Chapter13
1386 Words
NATALIE’S POV
Mia decided she was going to follow me to Carla’s house since she had to leave the office early.
But by the time we got to Carla’s apartment, Ava looked perfectly fine.
She was curled up beneath one of Carla’s knitted blankets, watching cartoons with a mug of warm tea sitting untouched on the coffee table. The second she spotted me, her entire face lit up.
“Mommy!”
She climbed off the couch before Carla could stop her and wrapped both arms around my waist.
I laughed, brushing the curls away from her forehead.
“I heard someone wasn’t feeling well.”
She frowned dramatically.
“I wasn’t.”
I raised an eyebrow.
“But I’m better now.”
“So that’s it? Just like that?”
She nodded proudly.
“Carla made soup.”
Carla appeared from the kitchen carrying a dishtowel over her shoulder.
“Don’t let her fool you,” she said with a laugh. “She only ate three spoons before jumping up and down again saying she was cured.”
“I was!” Ava yelled.
“You were not.”
“I was.”
I couldn’t help laughing as the two of them argued over something as silly as soup.
“Thank you,” I said sincerely, turning to Carla. “For everything. I know I keep dropping her on you without much notice.”
Carla waved me off.
“Natalie, stop thanking me every five minutes. She’s no trouble at all.”
“I still appreciate it.”
“You’ve got enough on your plate already.”
Mia finally spoke after staying unusually quiet during the ride over.
“I keep telling her that.”
“I can hear both of you,” I muttered.
Carla smiled.
Ava tugged gently on my sleeve. “Can we go home now?”
I looked down at her.
“I thought you wanted to stay with Carla.”
“I miss my bed.”
We all laughed.
“Alright,” I said. “Let’s go home.”
After saying goodbye and thanking Carla one more time, we headed back to the apartment.
The moment we stepped inside, Ava disappeared into her room to change into her pajamas.
“Can I wear the pink ones?” she called.
“Weren’t those the ones you wore yesterday?”
“Exactly!”
I looked over at Mia before shaking my head.
“Fine. But you’re letting me brush your hair afterward.”
“Deal!”
Mia laughed softly.
“She is dangerously smart for her age.”
“Tell me about it.”
A few minutes later, Ava wandered back into the living room wearing her favorite pink pajamas, carrying a coloring book under one arm and a box of crayons under the other. She sat on the floor without saying another word and immediately started coloring.
“Don’t you think what we’re doing to Carla is a bit unfair?” I said without taking my eyes off Ava.
“What do you mean?”
I turned to her. “I mean I’ve been dropping Ava off every day for the past week, unpaid and unannounced. I’ve never even asked if she was available before.”
“Sadly,” Mia sighed. “I get what you mean. But Ava isn’t a handful and she really likes her.”
“Carla or Ava?”
“Both.”
“I just don’t think we can keep this up.”
“What are you suggesting?”
“Ava’s smart,” I looked at her again, and then back at Mia. “She needs to be in school. Not a daycare or with a babysitter.”
Mia straightened. “Are you sure?”
“I have a stable job now and Ava’s finally becoming happy. I don’t have to worry about bills either, I’ll be able to afford them. And Ava needs this, she doesn’t have any friends.”
“True. She does need to socialize.”
“Exactly.”
“I’ll help you find a good school, okay? I’ll ask people.”
I held her hand. “Thank you.”
“What about Jason? Don’t you think paying him first would be a better option?”
“I don’t think Jason’s ever going to stop this to be honest. I can’t put Ava’s life on hold because of it.”
“This is crazy Nat. Why can’t we just report him to the police?”
I hesitated.
“I don’t know.”
Deep down, I did know.
I was scared it wasn’t going to end there. Vanessa could just continue from where he stopped and that'd be a bigger pain. And the chances of Jason getting arrested felt small to me. I was just scared…
“I think we should. We can’t keep doing this with him.”
I took a deep breath.
“I’ll think about it.”
“Think about it? He’s threatening your daughter and you.”
“I know, I know. I just think getting him arrested would bring more problems.”
Mia looked unimpressed with my reply.
“Mia, if this goes wrong, something really terrible could happen to Ava, to Carla, you.”
“Oh, I’d like to see Jason hurt me or my goddaughter.”
I rolled my eyes sarcastically. “Just trust me, okay?”
“Fine. But if he pulls one more trick, I’ll get him arrested myself.”
I laughed.
“Fine with me.”
“I have to go now.”
“Now?”
“It’s the weekend. I need to relax.”
“More like you need to go to the club,” I said, walking her to the door.
She shrugged. “That’s what I said.”
“Bye Ava. Love you!”
“Bye Mia!” Ava yelled back.
Then she left.
I shook my head and walked back to Ava and kneeled next to her.
“Hi sweetie.”
“Hey mommy.”
I pulled back a piece of her hair.
“How do you feel about going to school?”
Her eyes lit up.
“Am I?”
“Only if you want to.”
She aggressively nodded her head.
I smiled and picked her up.
“Okay, I’ll take you shopping tomorrow, okay?”
“Yayyy!”
I laid her down on her bed and kissed her forehead before leaving.
When I got to my room, I finally relaxed. Which meant I had time to think.
Think about how desperate he sounded, how I kept trying to hate him and see him as something other than the man he was today.
And no matter how hard I tried, I kept hearing the same question.
“Why did you disappear?”
He’d looked genuinely hurt when he asked, and that bothered me, way more than I expected it to.
It certainly didn’t help that he was painfully attractive.
I wasn’t sure if he was the one confusing me, or I was the one confusing myself. I didn’t know what we were, or what we were doing. But for some reason, I found myself wanting to break down in front of him. I wanted to tell him everything, but I just couldn’t trust him yet…or his mother.
Now I had to figure out how to face him at work after the big reveal.
I fell to my bed and picked up my phone. I stared at it for a moment while replaying Mia’s words.
Maybe I was just being paranoid and reporting him was the best option.
So, I blocked him and decided to report him first thing tomorrow.
I put my phone back down and headed into the shower.
For some reason, I saw, or maybe hallucinated, Lucas….naked.
I shook out of it almost immediately.
“Ugh, Natalie what are you doing?” I said out loud as I rubbed my eyes.
I turned the shower on and tried not to think.
But as soon as I got out and picked up my phone.
Like lightning, a million thoughts came rushing in.
Jason texted me with a new number.
“You can block every number I use, but you can’t block what’s already coming.”
Five days, Natalie. Don’t make me watch you regret this.”
My heart sank.
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