Collateral Damage

chapter 7

'We're sorry.'

My head fell in disappointment. That was the fourth job interview I got rejected for.

Reaching Elyse's apartment, I slumped down on a chair, laying my head on the dining table.

'Everything sucks. Life sucks,' I groaned.

'Well at least, you have got my hot chocolate,' Elyse said placing a steaming cup in front of me and another in front of her son.

'Yum,' Mark reached for his cup.

'Careful. It's really hot,' Elyse warned him.

'I'm going to be jobless forever,' I sat straighter and dragged the cup toward me. The company I worked for had permanent lay-offs and I along with several other employees lost their jobs without any notice.

Elyse sat down on one of the chairs. She was still in her teacher's attire, a cream sweater and dark hair up in a bun. 'You've got a pretty decent job offer if I might say so,' she reminded me.

'That's why it's all kinds of shady,' I told her. 'Why would someone offer so much money to a basically complete stranger?'

Elyse didn't want me to take up the offer when I first told her about it, but it seemed like she was ready to kick me out of her house after all. Couldn't blame her. I was taking too much space.

'You know what I think?' she asked.

'Enlighten me,' I said and sipped lightly on the hot chocolate.

'Look! A marshmallow!' Mark pulled out a marshmallow from his cup and raised it to show us. 'Ow. Hot!' Then dropped it on the table, making me laugh and Elyse to roll her eyes.

'I told you it was hot. You little devil, always creating more work for momma,' she said.

'Here, let me help,' I got up and got a dish towel kept near the sink. I cleaned the spot on the table and Mark's hand. Elyse smiled gratefully at me.

'Wait till you get one of your own. It won't seem this easy then,' Elyse laughed then caressed Mark's head lovingly.

I smiled but in reality, a whole other kind of sadness overwhelmed me. I was an unmarried, jobless twenty-eight-year-old woman. I couldn't think about having a kid right now. No chance of happening that either. Unless I get knocked up. Which didn't have that much of a chance either as I was super busy finding a way to pay for bills.

'You were saying,' I reminded Elyse so I would stop thinking about my pathetic life.

'Yeah,' Elyse looked at me, a mischievous smirk on her pretty face. 'I think he wants you.'

I rolled my eyes. 'Yeah, Captain Obvious, I mean why would he...' I stopped. Elyse was still smirking.

'No, that can't be,' I laughed uncomfortably at what she was suggesting.

'Why not? I mean that dude straight up asked you to marry him. I say he wants you. Bad,' she nodded slowly.

I stood up from the chair, my cheeks heating as visions of Alexis and me together started floating around my head. I shook my head. 'No. There has to be an ulterior motive,' I concluded.

'Face it, Girl. You got a really hot man-candy all hot for you,' she said. She shot a worried look at her child who lost to the world, the hot chocolate and him the only things mattering. She bit her tongue. 'Why don't you play somewhere else, kiddo. Mommy and Aunt Gen gotta talk,' she coaxed him out of the room.

'I worry for that kid's future,' I said somberly as I watched him toddle away, picking up a fire-truck on the way. 'Some mom he's got.'

'Bitch, I'm a perfect mother,' she shot me a glare.