BuzzNovelChapter 15 I had on a black crop top-short, showing a sliver of my waist-paired with loose beige pants. Standing at five- foot-six, I had a slim, tall frame, and my brown hair madelook much more gorgeous.
"Mom, what're you wearing? It's cute!" Yvonne's eyes went wide. She'd never seendressed like this. Jared's deep-set eyes flickered with surprise.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtI flipped my wavy hair and stepped toward them. "Let's go, Yvonne. I'm gonna be late for dinner." Jared ruffled Yvonne's hair, his voice soft. "Listen to Mom, okay? Don't give her a hard time." Yvonne pouted, grumbling. "I know. You say that every day-it's annoying." Jared looked at her adoringly. Then he turned toand gavea thorough once-over. "Who are you having dinner with?" "My violin teacher and sclassmates," I replied.
His brows pulled tight. "Don't mess with strangers. Watch out for creeps." I laughed. "Meeting new people is fun for me." Before he could say more, I shut the car door and pulled away. In the rearview mirror, I saw him still standing there, watchingleave.
Yvonne pulled out her gconsole, firing it up. "Mom, why didn't you cbake withyesterday?" I raised an eyebrow. "Thought you had Tracy there." "That's not the same," she pouted. "Everyone else has both their mom and dad,there, but I only have Dad. If Tracy hadn't bailed on her own plans to come, I would've looked so pathetic." She was basically callinga bad mom. But I almost smirked-Tracy was probably thrilled for the chance. Honestly, she should thank me.
"Your dad's pretty nice to Tracy, huh?” I said casually.
"Of course, she's-"Yvonne started, but quickly stopped. She was as sharp as her dad, after all. She just let out an annoyed huff. "Mom, are you trying to get info about Dad from me? How lame." I fell silent. Tand again, I realized my little girl wasn't on my side, even at such a young age. I couldn't convince myself to love her anymore.
When I arrived at the restaurant, my teacher and musician classmates were already there. A few single guys who'd hit onbefore looked utterly stunned now that they sawwalk in with my daughter.
Jared had cheated, but I wasn't about to start hooking up with random guys as payback. Love meant nothing toright how. I just wanted to build my career and becindependent. Once I got there, guys would be lining up. Dinner was great, though. We laughed, talked, and swapped stories. I picked up suseful tips, and they even said they'd hitup for future gigs.
Since performing a few times in college, I'd never been on stage, again. But I t I loved that feeling of standing in the spotlight-being adored, being liked-it was pure soul food. And I wanted it back. 1/2
m Retired executives often spiraled into depression when the praise stopped-their sense of purpose just vanished. For me, it was the same. Without that validation, I felt myself slowly disappearing. Yvonne was quite the social butterfly. She chatted easily with my violin classmates and even got this wild idea about learning violin together. I quickly shut her down.
Visit our social media platform to read fascinating stories every day and connect with the community!
