Total pages in book: 36
Estimated words: 33246 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 166(@200wpm)___ 133(@250wpm)___ 111(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 33246 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 166(@200wpm)___ 133(@250wpm)___ 111(@300wpm)
“I’m going to be late, sweetheart, and you know if you forget anything, they have a key to our house.” I stop at the doorway to her bedroom. Briar may be six, but she’s going on thirteen. Her room is in complete disarray. Toys, crafts, and clothes are haphazardly thrown all over the place.
“I promise, one more minute, Mommy.” Moving into Lennie’s house is the best thing that has happened to my girl and me. It also set me back a lot of money in terms of moving, transferring power, water, Internet, deposit and the first month’s rent. The heavy lifting or renting of trucks, well, my brother and his friends helped with that. Asher and Lennie would never have accepted my payment. Then again, I’d have never accepted to move in, either. Therefore, my savings took a hit. Then Briar decided to have a sudden growth spurt and Chris was neither here nor there when it came to child support. Surprise, surprise.
“Alright, I’ll be in the living room when you’re ready.” I take one last look at the little girl whom I’d give my last breath to. She’s the reason why I keep trucking along. Every time I get knocked down, I get right back up. My girl, Briar Amelia Richards. Keeping Chris off her birth certificate wasn’t going to happen, especially at the time I delivered her. At that time, he was very hands on, at my place as much as possible even though we decided we were better friends than lovers. He was at the hospital, came over every single day, and sometimes slept on the couch to help with middle-of-the-night feedings. And when he slowly started fading into the background once Briar started walking and talking, I had my doubts. I brought them up to Asher and voiced the idea of taking him off her birth certificate years later, as in right before my girl started pre-school. Her dad’s sporadic visits, paying less and less. I asked him if it would be smart to ask him to surrender his rights because it wasn’t fair for Briar to get excited for her dad to show up just to dip out yet again. Asher told me to leave it be. When he comes, to make sure it’s supervised. This way, when he does pay, at least it’s something.
It still irked me to my bones that her last name was attached to a man who quite blatantly didn’t want to be part of her life. I should have pushed my want for her to have my last name, but unless I magically have money falling from thin air, I can’t change it. Not that Briar has even asked. It’s all me.
“’Kay, Mommy.” Her soft brown hair has the barest of waves. Briar’s baby curls have officially left, and it hurts my momma heart. Right now, she has it styled in a way that I know will be a pain in the ass for Lennie to brush through later tonight. She came out of her room earlier today so proud of her two lopsided bubble braids that are more knotted than anything else, so the last thing I’d do is suggest making it look better. Briar glances from her bright pink daisy rolling suitcase to me. Her hazel eyes that are exactly like mine look up at me. The small smattering of freckles along the bridge of her nose travels beneath her eyes, and I fall in love with my daughter a little bit more.
Which is why I’m doing the unthinkable, living a lie and doing what I have to do to make ends meet. Everyone thinks I work in Springdale, twenty-five minutes outside of town, at a college bar. None of the people in my life would be caught dead at a place where teenagers try to pass their fake IDs off in order to drink underage. Then there are those students who are over twenty-one and there for a good time. It’s the absolute perfect cover, and they’ll never show up to where I actually work.
The Velvet Lounge.
By day, I’m a data entry clerk, and by night, I’m a stripper.
I’m back in the living room, reminding myself of the reason I’m doing this in the first place. Another month, and I’ll have more than enough money for a used car, one that’s reliable and won’t break down on me time and time again. Stripping is lucrative. What I’ve made these past couple of weeks, only working Thursday, Friday, and Saturday night, has more than cushioned my savings.
I don’t want to jinx anything, but things seem to be going a lot smoother than I ever thought possible. Sure, I’m exhausted, especially on nights like tonight when I’m going from one job to the next. I did the same last night, but tomorrow, I can at least sleep in past sunrise before I roll out of bed and pick up Briar. All of this will be worth it in the end when I can give my mom her car back with a little bit of cash, find a vehicle of my own, and still have some left over for an added cushion. Plus, who knows, maybe I’ll work one night a week to keep the money flowing.