Total pages in book: 71
Estimated words: 72196 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 361(@200wpm)___ 289(@250wpm)___ 241(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 72196 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 361(@200wpm)___ 289(@250wpm)___ 241(@300wpm)
“What?” Alex asked. “Mommy said…”
Gently I explained to her the art of breastfeeding, and then she started to ask questions. All during this process, not once did she snarl, get angry, or say anything discourteous at all.
It was actually quite nice to speak to Alex instead of having her be ugly.
“Your daddy and I were talking about going to Disneyland this summer,” I told her. “We’ve already discussed the benefits of staying there, rather than just visiting for the day. If you were to go, would you want to stay there, or maybe stay at the beach?”
Technically we were going to do both, but I liked talking to her without the nasty words thrown in. It was therapeutic in a way.
“I’d rather go to Disneyland than the beach,” she said, then explained her reasons why.
By the time I was putting TJ back to bed with a full stomach, it was a half hour away from when I’d wake up anyway, so I decided to get an early start on breakfast before I had to be at work by eight that morning.
The entire time, I had a little girl that was very interested in everything I had to say, and a touch of hope that one day we could be more than enemies.
Chapter 14
Isn’t it weird how we have one hand that knows how to do everything, and one that is useless and can’t even open a candy bar?
-Hannah’s secret thoughts
Hannah
Two days later, I was in hell.
“I’m sorry, Hannah,” the doctor that had hired me all those months ago when I first started, said. “But her father is half of our funding. I’m damned if I do, and damned if I don’t.”
I stared, dumbfounded.
“I’m fairly certain that it’s illegal to fire me,” I told him.
He smiled sadly. “Texas is a right to work state. I don’t have to have a reason to fire you, honey. I made sure to check with my lawyers on that before I started this.”
I was physically sick to my stomach.
“Well, okay,” I said, standing up. “I suppose that I will see you around.”
He winced. “As of today, you and Travis are no longer welcome at this clinic.”
My jaw clenched. “So you’re saying that if Travis or I gets sick, that we’re not allowed to come here?”
He nodded. “I have a right to refuse service to anyone I deem necessary.”
I looked at the ceiling.
“Good to know that you’re not banning our kids. Thanks for that at least.”
He looked away and gathered his things, actively dismissing me.
I took that as my cue to leave.
I wanted to vomit. Seriously, if there was anything in my stomach, I would have.
God, this was such a nightmare!
How was I supposed to pay my bills? Because I knew one thing, I wouldn’t be taking money from Travis. Although, I knew he’d give it to me if I asked.
I’d also have to take TJ out of daycare…
A thought suddenly occurred to me.
A woman that I’d met over a month ago when I’d first come here. A woman that was looking for a caretaker for her mother-in-law. A woman that had looked to be at the end of her wits.
I pulled my keys out of my purse and walked out of the clinic without a single look back, determination in every step I took.
By the time I got to my Jeep, I already had my phone placed to my ear.
Carol Marks was the wife of a local rancher who owned upwards to a thousand acres right outside of town. She was young, maybe twenty-five at most, and was having to deal with the rancher’s mother, who was bedridden due to a stroke she’d had six months ago.
The mother, Hilda Marks, was an active rancher with her husband when her husband had died of a heart attack. Two days later, Hilda had a stroke. Ever since then, she’d been bedridden with complete right-side paralysis.
Carol and her husband, Atticus Marks, had brought the mother into the clinic when she’d had her stroke. However, since it’d been so long since she’d had the stroke—which had been in the middle of the night sometime—there was nothing that we could do.
I’d seen Carol quite a few times since then at the grocery store, and other places in town as she did stuff for the ranch and her husband, and each time she’d gotten subsequently more tired.
It had been one day last week when she’d come in for what she suspected to be the stomach flu, and was later confirmed as a pregnancy, that she admitted that she’d do absolutely anything for some help. She’d even offered me the role as a caretaker during the daylight hours for quite a large sum of money. Seeing as I had a job, I’d declined.
Now, however…now I was jobless and willing to do just about anything to prove to fucking Allegra that she may have knocked me down, but I was anything but out.