The sun was just brightening up the afternoon when she pulled her brown BMW out of the hospital parking lot into the light traffic. She glanced at the digital clock on her dashboard and sighed.
One twenty two.
She had been rather been hoping to make it back to school in time for the second segment of the day after lunch break, but then, she hadn't known she was going to get some more bad news in the hospital—bad, perturbing news that would require her withgoing school for the day. On the hunt of a guy who lived on the other side of the city—and inadvertently, on the hunt of her sperm donor; her baby's daddy.
She glanced at the piece of paper again. Ryan Vice. Twenty four years old. She was supposed to be looking for a Ryan Vice who lived in a trailer house in Springfield.
She rubbed tiredly at her eyebrows. That was if she found him. People that lived in trailer houses didn't mean to stay in it for long, and Kiersey knew there was a fat chance of Ryan Vice still living in the same trailer house for so many years.
But she had to force herself to build some positive energy. To think positive thoughts. She could get lucky and find him still there, wearing large rubber gloves and apron and slugging chum into an iron bucket.
That was Kiersey's idea of how trailer people lived. In a more reasonable part of herself, Kiersey knew she was pretty close minded about some stuff. Some would even see it as snobbish and doctrinaire.
She smiled at this thought and looked out the window to her side at the traffic. She hardly had time to have thoughts such as these and when they came, she found that they pleased and amused her.
Still smiling, Kiersey realized how lonely and quiet it was. It was such a pity that she didn't have much friends. She didn't even think she had that close friends at all. She had had those in high school and college, she had even been best friends with her first year college roommate once, but that had all dissolved when they graduated and got married. They had just drifted apart—two friends separated by state and circumstances.
The girl's last number hadn't been going for a while when Kiersey still used to try it. She should probably look her one of these days. She was pretty sure she'd find her on F******k or I*******m or Twitter or something. You always found everyone online.
That aside, Kiersey thought, the reason she didn't have close friends had mostly been her fault. She had let Rocco dominate and dictate her life like a stupified dunce under the command of an hypnotist. She had let him order her what and what not to do, where and where not to go, who and who not to talk to.
And what had ended that? she thought bitterly. He had packed his stuff at the slightest hitch (which wasn't even her fault) and left a divorce letter.
The fucking bastard!
She worried the inner of her left cheek with her tongue as she split out of the traffic lane unto the side ramp that led to the other side of the city.
But she was really relieved he had left. If what happened hadn't happened, she'll still be shivering in her socks and running around at his slightest twitch.
So she relaxed back into her seat and turned on the radio, welcoming the rap hip-hop with a contented sigh.
She drove on smoothly a few more minutes to the ramp exit and merged into the traffic below. This part of the city was slightly unfamiliar to her, so she turned on her phone GPS, groaning when she found out she still had about fifteen minutes before she reached her destination.
It was all that hospital's damn fault! If there hadn't been that stupid mix-up with the donor's file, she should have been back in school, taking the eleventh grade Economics class, or maybe even at home, lounging on a sofa in front of the TV in her socks with a bowl of chilly potato chips.
Kiersey swallowed at the last thought. It made her realize she was hungry. Potato chips sounded like the bee's knees right now.
Thumbing on her left indicator, she veered to the left side of the road, off into the small gas station that just happened to be nearby. To her glee, it had a mini mart to the side. Thank God for gas stations, she thought with relish.
She parked by the second pump, in front of a sleek, low, white Honda and topped up her gas then went into the mini mart to pay and get her goodies. A bell tinkled above the double doors as she pulled it open. Kiersey was greeted with the cool air in the building as she stepped in and made for the pay desk. It felt so nice to take a break from the slightly toasty air of the outside, even if only for a few minutes.
A guy in a white shirt and dark Adidas sweatpants was paying when she arrived at the desk. His long, brown, tinted hair was slightly wind tossed, like he had just come off a bike ride without helmet. But he looked like no biker. And it wasn't the slightest bit breezy outside. This made Kiersey believe it had been intentionally tossed.
She was only offered a side few of the guy, but what she saw intrigued her. His skin was bronze-gold with tan and the exposed flesh of his arm was smooth and tan with fine, dark hair. His hard face was equally smooth and had a serious, business-like look to it, even as he smiled at the female receptionist, exposing a beautiful set of teeth with a slight overbite. Kiersey could see a neat, dark eyebrow and long, thick eyelashes that almost made her swoon. His nose intrigued her the most, with the way it was long and pointed down towards his dusky rose lips. She gulped, impressed that she was impressed with what she saw. He had nice feet, tucked into some expensive sort of saddle-tan leather loafer-sandals with a braided vamp.
He looked to be in his late twenties, like her, or early thirties and was very tall and fit. The light shirt wasn't tight, but she could just see the flat planes of his stomach where the shirt stuck to his body. And his arms were all fit sinewy muscles. The sweatpants was loosely tied at the waist with the drawstrings dangling. Despite the casualness of his dressing, he exuded this breezy scent and aura of a high class folk. It was all in the way he smelled, dressed and moved, and the style and fashion of his outfit.
Kiersey had a feeling he hadn't really dressed like that for the outside. He must own the Honda she had seen outside.
She forced herself to look away, knowing she would start to seem like a pervert. It had only taken her a few seconds to glance at him and take note of all the details, but she still couldn't be too careful.
It actually gave her a strange kind of thrill in her chest that she was gladly looking at a man without being appalled at the action. Not that she hadn't done it before. Yes, she had mostly had eyes for her husband—err, ex-husband—but that had never stopped her from appreciating natural beauty when she saw one. The same way any other pious woman or man would look at a beauty twice without having any corrupt feelings about it. No harm done.
But in all of her oglings, Kiersey didn't think she had ever seen a man that her attention captured and approved as much as this guy. His features and physique just intrigued her the way no other person had. Now that she wasn't married anymore (almost), she could look at a man the way she liked and untame her bulging imagination.
She had only seen a side few, but she was filled with anticipative pleasure already. The receptionist would finish packing his stuff into the white nylon bag and hand it to him and he would be turning towards her to leave anytime soon, so she swept her unbridled thoughts to one side and went into the aisles to hunt for her potato chips.
She was slightly disappointed to find the space in front of the desk empty when she reappeared with an armful of snack bags. But it wasn't like she had expected him to wait for her, Kiersey reasoned, dumping her load on the table and reaching for her MasterCard.
She didn't know their paths were about to cross again, soon.
She wasn't really shocked when, on getting to the trailer home, a big haired, kohl-eyed girl informed her in a monotone that no fucking Ryan lived in her home. Rather, she was just sad. It wasn't like she had expected to find Ryan Vice so easily, but confirming her suspicions still didn't hurt less.Chewing on the corner of her bottom lip, she glanced at the girl from the window of her beemer. The latter stood with her hips cocked on the extension porch and eyed her back. Kiersey swallowed the urge to roll her eyes. It seemed like she had caught her in her worst mood.She wondered if she get more 'friendly' information from the girl. She didn't look to be older than nineteen, or even eighteen and, from the torn pants and checkered top she had on, Kiersey didn't think she was well off. She wondered if she could dare offer her money for some more information. How would the girl see that?But then, she reasoned, she m
It was almost two thirty when Kiersey found herself back on the highway on her way home. She pressed a button to ease down her window and breathed in fresh air. Her hunger pangs were acting in again. After the pancakes she had thrown up this morning, what remained was the diet coke she had bought from a vending machine in the hospital and the junk from the gas station. If she had been in school, she'd have bought lunch or even made one in the staff lunchroom.She sighed and leaned back in her seat. But she was stuck trailing a nameless, faceless guy that had donated the sperm for her baby.The hospital had suggested utero testing of the foetus, it would have been easier that way to know without running around looking for the guy. But that also came with the risk of miscarriage and that was a risk Kiersey was most definitely not about to take.Ryan Vice was definitely in Cali. She was going to have to take days off
She took her finger off the indicator and stepped on the gas, going after the black car.As she zoomed after the car, the absurdity of the what she was doing struck her. She wasn't even sure if it was him. A cream sedan car had slid behind the Mustang, obstructing her view of the number plates.What even if it was him? she thought. What would she do? She had nothing with him and was even relieved to not be with him anymore. They were due for divorce mediation next week and then wouldn't have to see each other again for the rest of their lives. So why was she about to make her presence known?Yeah, he had lied about his whereabouts (if the Mustang was him at all), but that didn't mean a thing, did it? She couldn't care less if he had gone to Antarctica, or still lived somewhere in Illinois.So why was she on the chase after his car? she questioned herself again.
She struggled hard to fight it. She knew was was happening to her. Her disordered senses had probably decided it had had enough and was shutting down—she was going to black out. So she struggled hard to fight it. To push back the darkness that was steadily creeping towards her, shutting down everything in it's wake."No," she mouthed.She was aware of the strong, warm arms around her slowly lowering her into a warm cushion. Then she was aware of his face looking down at her in worry, it was the only thing in focus.He's probably going to call 911, she thought. Or the police. She had destroyed his car after all.Oh, the car.She remembered the fender bender and tried to shake her head. When had things gone from plowing into a car to fainting? She wasn't fatally wounded and dying, was she?Still confused, she struggled to grasp the reins of her world. She
One would think life would cut her some slack after the whole kerfuffle of the afternoon, but then it turned out it wasn't quite done with her yet. She barely trudged her way out of the elevator to her apartment when her phone started to ring. It was Kevyn, and of all times to call.She swiped her keycard and stepped in, immediately toeing off her flats. Then she found the nearest sofa and sank into it. She so very much wanted a cool, aromatherapic bath right now, but she didn't see how she could possibly postpone Kevyn's call. Her brother had a record for being paranoid, especially when it came to matters concerning her.So, sighing heavily, she swiped the call to pick."Key," said Kevyn in greeting. "Are you okay?"Kiersey was even too tired to roll her eyes up. "Come on, you can do better than that. And what makes you think I'm not, kiddo?"She could just imagine her brother r
The next day, she was fine enough to take two classes before the long break at which she had to go see the principal.From the call to her travel agent early in the morning, she had found out the most convenient time to travel to California was tomorrow. Unexpected, but she didn't have much of a choice.The old bastard of a principal was grumpy as usual and failed to see how a teacher in his school could have, err. . . familial matters so important as to take the rest of the school week off, albeit it was just a day before the weekend.She even had to pull the expecting mother card before the tough jerky finally agreed to let her have the rest of the day and the rest of the week off.It just happened to be around the time scheduled to pick up her car at the garage, so she took a Uber to the place.The garage was named 'The Zeunt Fix' and was an old but neat out-building that was
The sun was high overhead and burning hot as usual when Kiersey arrived at the airport. Exhausted, she paid her silent taxi driver and immediately started searching for the nearest refreshment. She was lucky to find get a chilled bottle of fruit milk drink at the nearest duty free.Recently, her proclivities went towards chilled, brain freezing drinks. Kiersey wasn't sure if that was good for the baby, but she just couldn't help the craving. Sometimes she craved for chilled stuff so bad it felt like she'd break down if one didn't gush down her throat soon enough.Her flight was in thirty five minutes, and aware of that, she had come early anyways. After all she had had the day off from work and had spent the time doing laundries and other little stuff, sufficiently boring herself out.Then she wandered more departments of the duty free before finally claiming a seat in the departure lounge.Watching
"Yeah," Kizza agreed. "I'm not going with her though.""She's traveling alone?""Yes," Kizza answered, her lips tightening slightly. "I couldn't take a break off of work, and neither could my husband." She blew out a somewhat annoyed sigh. "If she hadn't been so obstinate and insisted on going during school session."The statement wasn't really finished, but Kiersey figured she got the gist. She glanced at the girl and quirked a corner of her lips. "And she's okay with . . . flying alone?"Kizza shrugged. "She's old enough to be fine. And she sure didn't sound like she minded when I kept hammering that fact into her ears."Kiersey chuckled."I don't suppose you could help me keep an eye on her?" Kizza asked with skepticism."Oh," Kiersey said. "Why not. Sure thing. I'll be happy to."Kizza beamed widely and reached to