Arrogant Jerk by Kelly Myers

Author:Kelly Myers [Myers, Kelly]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-06-14T23:00:00+00:00

17

Xander

I pulled my silver sedan into the driveway, purposefully leaving it out of the garage. For mid-May it was a beautiful day, sun overhead, warm breeze from the south. I had yet to take Yolie to the park this year, and now that the anniversary event got past I had plenty of time to take a day off.

When I walked into the house, Claudia sat hunched over a stack of books, and Yolie sat beside her coloring. Her brown curls had been fixed into two braids that ran parallel across her head and down her back. She looked up at me with a giant smile and raced over to wrap herself around my knees the moment she saw me.

“Daddy!” Her joy was infectious, causing me to smile as well. Claudia rose and closed her books before coming to my rescue, prying Yolie off my legs so I didn’t fall on her.

“Give Daddy a second to put his things down.” She picked Yolie up and took a few steps back, giving me space. I wouldn’t say things had been normal for the past few weeks, because after our second sexual encounter I felt more conflicted than the first time, but things weren’t awful. Claudia didn’t bring it up, and neither did I. She cooked dinner nightly, and helped me tuck Yolie in, except on Monday and Wednesday when she had online classes. And of course the weekends were terrible for me because Yolie had grown so attached to Claudia I had a difficult time getting her to listen to me at all.

“Thanks.” I tossed my keys on the end table and sat my briefcase down, remembering how this never used to be a problem with Mrs. Mitchell, but then Maggie was old fashioned and thought all men everywhere rushed home just for this moment. I preferred Claudia’s way of “greet then rest.” It made coming home feel like I was being loved, not attacked.

“No problem. You want me to get her snack now so you can get lunch?” She bounced Yolie on her hip, who was playing with the red strands that had escaped their braid.

“Actually—” I clapped my hands one time “—I want to take Yolie to the park. I took the rest of the day off.”

“Park! Yay!” Yolie giggled and formed tiny excited fists, shaking with pleasure. “We do the slide. Then we do the swings.”

“That sounds perfect.” Claudia spun Yolie in a circle and then set her down. “Go get your jacket in case it gets chilly later.” As Yolie ran off, Claudia continued, “And get your shoes too!”

The stomping of little feet faded as Yolie raced down the hallway, and I turned to see Claudia gathering up her things. She stacked books in a pile, then closed her notebooks and collected her pens. The backpack she’d carried them in lay on the ground unzipped, and she picked it up too, stuffing it full.

“This is really so perfect. I have a huge test to study for on Monday, and I really needed this time.

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.