Total pages in book: 71
Estimated words: 71625 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 358(@200wpm)___ 287(@250wpm)___ 239(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 71625 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 358(@200wpm)___ 287(@250wpm)___ 239(@300wpm)
I was such a loser.
“Con,” I said softly. “I just don’t understand. I’d have to reteach myself. Which I’m more than willing to do. However, it’s going to take me more than the twenty minutes that I have before I have to leave for work.”
Conleigh looked away.
“Are you sure that taking a night shift is a good idea?”
No.
Yet, I needed money. I needed to put food on my children’s plates.
I needed…help.
Help that I wasn’t going to find anywhere.
I’d contacted the attorney general’s office yesterday about back child support for Cody.
It was a gamble.
By doing so, I was admitting that I needed help. I was also letting him know that he still had his rights as a parent, and alerting him to the fact that he could potentially take me to court to lower the child support settlement we reached in an out-of-court agreement two months ago. Child support he’d promised to deliver—the whole two months’ worth—but never had.
Until that came through, I couldn’t afford to not take extra shifts. Not with Christmas coming up, anyway.
I sighed inwardly at everything that I needed to do.
With her struggling with her own homework, there was no way I was going to be able to help Cody with his sight words.
“Mom!”
I looked over to see Cody standing there looking at me.
“Yeah?”
“I got papers!”
I hated papers.
Seriously, if I never saw another shittily—is that even a word? —colored fucking paper it’d be too soon.
“Oh, yay!” I cheered falsely. “Whatcha got?”
He gave me the papers that were haphazardly stuffed into his folder, and I winced.
He had a stack full of them.
Shit.
I dreaded the day when all my son’s graded papers came home.
He was a smart cookie…except when he’d put his stubborn foot down, then all bets were off.
He was like me in that way.
Unfortunately, things didn’t come easily for either of my two children.
Conleigh had been struggling since she moved to her new school district in the second grade. Cody was struggling to say the freakin’ alphabet correctly every single time.
If he couldn’t do the alphabet, how the hell was he supposed to grasp the concept of an actual word?
Then I saw the official-looking letter that was tucked in his folder amid all the graded papers that had been hastily shoved in there and winced.
I pulled it out and read the sticky note on top as I felt a lump form in my throat.
Winnie,
I know that we discussed this as a possibility at report card time, but I now believe he needs it for certain. Please take the time to fill out the paperwork and send it back. This is not the end of the world, I promise!
—Mrs. T.
I crumpled up the sticky note in my hand and looked at the envelope with dread.
Then I forced myself to grow a pair and opened the envelope as that lump forming in my throat grew larger.
I suspect that your son may have some developmental delays. Please don’t be alarmed—it might simply be due to the fact that he did not attend pre-K. But he is lagging behind his classmates in several areas, and it would be best to address these issues now, rather than later.
I felt like throwing up.
I looked over at my son, who was now happily playing next to his toy trucks, and felt a single tear slip from my eye.
Then I sucked it up, pulled on my big girl panties, and walked to him. “Let’s go over these sight words one more time.”
I stopped next to Conleigh, dropped a kiss on her head and went to the chalkboard that I’d installed just for this instance.
Then, I made myself late, just so I could help my son with his sight words.
Conleigh was on her own, though.
I left my house twenty minutes later after instructing Conleigh to lock the doors and set the alarm. I headed to work with my mind all over the place.
One thing was for sure…I needed help, and I would take whatever I could get.
Little did I know that my prayers would be answered by my hot cop neighbor. And I would like it.
***
Twelve hours later
The first thing I saw when I arrived home after my night shift was my neighbor.
My thighs clenched, and I growled under my breath.
But, he wasn’t where I expected him to be…like at his house, for example.
No, he was in my house.
Again.
It was as if he was living there.
What the hell?
I walked in with the box of donuts to find both of my kids dressed, fed and at the table.
Cody even had boots on, which was a fucking win. Normally I had to force him to put any sort of shoe on. Socks were a bonus most days.
“Uhhh,” I said as I came in. “What’s going on? Did something happen?”
Conleigh looked up from where she was sitting next to Steel, who was holding Cody on his lap.