Page 17 of Redemption

I pinch my eyes shut at the thought. At the memories of his body all over me.

“Mama!”

Aria’s voice shakes me from my thoughts. I look at my phone and see it’s past noon. Maria told me she would drop her off on the way to picking up her twins.

“Just a minute,” I yell, not sure if she can hear me.

But I don’t even get a minute as she bursts through my bathroom door and runs to the bathtub. “Last night was so much fun! We got to make pizzas and ice cream sundaes and then we watched movies until midnight!”

“You stayed up until midnight?” I ask with a surprise in my voice. “I’m gonna have to talk to Tina’s mom about that.”

“No, Mama, don’t! We didn’t do anything bad. We—”

I cut her off with a laugh. “I’m kidding, princess. That’s so fun! Did you talk about boys?” I tease her, knowing she is getting to the age where cooties turn into crushes.

“Eww no.”

I breathe a sigh of relief, knowing I still have time before that happens.

“What did you do?”

Besides get tied to a chair and throw a knife at a man I want you to meet. “Oh nothing. Fell asleep watching a movie.”

“Then why do you look so tired?” she asks me. Her inquisitive brain definitely a family trait.

I pinch her cheek. “I kept tossing and turning in my sleep because I missed you.”

She pushes my hand away. “Whatever, Mom.”

“Why don’t you get started on your homework so I can get out of the bath?”

She groans. “But I don’t have any science homework. Just stupid social studies.”

“Well you’ll never get to play professional football if you don’t pass your classes.”

“Ugh, fine.” She huffs as she stomps out of my room and down the stairs to her own room.

I sigh as I stand from the tub, grabbing a fluffy towel from the warmer. What I wouldn’t give to tell her about Kilian. Tell her about a time in my life that was special and meant something. Tell her things she should know. But I can’t. Not yet. She is too young still. Too innocent.

* * *

“Can I get you anything else?” I ask the table in front of me. They shake their heads and I wander to the bar. Luigi is working today, a man a few years older than me.

“Slow day?” he asks me.

I snort. “Obviously. This downpour is not doing anything for business today.”

“I just wish someone would sit at the bar. Could use someone to talk to.” He pauses and laughs. “Besides you, of course.”

I shake my head and look at the tabletop clock behind the bar. “It’s almost seven. Maybe a few people will stumble in.”

“One can hope.”

I give him a curt smile and go check on the handful of tables I have left. I am off at eight. Aria is at Tina’s house while I work. I yawn, bored from a slow Wednesday night. The one night shift I work that usually makes me a good amount of extra cash. The dinner crowd more likely to tip than the lunch crowd.

When my last table leaves, I slide onto one of the barstools at the near-empty bar. Luigi got lucky and two people came in half an hour ago and sat at the bar.

“Sticking around?” he asks.

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