Page 45 of Reckless Abandon

I decided to call my mother back. “Hey, Mom,” I said when she finally picked up. I had no idea what time zone she was vacationing in.

“Good morning, sweetie,” she muttered, still half asleep.

“Morning?” I asked.

“Yeah, it’s three fifteen a.m. here in Paris. It’s okay. How are you? Was that you on TMZ?”

I explained to my mother everything that had happened over the last month. “I’m not sure if I'm ashamed that you're a stripper or proud that you are dating a pro football player," was her only response.

“Thanks, Mother,” I said sarcastically. “On that note, I’ll talk to you later.” I curled myself up on the couch and cried.

When the doorbell rang, I wasn’t sure if I was scared, relieved, or pissed off. I seemed to have all the emotions immediately rushing through my brain. But as soon as I saw Nathan’s eyes looking at me with such genuine care and concern, I jumped into his arms and held on for dear life.

I told Nathan everything. There was no need to hold back anything from him now, and I cared enough about him to give him an honest answer. He took me for the most amazing ride of my life. Being naked across his bike was so exhilarating. In that moment, I realized the true meaning of reckless abandon. With Nathan, I felt free. And when he told me he was falling for me I knew that I would be safe. No matter what happened in the future.

Nathan and I went back to my place to get some sleep before he had to play in the last day of his sponsorship tournament and then he needed to spend some time Ella. I was off work until Monday, so I figured I would use the time to figure out my next move.

I called my closest friend and teacher union representative, Melinda, to get some advice on what was left of my teaching career.

“Holy shit, Ry, that was you?” she practically yelled into the phone.

“Yeah, it was,” I confessed. I explained the entire story to her.

“Wow, lady, that is one hell of a summer vacation,” Melinda pointed out. “I had no idea that you were struggling so bad. You always said everything was good.”

“Yeah, well, not so much.”

“And, wait let me get this straight. The groom you danced for was Lucas?” she asked.

“Yeah, and he has been sending me horrid text messages. He seriously called me a slut. I don’t trust him at all.”

“Well, to be honest, you have only two choices. You can wait to see what happens and hope you don’t get caught. If you do, you risk losing your teaching credential. Or resign before the district forces you to. If you do that, you may get away with your credential since they didn't have to ask you to you to leave,” she told me.

“Thanks, Mel. You’ve given me a lot to think about.”

By Friday morning, I had become extremely pissed off that Rich had not called me to see how I was dealing with all of the media attention. Maybe it was something he was used to, but I sure as hell wasn’t. I knew he was at a kid’s training camp, but he didn’t live under a rock. Should I call him or wait? I mean it really didn’t matter at this point because Nathan was my man and I knew that without a doubt. Yet I couldn’t help but wonder what happened to that teddy bear of a man that held me the other night.

My thoughts were interrupted by the alert of a text message. God, please don’t let it be another one from Lucas.

Nathan - Hi butterfly. I miss you something fierce. Ella and I will be there in 2 hours to get you. Pack for the weekend.

Me - Where are we going?

Nathan - Surprises, baby. I am full of surprises.

Holy crap. I was meeting Nathan’s daughter. What if she didn’t like me? What if I didn’t like her? What if she’s jealous? Fuck, what if I’m jealous? All of this was just nonsense. Ella and I were going to get along just fine. I hoped.

Two hours later I heard Nathan’s truck pull up in my driveway. My hands started to shake as I opened the door. My nervousness was obvious to Nathan. “Calm down, butterfly. She doesn’t bite,” he whispered in my ear when he hugged me hello.

“Hi, Ms. McKennan. These are for you,” Ella sweetly said to me handing me some beautiful flowers. She quickly ran to the back door as soon as she saw Roxy in the backyard.

“Jackson says he’s really mad because I get to meet Roxy before he does.” She giggled as she blew my dog kisses through the window.

Nathan came up from behind me and whispered, “We’re going to have to do something about that last name of yours, butterfly.” He discreetly placed soft kisses on the back of my neck.

Feeling the goosebumps take over my skin, I knew I needed to change the subject. “Are we taking Roxy to your place again?”

“We sure are. Let’s get a move on so we don’t miss our flight,” Nathan said clapping his hands and shuffling us all out the door.