Kayla Morrison, single mother of twins, knows the answers to three questions: It's been two years since she's shared someone's bed, fourteen months since her last date, and her most recent kiss was on New Year's Eve, so it doesn't even count. When...
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On Friday night, her ex, Dominic, called and canceled. Again. Screw him, she thought, rolling her eyes at the phone but keeping her cool. No sense stirring up trouble. It could be worse, she thought.
He could be suing her for custody, like one of the women she'd met in the mother of twins group she'd joined last year. They met once a month in the basement nursery of the Unitarian Church in Flynn and drank coffee and ate cookies and talked while the kids played with the toys, and it was nice to share with the other moms who understood the joys and trials of raising two kids at the same time.
Head aching and longing for bed, Kayla read Lucas and Lina a bedtime story and tucked the covers around them. But when she got into her pajamas and crawled into bed after washing up the supper dishes, she couldn't sleep.
She lay staring at the ceiling, eyes wide open, barely even blinking while her head pounded and she worried about the upcoming car insurance bill and the curling shingles on her roof. She'd known when they bought the house that the shingles would need to be replaced, and since Dominic left two years ago, she'd been holding off, using the money to pay down the loan on the minivan.
But this winter had been rough. She'd be tempting fate in the form of leaks and water damage if she didn't take care of the roof this summer. She thought about the balance on her last bank statement. Okay, fall at the latest.
She sighed and rolled over, hugging the extra pillow to her middle. Maybe she should advertise for a roommate, but who wanted to live with a single mother with twins? She could maybe sell the house . . .
A few tears leaked out of her eyes.
She'd been so hopeful when she'd signed the final mortgage paperwork. When they had signed the paperwork, she and her ex. But then she'd gotten pregnant, money was tight, the twins took all their time and energy, and Dominic left her for his acupuncturist.
With a new girlfriend and free holistic health care, Dominic looked younger and more energetic every time she saw him, which wasn't often, while she, Kayla, was prematurely aging. She'd found three more gray hairs just before bed. She'd been too exhausted to bother pulling them out.
She hugged the pillow tighter. And when was the last time she'd had sex? A kiss? A date even?
She knew the answers to these trivia questions without needing any hints. Two years ago with Dominic before he'd admitted to cheating on her. New Year's Eve, which so didn't count. Fourteen months ago when one of her coworkers set her up and the babysitter had called halfway through dinner saying Lina had a fever and Lucas had thrown up. That had been the end of the date.
Her hand drifted below her belly. Did she even remember how things worked down there?
On that less than optimistic thought and too tired to find out, Kayla rolled over and finally fell asleep.
