Page 26 of Wilde Abandon
One side of her mouth drew back in a half grin.“You still have the toy, don’t you?”
His most prized possession.“Yes.You don’t give up the few gifts, or toys, you ever got.And they came from you.I kept all the memories and pieces of you I could.”
She turned into him.“Fox.I don’t know what to say to that.It’s sweet and sad and you’re so sentimental and adorable.”She kissed his cheek.
“All of my memories of you are good ones.When I drive that car, when I look at it, I think about you.”
She rose up on her toes, put her arms around him, and kissed him.The tenderness in it made his heart ache.Her soft lips, the feel of her body pressed along his, the way she made him feel alive and desired and special could send him to his knees.“Let’s make a lot more happy memories together.”
Those words held a world of promise, and he wanted to believe they had a future together more than anything.
He hadn’t only come back here to help his mom.He’d come back for Melody.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing bringingthatgirl here?”
Those words, that disgusted tone, the snap of anger in her words, made Fox’s back teeth grind and a million memories come to life inside his head of her taunting and ridiculing him in that tone.
He glanced over at Tanya and barked, “Watch it.”
Her eyes went wide for a second, then narrowed.
In that split second he realized she’d backed off for the first time ever.Why?Because he stood up to her?More likely because she wanted something from him.
That resourceful social worker had found more information on him than just where he worked and his contact information.
I hate that she knows my secret.
Tanya’s eyes didn’t soften, even if her voice did.“Why would you bring her here?She’s the reason they took you from us.”
“Really?Is that why Child Protective Services declared you unfit?”Melody glared daggers at Tanya.
Maybe this was a mistake.
He regretfully let Melody loose and turned to his mom.“Are you ready to talk about the past in a real way, or do you want to just keep living in an alternate universe where you’re the only victim?”
Tanya jolted as if she caught herself before saying something, then let out a breath.She kept her chin high, eyes on him.“What’s past is past.It can’t be changed.Your father, God rest his soul, isn’t here to defend himself.”
He had no idea how she could speak of his father that way.
There was no excuse for what he did.What they did.
“She’s putting it all on your dad,” Melody whispered.
Tanya always did.She wanted him to absolve her of her complicity and treat her only as a victim.She wanted his sympathy and compassion.He’d lost any hint of those things for her when she’d hit him, too.
He didn’t want to fight.It was pointless.She wouldn’t apologize or find a drop of remorse for what she’d done.So he changed the subject as he walked toward her.“Did you take your meds?”
“The morning ones.Still need to take the afternoon ones.That pill thing you got me helps.”
Yeah, he spent his Monday visits sorting her pills into three weekly containers so she knew what she’d taken in the morning, afternoon, and at night each day.Before, she’d had to figure out which ones to take once a day, twice, and three times.She got confused sometimes and couldn’t remember if she’d taken something with all the bottles lined up in front of her, so she’d accidentally take one more than once.Luckily, she didn’t have an adverse reaction, though he suspected there were times she took more pain meds than she was allowed each day.He couldn’t blame her.After the hysterectomy and having part of her bowel removed, she’d been in a lot of pain, barely able to get out of bed.
Now, though, she was mobile and doing better, though the cancer had spread to her liver and lungs.
The drugs and chemo were only extending her life expectancy at this point, turning months into maybe more than a year if she was lucky.Though she had also gotten into a clinical trial a few months ago.Time would tell on that front.Ask her, she’d never been lucky in her life.
Bitter.Annoyed at the world and everyone around her.One of those people who just sucks the energy out of a room and you.
“You should have taken the midday ones with lunch.”