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One of the mothers behind us nudges me and hisses another shh in our direction so seeing that Alex is distracted from the film for now I usher him back out to the seating area outside the cinema and buy us two ridiculously sizes sodas and a large bucket of popcorn.

“You’re not meant to talk during a movie, Ashley,” Alex tells me when I come back, his eyes round with tiny disapproval.

“Yeah, I’m sorry kid. I was just so excited about surprising your aunty. Do you mind if we talk out here for a little before we go back in?”

He shakes his head and the cup of soda nearly dwarfs him. I make a mental note to make sure he doesn’t drink it all and replace the blood in his body with straight up sugar.

“So what’s Aunt Jess’s house like?”

“It’s nice!” Alex says enthusiastically. “It’s clean an’ smells good. Aunt Jess makes sure we put things away after we use them and I think that’s really smart of her. She’s always sad about things like phones and eletricty.” He stumbles over the word.

“Bills?”

“We don’t know anyone called Bill,” he says, scrunching up his nose. “She gets her books sent back to her a lot and I think that’s really rude.”

“Is she happy?” I ask, finding my voice has gotten a lot softer with the question. It makes my stomach hurt to think of vibrant, beautiful Jess anything except happy.

Alex puts down his drink and stares at the toes of his sneakers. “She cries a lot when she thinks I’m not looking,” he says eventually, his voice soft and sad. “I think she’s sad because she has to take care of me now. My mom went away and Aunt Jess doesn’t smile much anymore.”

“Oh hey,” I stumble over my words and take a breath. I need to be careful with this. If there was ever something I can’t afford to fuck up, it’s telling this little kid that he doesn’t make people sad. “I’m sure that’s not true. Do you like living with Aunt Jess?”

Alex looks over both shoulders and then drops his voice to a whisper. “I love my mommy but she can be scary when she’s not okay. Aunt Jess stays in one place an’ she’s never sleeping at lunch time or smelling funny an’ she doesn’t throw up over things. It’s really good an’ I like having my own room and not having to move a lot.”

A lump forms in my throat and I have to take a moment before I can reply. “I’m glad. And I know your Aunt Jess is glad too. She loves you a whole lot and she obviously loves having you around. How about you and me work on an idea to make Aunt Jess just as happy as we can?”

He beams, all the tension and uncertainty from before melting away. “I can help?”

“Yeah of course you can help! She would love that. I want to make sure both of you are happy, okay? That’s what friends do.”

“Aunt Jess smiles more since we came here,” Alex says. “I think she likes you.”

The words make my heart squeeze tight and I can’t help the goofy grin that spreads across my face even though I know the kid means that in a platonic way. It dawns on me that Jess is the kind of woman who would appreciate it more if I did something sincere than if I bought her all the diamonds in the world.

“Okay let’s write her a song. We can sing it to her together and it will tell her how much we care about her, okay?”

“Like in Disney!” Alex bounces in his seat excitedly.

“Yeah, just like in Disney! Okay, what’s your favorite songs?”

We cycle through songs that Alex knows and loves and I start making a list on my phone of possibilities. At some points we start trying to throw popcorn into our mouths and I have to make a mental note to tip the cleaning staff something extra because the room looks like a tornado hit it.

I’m getting a refill when I notice that disapproving Ms Peterson sitting across the other side of the lounge watching us. For once she doesn’t look like she’s itching to give me a good spanking or get me to write lines like a school marm or something. I don’t know why she looks all approving and shit but I decide that it’s too much effort to worry about it and I take the overflowing bucket of popcorn back to Alex instead.

We have a surprise to plan.

Twenty-Two

Jess

After running breathlessly through the ship for some time Natalie and I finally come to a halt near the café on the outside deck. We decide to go in for coffee and get a table.

I’m so happy and for the first time in my life, I feel like I can trust it. Every day just gets better and even though that old part of me is trying to say it just can’t last, I push it away. Its all going to work out.

I’m not deluding myself, or at least, I don’t think I am. I want this feeling to last forever and its starting to look like I can trust it.

Natalie and I have a giggly recap of our great escape while we wait for our coffee. We’ve managed to come down a little by the time the frothy cups arrive.

I feel a little sad for a second as I look into my cup. The table seems a little empty. I never got a chance to tell my friends what’s going on. A few panic-stricken messages about being stuck on the boat is not a catharsis. They were supportive of me, but I couldn’t spill it all and I still can’t.


Tags: Berri Fox Erotic