Skye opened the
door to the SUV and climbed into the drivers’ seat and her heart felt like it
was going to bust through her chest. In only a few short hours she had gone
through and emotional roller coaster that made her want to throw up when
everything stopped. She had a feeling that this would never stop. Looking at
Deacon’s things and his face in his children was killing her slowly. She tried
to calm herself down and took deep breaths. It was all too much…too much at
once and her palms got sweaty and began to twitch.
She turned on the stereo in an attempt to
distract her mind before she reached full panic attack mode. Something that she
had never had happen until Deacon died, but now they seemed so familiar that if
she caught it in time sometimes she could breathe her way out of it. Or try to
since the worry and the memories were always right under the surface waiting to
bubble over. With each deep breathe she felt a little better. The twitching
began to subside, the sweating stopped but her heart still hammered in her
chest like a drummer preforming a heavy solo.
She continued to breathe in
slowly and deep and felt her heart finally begin to slow down. As soon as she
felt steady she turned the key in the ignition and started the truck. She felt
it rumble to life beneath her and she calmed down further. As she let out her
final exhale Kona’s wet nose touched her ear and she screamed as his monster of
a paw touched her shoulder. “Jesus Kona! Are you trying to give me the heart
attack that I just staved off or what?” His big eyes merely slow blinked at her
and he put his paw down to resume his position on his blanket. She gave herself
one last look in the rear view mirror at herself to make sure she was good to
go and pressed the button to open the garage door.
Once clear or the door she slowly
backed out of the garage and came to a stop when she saw her neighbour Leigh
standing directly behind the truck and being close to tears. She walked around
to the driver’s side as Skye rolled the window down and she saw that Leigh was
still in her pyjamas.
“What’s wrong?” Skye asked
with serious concern. Leigh cleared her throat and said “Marcus is an ass…as usual” she paused
before continuing “He’s trying to tell me that I won’t get my back child
support unless I come to his parole hearing!”
Skye understood her dilemma
and felt bad that she had to run off because she wanted to but couldn’t help
her with this right now. “I tell you what…”
Skye offered “I have an appointment right now that I’m going to be late
for if I don’t get moving but, how about I pick you up after I’m done and you
can come to the trade fair with me and Anna?”
Leigh looked like
she was weighing her options for a moment and then nodded, the tears staved off
for now. “Ok, I’ll go get ready and call me when you’re on your way”
Skye smiled at her and spoke
to her gently. “Don’t you worry about Marcus he’s a lifer and his money is no
good anyway.” Leigh’s gaze dropped to the ground. “We will figure it out, even
if we have to move you and your brood into my house,” Leigh smiled and looked
calmer at that thought. Skye realized that this was a really shit day so far
and something had to come along and make it better somehow. In her head she prayed
that it would.
Leigh stepped back and gave and gave Skye a
wave that signified she was allowed to leave and Skye happily returned it.
Leigh had two kids of her own that she had with a go absolutely nowhere guy who
used her and beat her up until he ended up in jail on a drug trafficking
charge. Apparently he was about to come up for parole soon and this would be
bad for her because he would just impose himself into her life again with no
consideration for his children at all.
Marcus and Skye had
previous altercations in the course of his life with Leigh and many fights were
had over the way he treats his wife. He never backed down and Skye had no
problems telling his exactly what she thought of him. On more than one occasion
he tried to break down Skye’s door and every time he tried Deacon wasn’t there.
It’s like he waited for him to leave specifically so he could try and scare
Skye…he never did. She never called the cops because Leigh hated them and
refused to have any involvement with them which still baffled her when she
thought about it and she swore she’d find out one day why that was.
Skye refocused, finally pulled out into the street and started her
journey to the bank even as her nerves tried to take over but she distracted
herself with positive thoughts until… she realized that she was acting like
someone she didn’t know. Skye always expected the worst and sometimes it would
happen but no matter how good things were she knew firsthand that bad things
happen and despite the good and bad thoughts battling around in her head she knew
that she had to find a way to take care of this.
There were options, some
that Skye really didn’t want to utilize but still she had some choices. She had
met Deacon under some sticky circumstances and never looked back.
Now she would have to haul ass if she was going
to make it on time for this appointment and considering how important this was
she should have made a better effort at it but any way you slice it at least she
would have her friends and her kids to help her stay grounded.
As Skye drove to the end of her street and stopped at the stop sign she put on her sunglasses and cranked the stereo when she heard Bif Nakeds “I Love Myself Today” come on over the speakers. She made a left turn and the intersection to head downtown and get this nightmare over with. She drove past the cute houses street by street until they turned into more rundown and broken apartments with bars on the windows, graffiti on the walls and the yellow dormant grass begging to be watered just before you hit the downtown core.
They never used to be like that
but then everything was new once wasn’t it?
Skye could see the
bank up ahead and took the right into the parking lot with a little too much
speed almost ended up over shooting the lot right into oncoming traffic. She tried
to over correct and the car in front of her honked repeatedly and she promptly
gave him the finger just before she shifted over and re-entered the parking
lot. He must have been mad that he had just spilled his
overpriced coffee all over himself.
She
got herself under control and found a nice shady spot to park. It wasn’t hot out yet so she left the windows
about halfway down for the dogs and filled the water dish she had for them with
a bottle of water she had brought with her before she gathered herself together
to go into the bank and get this nightmare over with. She had already resigned
herself to just trying to stay composed and at least appear confident but had
this sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach that things were just not going
to turn out the way she hoped they would and in that case she would have to
keep herself in check before she ended up just telling the guy to fuck off and
screwing everything up for sure.
With a deep breath she locked the truck, smiled at Kona and Angel then
headed for the door.
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