“Hey sweetie. How was school today? What did Mr. Stine teach you guys today?” He fell back against the couch and turned on the TV.
“Dad, Mr. Stine was my fifth grade teacher. I’m in sixth grade now. My teacher’s Ms. Botkins.”
He looked at me with glazed-over eyes. “Right.” He returned his attention to the TV.
“Liv? Did I hear the front door?” My mother came into the living room holding a basket of freshly folded laundry in front of her.
“Hey, baby. I’m starving. Can you cook me something?”
“Tom, where have you been all night?” Her voice was etched with anger.
“I’ve had a long day at work. I needed to unwind.”
“You said you would come straight home. You promised you wouldn’t go to a bar.” Her tone was reflected in her disapproving face.
“I’ve been dealing with bull shit all day, Laura. I don’t need bull shit from you too.”
“Language, Tom!” I watched my mother motion to me with a nod.
“She’s not a child anymore. She probably hears plenty of this at school.”
“Tom, you need to go sober up.” She turned to me. “Liv, go upstairs.”
I got up from the couch to leave. But as I walked past my father, I felt his rough hand grip tightly against my arm as he got up from the couch.
“I just got home. I haven’t even spent any time with her yet.”
“Tom, you’re not spending any time with her when you’re drunk!” My mother walked toward us and tried to step in between me and my father.
“Like hell I won’t.” He pushed my mother aside, knocking the basket of clothes to the ground.
I watched in horror as half of the folded clothes flew through the air and landed on the floor.
“Dad, you’re hurting me,” I begged as I tried to break free from his steel grip.
But instead of letting me go, he tightened his hold on me. “Don’t listen to your mother, Liv. I’m fine. I just want to hear about the rest of your day.”
“Stop it, Tom. Get your hands off her!” my mother screamed as she grabbed my father’s hand and tried to push him away from me.
“Don’t tell me what to do,” he yelled back.
Then in the midst of the struggle, my father’s hand flew across the air and greeted my face, and for a second, I saw a flash of black from the impact.
I cried out in pain, and it was then that he released me from his grip.
As if waking up from a dream, a spark of recognition hit his face as he blinked. “God, I’m so sorry, Liv.” He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me in for a hug against my resistance. “That was an accident. I didn’t mean to hurt you.”
“Get off her, Tom. You’re hurting her.” My mother finally pulled me out of his arms and stood between us as she inspected my arm. “Are you okay honey?”
I shook my head as tears streamed down my cheeks.
“Liv, baby. You know I didn’t mean to.” My father moved toward me.
“I hate you when you drink!” I pushed past my mother and ran upstairs to my bedroom. I slammed the door behind me and threw myself on my bed and began to sob uncontrollably. I could feel the throbbing pain in my arm where my father’s hand had just been.
This was the first time my father had hurt me. This was the first time my father had scared me. This was the first time I’d ever felt so scared in my life.
The ringing of my phone grew increasingly loud as it pierced through my flashback, bringing me back to the present. My eyes opened and I realized that I was still lying in the bed. In a slight daze, I reached for the phone and answered it without looking at the caller ID.
“Hello?”
“Well I’ll be damned, she does know how to pick up the phone?”
For a moment, I couldn’t place the rich, husky male voice on the other end of the line.
“Who is this?”
“Okay. Wow that kind of hurts. Don’t tell me you’ve already deleted the number to the man who’d first saved your life and then spent two hours with you in the pouring rain to look for a dog?”
“Ethan. Hi.” A smile instantly spread across my face. “Sorry, I didn’t look at the caller ID.”
He chuckled. “So is that why you picked up? I caught you by surprise?”
“What do you mean?”
“Well it’s been a little over a week since we talked, and you’ve been avoiding my text messages and phone calls.”
“Oh. Yeah. Sorry about that. Things have been a little hectic around here.” I felt a tinge of guilt in how I’d treated Ethan. I had intentionally ignored his calls and texts because I was afraid he would distract me from my feelings for Connor. But Ethan didn’t deserve my brush-off. He may have been aggressive at times, but he was a good guy that had been there for me when I needed someone. He was there to catch my fall in front of the hospital. He was there to treat me like a strong, normal person when everyone else coddled me like a fragile piece of glass. He was there to help me look for a dog that meant nothing to him when my own fiancé and the dog’s owner wouldn’t make time to do the same.
“So how are you?”
“I’m okay,” I lied. “How are you?”
“I’m good, and a whole lot better now that I’m talking to you.” There was a warmth in his flirtation that was genuine, and it made me feel special.
“I’m glad you called. It’s really nice to hear your voice.” I wasn’t sure why, but I meant it. There was something about talking to this man that made me happy and hopeful. To my surprise, the gloom and loneliness that I’d felt after hanging up on Connor earlier were gone.
“Wow, I didn’t expect you to admit that.” He laughed.
Feeling a little giddy, I grinned and sank deeper into my comforter. “Oh really?”
“I mean, I knew you had this secret crush on me and my voice the moment we met,” he said sarcastically, “but I thought you’d be too proud to admit it.”
“Hey, let’s not get carried away here,” I responded playfully, “I just said it’s nice to hear your voice. I didn’t say anything about a crush.” I giggled. “If there was anyone who had a secret crush, it’d be you.”
“You’re right. I do have a crush on someone special. She’s feisty, caring, and stunning inside and out.”
As I listened to his deep, seductive voice, I felt as if the world had slipped away from us and he was no longer on the other end of the line. Instead, he was lying there next to me, whispering in my ear.
“But,” he continued, “I think I’ve made it clear that there’s nothing secret about my crush.”
I felt my face flush. “So maybe it’s me who has the secret crush then.” My words came out before I knew what I was saying, and as soon as I said them, I felt my body stiffen in surprise. I expected to feel guilty by my admission that I had feelings for Ethan when I had a fiancé, but as I processed my feelings, I realized that guilt was not there. Instead, I felt relieved to finally admit to myself something I’d been denying for awhile.