In a frenzy, I dialed the number and mentally crossed my fingers.
Ring. Ring. Ring. The tone buzzed through my ears for what felt like forever. But nobody answered.
God damn it! Furious with myself, I smashed the phone into the wall. It exploded in a dozen pieces, plastic and glass flying everywhere.
This can’t be it. I can’t lose Maggie like this over some stupid fuck up. What the hell was Lozano thinking?
Even worse were my thoughts about myself. I’m the biggest idiot in the world. I had a real gem in my hands, a treasure worth more than her weight in gold. And I let it slip through my fingers because of some stupid fuck-up at the jewelry store.
Because I let my dad rule my life.
I let my greed to be CEO overwhelm everything.
Maggie was there the whole time … and I just couldn’t see it.
Fuck me.
I stumbled back against the wall, phone pieces crunching under my thousand dollar Italian shoes. All the money in the world was mine. Endless possibility. Opportunity that others would give their right arms for. But the one thing I wanted wasn’t for sale.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Maggie
Two years later …
I should have locked the store up and gone home long ago now. It was dark outside and so late that walking from the bus stop with the stroller made me nervous. But the baby bunnies had just come in and I wanted my son Ryan to see them.
“They’re cuties, huh?”
Sitting on his blanket next to me on the floor, my little boy gurgled and grinned. He reached his hands towards the bunnies but I kept them just out of reach so he wouldn’t accidentally hurt them. One of the rabbits hopped into my lap, its nose wrinkling adorably.
I had to work during the day so this was precious quality time with Ryan. I don’t see him as much as I want because it’s hard to be a single parent with a full time job. There are so many responsibilities and difficult trade-offs.
But I do the best I can. And besides, day care wasn’t so bad. It wasn’t like the workers were mean or anything, but sometimes I just felt incredibly guilty leaving Ryan at that place. There were so many kids tumbling and crawling everywhere. How could my sweet boy get the attention he needed?
But unfortunately, it wasn’t a choice. I had to put food on the table. I had to put a roof over our heads. That was our fate in life. So Ryan went to day care, and I went to work at a local pet store nearby. Frankly, I was lucky to get this job because when they asked for references, I’d stumbled.
“Oh sorry,” was my mumble. “I don’t have any.”
The eagle-eyed woman looked me up and down.
“No references?” she asked sharply.
“No ma’am,” was my mumble. “Sorry about that again.”
But the woman sighed dramatically and then scribbled something.
“Well you’re lucky we’re short on help,” she grunted. “We need someone so bad that I’m gonna overlook this. Can you start tomorrow?”
Actually, I couldn’t. I was new to the town, a pregnant girl just starting to show. But I nodded, swallowing.
“Yes, ma’am. I’ll be here nine sharp tomorrow morning.”
And that was that. So here I am at Doggies R Us, working as a sales associate once more. But it’s a dead end job this time. There’s no way I can go to school while holding down a full time position and raising a child. So those dreams of being a veterinarian? On hold for now. Maybe even forever, frankly.
But it’s okay. Because the reason I’m doing this is for my baby. Ryan’s the light of my life, a little boy with dark hair and a cherubic expression. He looks just like a miniature version of his father, down to the dimple in his right cheek.