Mother Howl by Craig Clevenger

Author:Craig Clevenger
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781915523105
Publisher: Watkins Media
Published: 2023-06-15T00:00:00+00:00

Sera sat on the couch, Nadine clamped to her breast. “She’s hungry. You feed her today?”

“Bottle of milk spilled,” Lyle said, then he told her about the emergency stop at the gas station restroom. “Everything’s in the wash. Lost one of the blankets, though. Just wanted to get her home.”

“All that matters,” said Sera.

“Place was filthy. I dropped her blanket, but the water was inch deep in some places. Wasn’t going to pick it up and wring it out, then wash my hands while holding her–”

“Lyle, I know. Wasn’t blaming you.”

“Yeah. Sorry.”

“What’s wrong, hon?”

“Gas station attendant, somebody, saw me take Nadine into the restroom. Thought I’d abducted her, like I was going to dye her hair or something.”

“For real? Like he called the cops?”

“I took care of it. Straightened everything out. But one of them, this rookie, he got off his leash.”

“What’d he do?”

“Threatened to search the truck, call Reid, like that. Just thumping his chest.”

“But they didn’t.”

“No. I got in his face. He backed off.”

“You got in his face? Jesus, Lyle.”

“Sera, come on. I didn’t even raise my voice.”

“You got in his face but didn’t raise your voice. Lyle–”

“He’d need a reason for detaining me, was all I said, Sera. And it was on him if Nadine got worse.”

“You brought our daughter into this?”

“She wasn’t a goddamned human shield.”

“Did you honestly think this guy would flex his muscles at the expense of an infant?”

“Of course not.”

“Then tell me why–”

“Because just this once, I knew he couldn’t back it up.”

“You made it a pissing match.”

“You’re making more of it–”

“Lyle. We have a three-month old daughter. You’re on probation. Child Services could show up at any time. You want to step up to one of them and see what happens? Did that cop say or do anything you haven’t shrugged off since all of this started?”

“Did you back down with Reid when it was my ass on the block? No. No, you did not.”

“Reid couldn’t throw me in jail–”

“Come on, you can’t–”

“And didn’t have a daughter to think about, Lyle. We didn’t. Wasn’t even the first trimester, and neither one of us–”

“So it’s cool if you play momma lion, long as you’re safe.”

“This is about our daughter. If you pull this kind of shit with somebody else, get yourself arrested, you think Child Services will just hand her back to me if I say please? This sentence of yours, Lyle, all these hoops you’re jumping through? Imagine my version of that, trying to get our daughter back if you’re locked up.”

Both Lyle and Sera had kept their voices down, almost hissing their words as their frustrations with each other mounted. Still, Nadine had fallen asleep in Sera’s arms. Wherever she ended up if they took her, nobody would hold her the way Sera did, the way either of them did.

“Just a few more months, Lyle. Then you’re done with Reid, with all of it. Can you please keep it together a little longer?”

“Yes.” And like that, Lyle was exhausted. “Okay, yes.”

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.