Love and Sorrow (Small Town Secrets Book 5), стр. 21
“All right. I’ll make sure one of us is here when you come by.”
Probably the most sincere I’d been since the beginning of our conversation, I said, “Thanks, mom.”
“Oh, and don’t worry about packing toothbrushes. We had to buy some last time the kids spent the night, so they’re still here.” Shit. That was my mother’s subtle way of reminding me that I was nowhere near being the perfect mother. But, oh, I knew. The voice in my head telling me that wasn’t hers. It was mine.
* * *
That evening, my daughter and I walked into Play It Again a few minutes after four.
Late for my shift.
When I’d taken Devon to his dad’s house, I’d said to Mike, “Change of plans. Thanks for offering to take Sarah, but she’ll be with me.”
“Why?”
He was already bristling, so I was glad Sarah had asked to wait in the car. “She doesn’t want to mess up your boys’ night.”
“Bullshit, Randi. You’ve poisoned her mind against me.”
“Oh, God, Mike. Seriously? Why do you always have to make things about you?”
Devon appeared back in the doorway, having dropped off his things in his bedroom.
“I have to, Randi, because you always make them about you. Somebody’s gotta look out for number one.”
Refraining from rolling my eyes, I instead focused on my son. “Give mom a hug before I go, bud?”
While I leaned over to kiss my son on the cheek and he wrapped his arms around my neck, Mike continued spouting off. “You know I’ll find out what’s goin’ on anyway, Randi.”
“Can we please not do this?” I hated how he always made a big deal out of everything, seeming to have already forgotten that he’d asked months ago to cut this particular weekend short for some stupid thing he was doing with his buddies. A hunting trip maybe? I couldn’t remember now.
The good news was that I was no longer a shrinking, timid rabbit with Mike—even when his voice and face got scary. Being away from him had helped me remember how to stand up for myself. Maybe Justin had helped with that.
The problem now, though, was that after all that bullshit, I was now late for work.
Plus I had a child in tow.
As I breezed through the front door, I tried to act nonchalant about it. “Hi, Kathy,” I called toward the counter as Sarah and I headed toward the back of the store. “Be back in just a minute.”
After I led Sarah to the break room, I promised to bring dinner back to her later—but I could also bring some games or DVDs back. In the meantime, she’d have to make herself content with what she’d brought in her backpack. I clocked in and then kissed her on the top of her head before leaving, closing the door behind me.
Then I rushed back to the front, tucking in my white t-shirt with the logo Play It Again emblazoned on it. Even now, we had a uniform of that shirt, khaki pants, and white sneakers. Several years ago, some guy in Colorado had bought the tiny movie rental chain, located in towns rather than the large urban centers running along the Front Range, because the previous owners had seen the writing on the wall. DVDs and even physical video games were on the way out in the digital age, but the owner, nostalgic and perhaps seeing room to squeeze a little more cash out of things before they bellied up, bought the stores for pretty cheap, I’d been told. The store used to be movies and games, rentals and sales, along with snacks and shit like that. Now we sold books, comic books, hipster knickknacks, and even posters, and in his Grand Junction store, he was testing the market for a little in-store coffee shop.
Because he couldn’t let go. And even our porn room didn’t do as well as it used to, because people could find stuff online all the time for cheaper. It was also far more discreet.
But I wasn’t going to complain, because I had a job with benefits and better pay than most retail stores in dinky Winchester. Besides, it wasn’t like I was planning to make a career out of it.
As I approached the counter, Kathy asked, “What’s going on?”
“Long story.” And I wasn’t going to dillydally, considering I had already pushed my luck, so I opened the safe under the counter to retrieve money for my cash drawer and started counting it. I was relieved Kathy hadn’t addressed my tardiness. While I often pushed my luck, arriving at work right on the dot, I was rarely late. “I’ll tell you when I’m done counting.”
Even with the decline of physical movies, Friday nights at Play It Again were busy, probably because Winchester was a backwoods town. We took longer than the rest of Colorado to change. Because Kathy had one customer after another, I knew explanations would be difficult. After I finished counting my drawer and signing onto my register, I said, “Sarah had her appointment today.”
“How’d that go?” Handing a customer her movies, Kathy said, “Happy movie night.”
“I don’t know. The psychologist seems to think something really serious is going on.”
“Is that why you brought her with you tonight?”
“That’s the main reason.”
Kathy, as always, was quick on the uptake. Turning back to the counter, she asked, “So what are the other reasons?”
“I warned you it’s a long story. My parents couldn’t babysit the kids tonight, and my regular babysitter couldn’t, either. So I called my ex and asked if he could watch her tonight since Devon was going to be there anyway.” A customer approached my register. “Find everything okay?” I started checking the movies while continuing my conversation with Kathy. “But when I told Sarah, she totally freaked out, absolutely refusing to stay with Mike. She’s too young to leave at