18. #2
“I’ll come find you in just a bit,” Zane assured me before he gave me a quick kiss.
I gave him a hug and hissed in his ear, “Come find me soon, please!”
Zane was laughing as he walked away, and I could have kicked him when I realized he hadn’t agreed to do that. The asshole was abandoning me - not exactly to the wolves, but to a park full of strangers, which was pretty much the same thing.
As we walked toward a grouping of blankets under the shade of a massive honey locust tree, Emerald asked, “Were you able to convince Dayton to come with you today?”
“Actually, yes. He didn’t even put up much of a fight, although he did ask if he could come get the keys from me and hang out in the car if he got bored.” I laughed bitterly before I admitted, “When I asked if I could trust him not to take off in it, he didn’t think I was very funny at all.”
“He’s come to the realization that his life with you is very good, much better than it would be if he was living with his mother.”
“I’m not sure how you worked that bit of magic, but I commend you and you have my eternal thanks.”
“I didn’t have much to do with it, Courtney.
The fact that you’ve been the most steady and trustworthy adult in his life has everything to do with how he feels about you.
He loves you because he knows that no matter what, you’ll love him back.
He’s finally coming to grips with the fact that he won’t get the same consideration from his birth mother. ”
“It’s a hard pill to swallow, but it’s easier if you’re able to do it when you’re younger.”
“It’s never easy, sweetheart, no matter how old you are.
” When we got close to the nearest blanket, Emerald leaned forward and set her daughter down next to a group of women who looked a little older than me and then kept walking toward a blanket with a bunch of women who looked to be around my mother’s age.
“Ladies, I’ve got someone I’d like to introduce. ”
When they all looked at me expectantly, I said, “Hi, I’m Courtney Banks.”
“Courtney?” a woman with auburn hair streaked with silver at the temples asked in shock.
“Yes, this is Courtney. She came with Zane.”
“I’m gonna beat the shit out of that little asshole the second I see him!” the woman exclaimed as she quickly got to her feet. I was still reeling from that when she pulled me into her arms for a hug. “Oh, thank God. I was so worried!”
I stood there, stiff as a board for a few seconds before I lifted a hand and gently patted her back, wondering who this crazy person was and how I might be able to escape and warn Zane that she was gunning for him. She leaned back and smiled at me before she hugged me again.
“Let the poor woman go, Carlie. You’re scaring the shit out of her,” one of the women laughing on the blanket behind her chided.
The woman leaned back just far enough to look at my face before she asked, “You’re really Courtney?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“How many children do you have?”
“Five-ish.”
“Ish?” another woman asked.
“Two of them are my brothers and they’re teenagers, so I don’t really consider them children.”
“I’m gonna fucking kill him!” the woman muttered. In a more even tone, she asked, “Do you work at a truck stop?”
“Um, no. I’m a medical claims auditor.”
“You’re a what?”
“I work from home and make sure that doctors aren’t scamming insurance companies or treating their patients with unnecessary procedures just to make money.”
“That’s a noble job!” the woman exclaimed. “Not that there’s anything wrong with working at a truck stop, mind you, but your job is much more . . . er . . . dependable.”
“Dig that hole!” a woman behind her yelled.
Finally, the crazy lady let go and flipped off the people behind her before she said, “You’re young. How old are your children?”
“My brothers are sixteen and thirteen, my daughter is ten, and my sons are both four.”
The woman yanked me closer and squeezed me tightly before she whispered, “I love you so much right now. You have no idea.”
I looked over the woman’s shoulder at Emerald who was laughing so hard she was wheezing and had tears streaming down her cheeks and realized that the rest of the women were in almost the same state.
Emerald looked up at me, and I gave her the universal ‘help!’ eye contact signal, but that just made her laugh even harder.
Finally, not caring what the laughing women thought of me, I pulled away from the crazy person and smiled uncomfortably before I said, “I’m going to go . . . somewhere else. It was, uh, nice to meet you, uh, . . .”
“Carlie! I’m Carlie Duke!”
I felt my eyebrows nearly hit my hairline and asked, “Are you Zane’s mom?”
“I am, and you’re Zane’s girlfriend, Courtney, who is not forty-six, doesn’t have children the same age as mine, and . . . You’re not on parole, are you?”
“No!”
“And you’re not married?”
“No!”
“I’m gonna fucking kill him.”
I took another step back and asked, “What’s going on right now? I’m so confused.”
“Come here, honey,” a gorgeous black woman who was sitting on the blanket next to Emerald, said as she reached up and took my hand. “Let me tell you about these crazy people and how much they like to play jokes on each other.”
The woman felt like the only calm port in the storm, so I sat down next to her and asked, “Does everybody here think I’m some cradle-robbing parolee who works at a truck stop?”
“Yes, but let me tell you why.”
“Please!” I said as I looked around at the women who were finally pulling themselves together and then back to the woman who was staring at me with a smile so wide that it had to be hurting her face. “Why do all of you think that?”
“Because my son’s an asshole,” Mrs. Duke said firmly. “And let me warn you, sweetheart, my punishment is going to be harsh and memorable. Believe me. He’s fucked with me for the last time. I’m going to come up with something epic.”
“Zane told you . . . all of that?” I asked in outrage. “Why would he do that?”
The woman next to me shrugged before she said, “He’s an asshole like the rest of them. They enjoy fucking with us and always seem to forget that in a battle of wits, we always win because they come to the arena unarmed and unaware.”
“Preach it!” a gorgeous woman who was covered in tattoos said loudly.
“I discovered their bullshit about pranking people when I finally met the man I was head over heels for and found out that he thought I had a golfball-sized mole on my forehead, a mustache better than his, and chronic body odor. He thought those things because her husband . . .” The woman pointed to a pixie-like blonde woman sitting cross legged next to Emerald.
The woman giggled before she lifted her hand and waved at me before the other woman finished, “Who just happens to be Zane’s uncle, told them that about me. ”
I looked at Zane’s mother in horror and said, “You must have been terrified!”
“I’ll admit, I was really worried. Not to be rude, but the last thing I need is some skanky cougar trying to trap my baby boy.”
I burst out laughing and said, “Can I help you figure out how to get him back?”
The woman next to me laughed before she said, “You’re gonna fit right in, Courtney. By the way, the guys call me Stache.”