We both hear the shower shut off and loosen our grip on one another.
“Mom will be gone soon, to work I mean,” I whisper, already feeling a strange buzzing sensation between my legs.
A tickling, kind of electric hum that he’s started and I’m damn sure only Slade can finish.
“Your mom doesn’t like me much, huh?” he grunts, almost to himself.
Mentioning my mom reminds me, perhaps Slade hasn’t come all this way just to say good morning.
Although, the thick bulge forming at the front of his jeans might beg to differ.
“Mom said Tasha never came home,” I blurt out, noting the change in Slade’s expression.
“She didn’t,” he says matter of fact.
“I was awake… Uh, I mean, I’m a light sleeper and never heard her. I was up early and no Tasha,” he says before refocusing his gaze from my chest to my eyes.
“She was here when I left, I thought she was staying with you?” he asks, and I feel a stab of guilt.
Like maybe this really is all my fault.
My fault for bringing up Slade’s past. For even mentioning Tasha’s mom.
“We… Kinda had a fight,” I whisper.
“What about?” Slade asks, lowering his voice and taking a seat.
My mom’s tornado routine plays in the background as she races to get ready for work.
“Nothing,” I tell him. My voice rises in my defense. But it’s no use. I can’t lie to Slade.
He gives me a knowing look. “What happened?” he asks calmly.
I sigh and tell him, “I asked her about her mom, just in casual conversation ya know.”
But his face shifts as fast as Tasha’s did when I brought it up, but he’s not angry.
Not with me anyway.
“That’s something she ever really talks about.” That is all Slade says before my mom jangles her keys, humming her mental checklist to herself by the door before she interrupts us.
“Well. Uh… I have to go to work now, Mr.… Peters,” she clips, glancing from me to Slade and back again.
The same look I saw Tasha giving me in her eyes, or am I just being paranoid?
“You have a nice day at work,” Slade smiles casually, making it clear by staying put that he’s not going anywhere just because my mom is.
“Abby?” Mom snaps at me, pursing her lips.
“Bye mom,” I encourage, reminding her we need cereal too before she gives me a sour look and slams the door.
Once I hear her car halfway down the block, I can relax. Only aware of how tense I was once Slade and I are finally alone.
I’m almost expecting another kiss, or better. But Slade’s got a faraway look in his eyes.
The slamming front door, the angry mom. Tasha not coming home after we fought.
“You still miss her?” I ask aloud.
I don’t even know why I’d think that let alone say it out loud, but I guess a part of me needs to know what happened.
Even if it was before I was born.
Slade surprises me by answering. Not minding I’ve asked either.
“No, Abby. No, I don’t miss her,” he rasps.
“Not ever.”
CHAPTER TWELVE
Slade
My shock doesn’t fully register once Abby’s mom answers the door.
She assumes I’m here because of Tasha.
I was actually just gonna wing it, and seeing as Tasha’s car isn’t in the drive I figured she’d gone home already. But apparently, she left late last night. After I did but Abby’s mom doesn’t need to know about that.
“She left,” I echo back to her.
“Yes,” Abby’s mom, Gale, clips. “I assumed she went home, but…”
“She never came home,” I mutter, feeling a jolt in my guts that every parent knows.
That horrible feeling that your child might not be safe and they’re definitely not where you thought they were.
“And you tried calling her? That’s why you’re here?” she says impatiently, tsking as she checks the time. “I’m already late getting ready for work,” she sighs angrily.
“I’ll get Abby up. Maybe she knows more.”
And with that, I wait in the living room. With a few minutes to myself, I go through all the possibilities of where Tasha could be, but Abby also pops into my head, even as I take her mom’s advice and call Tasha.
No answer.
Once I see Abby again I have to take her into my arms and kiss her of course.
Telling myself I’m not having another night alone without her.
But when she tells me she and Tasha fought, I feel almost relieved that my daughter didn’t just up and disappear. Figuring Tasha would’ve just gone to another friend’s place since I know my daughter is prone to be dramatic.
But when she tells me what they fought about, I start to have my doubts.
I know how mad Tasha gets when her mom is mentioned. If my past gets brought up.
She could be anywhere.
“She wouldn’t go back to Brad after they had a fight?” I ask Abby once her mom is finally out of the house and I know we’re alone.