Page 173 of Toxic Wishes
I smiled to myself as the thought crossed my mind.
After last year's Super Bowl appearance, the royalties from Toxic Wishes have been going straight to the rental house I bought. After learning so much about real estate and reading the book Colt demanded of me, Rich Dad Poor Dad, it made more sense now why he invested in all these rental properties. After all, he will retire one day, and that day is soon approaching. I’m grateful he has thought about his retirement more than I ever would.
My motives for a rental property were a little different. I bought a lakehouse out in the Ozarks so those who struggled with drugs or eating disorders, who couldn’t afford rehab could come and stay here. It was a place to make people feel like they weren’t alone or that there was hope to get through their addictions or disorders, knowing others around them were going through the same thing.
What are you still doing here. You better get home to that hunk of a man.” Brittany said.
“I’m going, i’m going. I just been really worried about Katy. How she been doing?”
“She is fine. She still has a long ways to go but I think she’s finally realizing this is her home now, and not the one she was at.” Brittany said Andy heart leaped for joy.
“Good I was really worried about her when she told me about that last conversation she had with her mom, I mean it was horrible. I lost sleep just thinking about it.”
“I know all about it Abigail. But I got everything under control. Stop worrying. Now get on home before I drag you there myself.” She starts pulling me down the steps.
“Okay I’m leaving. Geese miss bossy.”
When a person graduated from the program I created, they became leaders and helped organize meetings and projects that portrayed the psychology part of all this. Brittany was one of those people. And even though I wasn’t in school full-time anymore, I educated myself on the psychological part of eating disorders and drug addictions.. Maybe one day, I’ll pursue my degree in the medical field as a psychiatrist, but for now, I’m putting it on hold and following my heart for once.
When I got home I immediately got to decorating.“Mom, Dad is going to be here any minute.” Bodie recently started calling me mom after discovering Colt and I were official. We didn’t want to tell him immediately, so we did a good job of staying out of the media as a couple. It wasn’t hard since I stayed home for the most part. But I told Bodie he was not obligated in any way to call me mom unless he wanted to but he said he’s been dying to call me that ever since we all lived at the lake house together. I cried tears of joy in the bathroom for hours after he confessed that to me.
Damn Hormones.
As far as my toxic family goes, my sister is the only one I talk to regularly. Although I had come to peace with my mom and all the decisions she made when it came to me, I still kept my distance, which wasn’t hard since I’ve done it my whole life. But now, instead of feeling rejected loving them from a distance, I felt empowered.
“Okay, okay. We have to wait for Grandma. She said she was bringing cookies, and your grandpa is supposed to bring the banner,” I tell Bodie as I carry the fresh juice I squeezed to the kitchen table. I know he may be late. Although Cliff has gotten so much better at being reliable, that didn’t mean he was ever on time, which drove Colt up the wall.
I stopped asking what distracted him from the basic concept of time since half the time, he would respond with, ‘Time is not real. It’s made up.’ Or my favorite excuse, ‘I can’t help when people stop and recognize me wherever I go, especially the women.’
“Hello,” Nora sing-songs as she walks inside the front door. I was washing my hands when she spotted me leaning over the kitchen sink.
“Okay, I made the cookies, but half are pink and half are blue, and I made some yellow ones because of how adorable they are.” She holds out the tray of cookies. They were shaped in different baby toys and clothes that said, Oh boy, on the blue ones, God help me, on the pink ones, and Thank God, on the yellow ones.
“That’s fine. I’m sure he will get the message right away when he sees the giant teddy bear on the porch,” I say. It was Bodies' idea, and although I hated it, I couldn’t say no after his face lit up like a little boy seeing Disney World for the first time.
“Which is adorable,” Nora adds.
“Thanks for helping me with all this.” I place a hand under her elbow as she kisses me briefly on the cheek.
“Suga, you are the daughter I never had, so you better stop thanking me. I want to help, and you better get used to it because once that baby is here, you won’t be able to get rid of me.”
I chuckle lightly as she walks off, placing the tray of cookies on the table. Bodie wanted to surprise his dad with the news. He was probably the most excited out of all of us because this meant he’d finally get what he’d always wanted, a sibling. On the other hand, I was a nervous wreck with all these unanswered questions lingering in the air. I thought we would be married before this ever happened, but with all the sex we’ve been having, I’m not surprised we got pregnant sooner rather than later. And with his history, I didn’t want him to feel trapped like he felt when he found out he was pregnant with Bodie.
Marriage has been brought up a couple of times, but almost in a fleeting moment after we just got done making love or fucking like animals, curled up with one another, talking about the future. It was never taken seriously, and I would never push the issue because I didn’t care about a big fancy wedding. I knew he loved me and was committed, by all the time and effort he put into our relationship. During the first football season as a couple, he wanted to move me out to Arizona, but I didn’t want to leave Bodie and make him feel like I deserted him, especially after receiving the news that Colt and I were an item. That’s when Colt said we both could move, but I know Bodie would miss his friends and Nora, since she was the only mother figure in his life up until now.
We fought about it for weeks, and as usual, when he finally saw the valid points I was making, he dropped the subject and agreed to finish out the year in his football career before we made any major changes. I felt relieved I got to keep a part of Bodie’s life constant, aside from flying out to see Colt as much as possible, if he couldn’t come here.
I’m not going to lie. It’s almost surreal to think this is my life now. A little over a year ago, I struggled to make ends meet, and the shocking news of where I came from added fuel to the fire. And now, I could buy anything I wanted.
Surprisingly, I felt extremely comfortable in Colt’s house, when it didn’t seem that long ago when I didn’t feel like I belonged. I can only wish we find a home of our own one day, but for now, I wasn’t complaining.
I was applying lipstick to my lips when I heard a car door shut outside.
“Shit,” I say under my breath. “He’s here!” I shout as I put my lipstick back in my purse.
Cliff walks in with the banner and champagne, and relief washes over me.
“Got some bubbly.” He says, as he walks through the door.