All for Maddie (4 page)

I dropped the cake off to my
dad and Dana at the activity center. My stepmom was going to set up the party
with the horse theme, and I was taking my whiny, crybaby daughter and force her
to go to sleep.

Thank the good Lord above,
Maddie slept for two full hours while I worked the front office, checking in a
few Saturday arrivals. Two hour naps could go either way. Sometimes it was too
much and she would be whiny. Sometimes she needed the two hours and would wake
up happy. I prayed that this one would be a happy one.

My dad came to relieve me an
hour before the party. Ryan, the high school boy, would be there in another
hour and we would celebrate Maddie’s third birthday. I couldn’t believe she was
three already. It seemed like yesterday that I sat in front of my father,
bawling my eyes out, telling him that I was pregnant.

“Is it my birfday now?”
Maddie wanted to know breaking my trance. My trance focused on the fancy white
sports car. My trance focused on Alex Wesson getting out of his car and opening
the door for the same blonde that I had told to watch her drink on the
sidewalk. What the hell was he doing here?

“It is your birthday. Let’s
go get your pretty birthday dress on,” I coaxed. I needed out of there, like
now
.

“Can you check these guys in
first?” my dad asked. He was a one-finger typer and slower than honey. I was
never so happy in my life that Maddie wet her pants.

“You can do it, Dad. Maddie
is soaked. I need to get her in the tub.”

“But you can do it in five
minutes. It’ll take me twenty.”

“You can handle it. I’ll see
you at the party.” I took Maddie’s hand and darted out the back door. I wasn’t
going to be anywhere near Alex Wesson. What the hell was he doing there?

“I can drive?” Maddie asked.

“No, your pants are all wet.
You can drive back, okay?” I bargained as she slid across the seat. 

I got Maddie in the tub and
thought about Alex being there. Thank God it was my weekend off. I was going to
the party and coming straight back to my house, away from the guests’ quarters.
I was going to be nowhere near that place. Not while he was there.

<><><> 

The party lasted for two
hours. All of the staff showed up with a gift for Maddie. It was no wonder she
acted the way she did. She was not only spoiled by my dad and Dana, but also
every last person that worked there. Everybody loved Maddie.

I shook my head thirty-one
times. Thirty gifts, my rotten little girl opened.
No gifts
is what I
had told all of them. We didn’t have the room. They knew that fact.

“Can you believe our little
Maddie is three?” Jaron asked, leaning against the table beside me.

I looked over to him with a
sour look. “You bought her a doll house. What the hell am I supposed to do with
that?” I asked, evading his remark.

“I couldn’t help it. I knew
she would love it. Did you see the little family that came with it?” he
excitedly asked. I shook my head and rolled my eyes. It was pointless.

“You’re ridiculous,” I
stated.

“I know. Are you coming down
to the fire and drinking some beer later?”

“I don’t know. It depends on
whether or not Maddie goes home with my dad. You guys should just come back to
my place,” I countered. The fire pit was also for the guests. I was afraid of
Alex showing up there or something.

“I was hoping to come back to
your place later,” Jaron seductively replied.

I looked over to him in deep
thought. Hmm. I could use that. I wasn’t a slut. Well, maybe just a little, but
I only had two guys that I entertained. Reed and sometimes Jaron, both of whom
I would never get serious with. Reed was too busy and Jaron was just, Jaron.
Long hair and tattoos galore. Not the father figure type at all, although he,
unlike Reed, did love my daughter.

“We’ll see,” I offered,
watching my dad help Maddie pedal the new pink bike. Where was she supposed to
ride that thing? I would be hauling it up to the basketball court all the time.

“Hey, can you work the dining
room from six until eight,” Dana asked.

I didn’t want to work the
dining room. Alex might show up at the dining room.

“It’s my weekend off,” I
protested.

“Please,” she begged. “Dianna
will be here at eight. She can’t make it until then. She has to drive her
parent’s back to the airport.”

“Is Naomi working tonight?” I
asked. I knew I could trade her sections if need be.

“Yes. Why?” Dana asked.

“Just curious, I will do it
for two hours and that’s it.”

“Thank you,” she said,
kissing my cheek and going off to play with Maddie.

Maddie wouldn’t leave with
me. She had to take her new bike to Papaw’s house and swing on her new swing. Jaron
helped me load her abundant amount of presents in the golf cart until he was
called by one of the other guys to help with a truck.

I crammed the last bag into
the back of the cart and bumped right into Alex. Where the hell did he come
from? My eyes instantly glared at him. Who the fuck did he think he was?

“WHAT. DO. YOU. WANT!” I
asked, through gritted teeth.

“You have a kid?” he asked.

“Fuck you, stay away from
me,” I demanded, spinning away from him.

“Whitley, will you talk to me
for five minutes?” he asked.

“What would you like to talk
about, Alex?” I turned my head towards Jaron.

“Hey Whit, you’re coming
tonight, right?”

“Yeah, I’ll be there,” I
called back and turned my attention right back to the ass standing in front of
me. “Did you want to discuss how you raped me? Is that what you need to talk
about?”

“You got off too,” he
accused.

I couldn’t believe what I was
hearing. I blew out a puff of unbelievable air. “Yeah, you’re right. I did do
that, didn’t I? I guess that gets you off the hook. It was consensual. Is that
what you need to hear, Alex? Fine, it wasn’t rape. I enjoyed the hell out of
it. You’re free to go,” I offered, scanning his body from head to toe,
radiating disgust.

“That’s not what I meant,
Whitley.”

I turned, poking him hard
with one finger right in his chest. “STAY THE FUCK AWAY FROM ME!” I demanded,
poking him with every word.

“Hey baby, are you coming?”
his female friend called.

“Yeah baby, you better go,” I
mocked, sliding into the seat and tromping the throttle. It was too bad the
damn thing wouldn’t spin a tire or go over five miles an hour. I would have
loved to have spun gravel all over him.

I would love to say that I
never had to see the son of a bitch again. That wasn’t the case. I had fifteen
minutes. Fifteen minutes until Dianna arrived. No sign of Alex and his little
bimbo anywhere. I was almost home free.

I didn’t even notice him.
Dana sat him in my section with his back turned. He and his girlfriend or
whatever she was, sat side by side and another couple sat across from them. I
stupidly walked right up to the table with my green notepad.

“Can I start you out with
some drinks?” I asked as my eyes landed right on Alex’s. Shit.

“Do you have a wine list?”
his female friend asked.

I wanted to laugh at her.
This was a camp ground not a five star restaurant. “We have a house wine,” I
offered, pointing to the Moscato red wine. “We have beer,” I said, catching
Maddie scooting a chair to the fish aquarium. I turned to see my dad talking to
some guests with his back to her. I looked to see Dana laughing and talking
with some other guests as she rang them out. Somebody needed to pay attention
to Maddie.

“Excuse me,” I said, walking
away as I watched her foot slip from the chair and hit the floor, followed by a
loud shrill.

“Why can’t you listen for
once?” I asked, picking her up. She clung to me and wailed. “You’re not hurt.
It just scared you,” I said, rubbing circles around her back.

“Here, come to Papaw,” my dad
said, trying to take her. She wailed again.

“NO! I want my mommy!” she
cried out as I carried her towards the kitchen, away from the spectators and
Alex’s scrutinizing eyes that I was sure were on me.

“That thing has got to go,” I
said, turning to my dad. I was so sick of that stupid fish aquarium it wasn’t
even funny. “Are you hungry?” I asked, trying to calm Maddie. “Do you want Jaron
to make you a hot dog?”

“I want ice cream,” she
decided, wiping tears down her face with her little fingers.

“No. No ice cream. How about
a grilled cheese?”

“I want ice cream,” she
howled.

“Take her,” I told my dad. I
really did hope she wanted to go home with him. I needed to get drunk and crazy
with some friends my own age.

I was never so happy to see
Dianna in all my life. She was taking Alex and his party’s orders. I was
getting the hell out of there. I walked over to take some empty plates from my
last table and to offer them dessert.

“How was everything,” I asked
as they moved their arms for me to take their plates.

“Great,” they all replied,
with the two men rubbing their full bellies.

“How about dessert? We have
an awesome peanut butter pie tonight,” I offered.

“Yes,” the men stated,
deciding they weren’t as full as they had initially thought. The two women
declined.

“Would you like coffee?” I
asked.

I walked toward the kitchen
with a full arm, not missing the stare from Alex or my daughter sitting at the
counter with a bowl of ice cream. I shook my head at my father. He shrugged as
I continued to the kitchen.

“Can you get table four
coffee?” I asked Dana, placing the delicious looking pies on a tray.

“Sure. I think we’re
kidnapping Maddie for the night. She got two new movies for her birthday, and Papaw
promised we would watch them and make some popcorn.”

“You can have her,” I teased,
hoping she didn’t want to come home with me.

I stood at the end of the
counter while Maddie ate her ice cream smothered in gummy bears.

“I thought I told you no ice
cream,” I said, looking up to see Alex’s eyes boring into me. What the hell?
Maddie needed to hurry so we could get the hell out of there.

“Papaw teld me yes,” she
assured me as she popped a red gummy bear into her mouth. “Dem is hard,” she
giggled.

I smiled at her. She was so
silly sometimes. “That’s because you froze them.”

“Dem will get warm in my
belly,” she assured me. “You have one,” she offered. I opened my mouth and took
the candy from her fingers.

“Yuck, Maddie. That’s gross.
That’s like eating a flavored ice cube.”

“That not a ice cube,” she
assured me.

“Are you coming home with
mommy?”

“No, I watch a movie wif
Papaw and Gammy. I eat popcorn.”

“You need to eat some
supper.”

“My belly full.”

“Yeah, full of ice cream and
candy. Are you done?”

Maddie nodded and slid off
the stool. I swear that kid was fearless. It’s a good thing I was standing
right there to catch her. If not, I was sure she would have been screaming
again.

<><><> 

I met Jaron, Naomi, Ryan,
Autumn, and a few other friends at the fire pit. I still had Maddie because my
dad had gotten held up with an issue in one of the cabins. She was bathed and
in her pajamas and cowboy boots. That was her idea, not mine. Jaron helped her
make some smores, against my better judgment, as I stood watching and drinking
a much needed bottle of Budweiser, ice cold from the cooler. It tasted amazing
and I could tell that I was probably going to get drunk. It was going down way
too smoothly.

“Do you know that guy at
table six?” Naomi asked.

“No, why?”

“I was just wondering. He
asked about you?”

“What do you mean he asked
about me?” I said, snapping my head to her.

“He just asked if that was
your little girl. I just found it a little odd.”

“Yeah, that is odd.”

“Too bad he had that bimbo
with him. I might have knocked on his cabin later,” she teased, taking a long
drink of beer.

I didn’t reply. It made me
nauseous, just thinking about him in bed.

“Jaron! Don’t give her beer.
What the hell is wrong with you?” I yelled, seeing him hold the bottle to
Maddie’s lips.

“Her mouth was hot from the
marshmallow.”

“I don’t care. Don’t give her
beer.”

My dad and Dana pulled up on
a golf cart moments later. My dad stood around holding Maddie, drinking one
beer with us before he handed it to me. Maddie wouldn’t be quiet long enough
for him to relax and enjoy it. She needed to watch her new movie and her
fingers were all sticky. I kissed her sticky lips and told her that I loved
her.

“I drive. Okay, Papaw?” she asked.
I smiled. God I loved that girl.

We were having a great time.
There were a few guests that showed up; the one named Charlie was funnier than
hell. His wife, Ada, didn’t think so, but the drunker he got the more Naomi and
I laughed at his marital stories. I would love to have had a man that made me
laugh like he did. You could tell that he loved his wife and loved to torment
her.

Jaron had been giving me the
eye all night. Yup, he was no doubt going home with me. Ryan and Autumn were
also well past being drunk. Ryan turned the music up coming from his pickup
truck, then he and Autumn were grinding to the beat of Old Time Rock and Roll
by Bob Seger. 

Naomi pulled me to the makeshift
dance floor and grinded into my ass as we both held our beers singing at the
top of our lungs. Charlie joined in, causing us to laugh ridiculously hard. My
gut hurt, I was laughing so hard. I have no idea what kind of moves he was
trying to portray, but it was hilarious.

I stopped dead in my tracks
when I saw Alex, his girl, and the couple that had been at their table. Naomi
didn’t let me stop when Def Leppard starting pouring sugar on me. I watched Jaron
hand the guys a beer and the snooty women snarl their noses up, declining.