Single Dad’s Spring Break

by Rye Hart

  “Would it be easier if you didn't know?” he asked.

  “Not really,” I mumbled. “Listen, I have to go. I can't help you, man. I've got too much on my plate and way too much at stake right now. The last thing I need is to get caught up in anything illegal.”

  “Understandable,” Tim said, backing off. “But if you need some extra cash, I promise it's a discreet deal. Can be a one-time thing.”

  “Thanks, but no thanks,” I said.

  In the back of my mind, I wanted to ask how much it would pay – but that would only lead me down a rabbit hole of actually considering it. It would definitely open the door, and if the pay actually was good, it might be the push that propelled me through it.

  I couldn't afford to let myself be tempted by it. No matter how much I needed the money. Getting caught muling drugs would cost me everything. Even worse, it would cost Emily and Nolan even more.

  I waved at Tim and continued down the hallway, then on down the stairs that led to the back alley where my car was parked. I hopped inside my old beater and put the key into the ignition. The battery rolled over but didn't start. I tried again. Same thing. A third time produced the same results. Dammit. No luck.

  Slamming my hands into the steering wheel, I cursed under my breath. I knew I was going to need a new battery soon, but I'd prayed the old one would hold out for a little while longer. Of course my entire world would go to shit at once, because that's always how it was. When it rained, it poured. In my case, the downpour hadn't stopped since mom and dad died.

  “Fuck,” I cursed, gripping the steering wheel tightly.

  I couldn't cry, I didn't want to lose control of my emotions. I was the only thing keeping us together, and I had to keep going. Somehow, I had to find a way to get over it and keep moving forward.

  I got out of the car and slammed the door. We were in the middle of town, which meant I could walk. It was a ridiculously warm ninety-degree day and sweat was already seeping out of every pore, but it's what I had to do. Walter didn't have any sort of transit system in place – we were too small for that. I could call a cab, but who the fuck was I kidding? I couldn't afford a cab.

  I walked along the alley until I got to the street. We were surrounded by empty warehouses and factories that had closed down, rotting buildings that had stood empty for decades. Walter wasn't necessarily a thriving community with lots of jobs, and most of the jobs we did have, paid minimum wage. I sighed, running a hand through my hair and headed toward town.

  It was going to be one hell of a long day.

  ~ooo000ooo~

  The door to C&S jingled as I pushed it open. I felt gross and was covered in sweat and dirt from walking around all day, and my stomach was growling. The job search had gone nearly as poorly as I'd feared it would. No one seemed to be hiring right now. I really hoped Piper wouldn't be working when I stopped by the store, but lo and behold, there she was.

  She stood behind the counter, smiling at a woman and her baby. She glanced over in my direction when I walked in, then did a double take. She stared at me, an intense stare that caused a twitching in my slacks. Her gray eyes were large and surprised, her smile as warm and inviting as I remembered it all those years.

  Her raven black hair was pulled back into a high ponytail with tendrils falling loose around her porcelain face. Her dainty little nose was still as cute as a button, and her soft, fragile looking face still as beautiful and youthful as ever. She didn't appear to have aged a bit, and I could tell she wasn't wearing an ounce of makeup. Something that had never happened back in high school.

  The woman and her child walked past me and left, the store was now empty, save for Piper and me. We stared at each for a long time before I managed to find my voice.

  “Hey again,” I said.

  I scratched my chin, which was already getting a bit scruffy even though I'd shaved last night.

  “Hey, Shane,” she said. “What's going on?”

  “Not much,” I said, moving toward her slowly, averting my gaze as I asked the next question. “I was just wondering if you guys might be hiring?”

  She cocked an eyebrow. “You know someone who's looking?”

  “Yeah,” I said sheepishly. “I am. Nolan's little stunt last night cost me my job, and there doesn't seem to be anywhere else hiring right now.”

  I leaned against the counter, my forearms resting upon it. It put me at eye-level with Piper. She leaned onto her side of the counter and our faces were now extremely close. Close enough that I had to fight the urge to lean in a bit and kiss those plump lips of hers, to see if they tasted as good as they had back in high school. “I can give you an application,” she said, bringing us back to the current situation. “But honestly, I think we're fully staffed at the moment.”

  “That seems to be the problem everywhere these days,” I said.

  Even hearing the bad news though, my smile didn't falter much. There was just something about being in her presence I found settling. Comfortable. Talking to Piper and it almost made me forget about all my problems at home. Almost.

  “But since I'm here,” I said. “I was wondering if you'd like to grab dinner sometime?”

  Her eyes widened, and she stepped back from the counter, but never took her eyes off me. She had a grin on her face, so I knew my question hadn't upset her. It surprised me though. I had no intention of asking her out when I walked through the door. My life was a mess, I didn't really need to bring anyone else into it right now.

  Except, that when I laid eyes on her again, I couldn't stop myself. After all these years, I wanted to catch up with her. We'd had something way back then, and even if we didn't have something now, I'd like to know about her life these days. I'd like the chance to get to know her again. And who knew? Maybe, that chemistry we'd had back in the day, would slowly develop again.

  “Sure,” she said softly. “But just as friends, right?”

  “Just as friends,” I said.

  My heart fell a tiny bit. It felt like a rejection, but the fact that I was going to have the chance to talk was nice. She pulled out a piece of register tape and wrote something down and handed it to me. I looked down and saw it was her phone number. “Would you still like that application?” she asked me.

  “You're pretty sure you're not hiring?” I asked.

  “Yeah, pretty sure,” she said.

  “Nah,” I said, putting her number in my pocket. “I'll just keep looking. I need to find something soon.”

  I gave her another smile and headed for the door. Her voice calling out to me though, made me stop and turn around.

  “Shane? It's really nice seeing you again,” she said.

  I turned. “It's really nice seeing you too, Piper. It really is.”

  Her smile was huge, spreading across her entire face and even seemed to make her eyes sparkle. That smile lit up her face and made her even more beautiful than she already was. It set my heart thumping in my chest.

  Maybe my day hadn't been a complete waste after all.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  PIPER

  “I told you, Trent, you're welcome to see your daughter at any time, but the visits – as outlined by the courts – must be supervised at all times,” I grumbled.

  I sat in my car, the phone pressed to my ear, the anger inside of me rising like a dark tide. I didn't want to go inside yet because I didn't want to risk Olivia overhearing the conversation I was having with her father. That would just be a mess.

  Trent was a drug addict. He tried to tell me he was off the drugs and was back on the straight and narrow. Yeah, he could sometimes pass a drug test to prove it – but only by using someone else's piss or some method I had yet to figure out. Trent was a master at working all of the loopholes and finding cracks in the system.

  Because I knew that about him, I knew there was no way that man was clean. Not by any stretch of the imagination. I knew him well enough to know when he was clean and when he wasn't, and the last few phone calls had made it more tha
n obvious that he was using again. Whether the courts would believe me or not, well, I wasn't sure. That made me nervous. He had a damn good lawyer because drug dealers sure as hell make more money than convenience store clerks do, and he could afford one who would work the system every bit as hard as Trent did. “You know I'd never hurt her, doll,” he said.

  I cringed hearing him use his pet name for me. It was like goddamn nails on a chalk board. We'd been separated for over a year now, yet he still talked like we were together. Like any day now, we'd make amends, and be a happy family.

  It was never going to happen. Never. Not while I was alive and drawing breath. My daughter was not going to grow up with a father like him.

  I didn't bother to argue with him. Would he have hurt Olivia? Not intentionally, no. Trent was an asshole, mentally abusive to me at times, but I knew he'd never intentionally harm his daughter. His carelessness and neglect, on the other hand, very well could.

  It wasn't hard for me to envision a scenario where he got too high and passed out, allowing our four-year old to wander around his house, complete unsupervised. That could end up horribly for my daughter. Trent never thought about anyone but himself.

  He didn't want to take Olivia from me because he cared about her and wanted to give her a better life. He wanted to get custody of her because he knew I'd never leave my daughter. Nothing in the world could make me give her up.

  Olivia was nothing but a tool for him to utilize to get to me, I feared – and I wasn't about to let that happen.

  I sighed, rubbing my temples. “Goodbye, Trent,” I said. “I'm tired.”

  We had a court date coming up soon. It was something that was stressing me out so much, I could barely think. My head was hurting and dealing with my ex was the last thing I needed right now.

  He started to argue with me, but I hung up. We weren't together anymore, it didn't matter if I pissed him off or not. During our relationship, pulling that kind of crap would have led to a horrific fight. Everything had led to a fight when I was with him.

  Now, I didn't care if he was pissed at me. He couldn't hurt me, and he couldn't hurt my daughter as long as everything went fine with the custody hearing. I really had no reason to fear Trent winning. Even with a hotshot lawyer, there was no way he would be able to convince the courts that I was an unfit mother, or that he was a superior father. Even if I was living with my own mom, at least we had round-the-clock care for Olivia, along with a stable enough home environment. Plus, I was both working and going to school to better myself.

  Trent could offer none of that. He sold drugs for a living. Even if he pretended to be working elsewhere, for the benefit of the court, there was no way he could prove his income. No way he could provide a stable home environment. There was no way he'd take my daughter away from me. Even knowing all that, there was a yawning chasm filled with an icy cold dread in my stomach that I couldn't handle.

  Taking a deep breath, I tucked my phone into my purse and got out of the car. I tried to change my train of thought, tried to focus on something happier. I didn't want to walk in and have Olivia see her mother stressed out when she tucked her into bed. My mind flashed to seeing Shane again and how he'd asked me to dinner. That brought a smile to my face quickly enough.

  As I opened the front door to our small home, I was smiling again. All thoughts of my ex and the custody hearing went out the door, and I was happy to be home with my daughter once more. Shane was back in town, and he wanted to get together. I honestly had so many good things going for me right now, it felt nice.

  There was no reason to not be happy. My life was officially starting to get better.

  ~ooo000ooo~

  My phone rang just after I'd put Olivia to bed. My eyes were hardly open, and I stared down at the phone wearily. Shane's name and number popped up on the caller ID. Instantly, I was awake again, butterfly wings battering at my insides.

  Sitting up in my bed, I answered right away.

  “Hey there,” I said, my voice sounding tired.

  “I didn't wake you, did I?”

  “No, not at all,” I said.

  I didn't want to come off sounding like some old or pathetic person who fell asleep at nine in the evening. “You sure about that?” His voice held a hint of teasing like he knew I was lying.

  “I'm positive,” I said, suppressing a yawn. “What's going on?”

  “Just wanted to set up a time for dinner,” he said. “I was thinking maybe I could make you something at my place?”

  “A little intimate for just a friendly date, don't you think?” I teased.

  “Well, considering we'll have both Emily and Nolan with us, I wouldn't exactly call it intimate.”

  Oh yeah, I forgot about that. It reminded me that I wasn't the only one with kids depending on me. A lot had changed in the years since I'd last seen him.

  “Well, in that case, yeah,” I said. “Sounds good. But, when were you thinking?”

  “When are you off work next?”

  “Tomorrow actually,” I said with a small grin.

  “Perfect. I'll text you the address and see you around six?”

  “Sounds like a plan,” I said.

  I couldn't contain my excitement, even though I knew it was too soon to think of this as anything more than two old friends reconnecting after several years apart. It was probably stupid to allow myself to think it would ever evolve into anything but that. Still, I'd missed Shane so much over the years, that having him back in my life was nice, and I was looking forward to spending more time with him. Even if we did end up just being friends.

  “See you then,” he said before hanging up.

  My heart was racing as I put my phone back down on the end table. Slow down, Piper. You can't rush into this, I thought. Even though I told myself that, it was hard not to get worked up. Shane and I had something special back in the day.

  Or, I thought we had, at least.

  I knew that back in the day, he'd felt the same way. But, our lives just took two dramatically different turns, that being together was no longer an option. Knowing that, I kind of figured we'd never find our way back to each other again.

  Maybe we wouldn't. Hell, I had a daughter he didn't know about, plus baggage with my ex to deal with. He had his own baggage now too. Maybe we wouldn't end up happily ever after, but at least this time, I'd know it wasn't merely because we chose different colleges.

  At least I'd finally have some closure.

  CHAPTER SIX

  SHANE

  With my last check from the security job, I managed to pick up some food at the market. I couldn't afford to take her out to dinner or do anything fancy, but I worked with what I had. Nolan and Emily were more than happy to eat in the living room in front of the TV while I set up the tiny little dining area for Piper and me.

  I don't know what I wanted to come out of this dinner, this reconnection with a woman I'd cared about so much, so long ago. But, the thought of seeing her again, outside the convenience store this time, made me smile.

  “I think your girlfriend is here,” Nolan called out as I pulled the spaghetti from the oven.

  I wasn't much of a cook, but I could make a mean baked spaghetti and meatballs, thanks to my mom. I rushed to the door and opened it, and stood there for a second with wide eyes, taking her in. My mouth had fallen open into a perfect “O,” and I'm pretty sure I'd stopped breathing altogether for a minute.

  She wore a black cotton sheath dress, simple and classic, that was almost the exact same color as her hair. It brought out the paleness of her complexion and the gray in her eyes beautifully and hugged her curves in all the right places. I couldn't help but notice just how nicely she'd filled out over our time apart. It literally left me speechless for a few moments.

  “Uh come in,” I said, finally snapping out of my trance and opened the door enough for her to step inside. “And welcome to our humble abode.”

  She grinned. “Thank you,” she said.

  She looked over
at Emily sitting on the couch, staring at the TV, totally uninterested in the world around her.

  “Wow,” Piper said. “They have both grown up so much.”

  Emily's gaze flickered over to us and I saw the first spark of interest I'd seen in them all day. That spark of interest was quickly followed by the light of recognition.

  “Piper?” Emily asked.

  “You remember me?” Piper said.

  “Of course,” Emily said, her face lighting up. “You were always my favorite of Shane's girlfriends.”

  Ouch. Piper's smile wavered just a bit, drawing a mortified expression from Emily. It was as if she'd only just realized it was the wrong thing to say. Emily cleared her throat quickly and tried to save face.

  “I mean, not that he had many,” she said. “But – well – of the few he brought home, you were the only one I remembered.”

  “Well thank you, I think,” Piper chuckled.

  I took Piper's hand, her skin as soft as I remembered it, and led her into the dining room and away from my brother and sister before they could say anything else that might make either Piper or myself feel awkward and uncomfortable.

  “It smells delicious,” Piper said as we stepped into the kitchen-slash-dining area.

  “I remembered you liked Italian food,” I said.

  “I do, very much,” she said, her eyes twinkling.

  “Well you're in for a treat then,” I said.

  I pulled out her seat and she sat down, and I served up the food. We made idle chit chat until I joined her, sitting across from her at the small table.

  “So what happened after high school?” I asked her.

  “Uh, well, I went to KU for a little while, but you knew that already,” she said.

  She bit her lip and pushed a strand of hair behind her ear but avoided looking at me.

  “I did,” I said. “I remember.”

  I watched her closely and saw that she was guarding something. She was keeping a secret and seemed to be debating with herself whether or not to share it with me. I didn't want to pry. If she didn't want to tell me what happened and why she didn't stay in school, it was none of my business.