Waiting Fate Read Online Free

who breezed in didn’t seem frightening at all. He jumped right into explaining the syllabus for the class, and Ivy sort of stopped shaking. As class neared the end she even dared look around, and noticed a few familiar faces from high school. That’s what happens when the college is in your hometown. She blew out a pent-up breath and let her shoulders relax. I can do this.
    ****
    It took several weeks, but Ivy started to enjoy her classes. She was back home by ten every morning, and did her homework at naptime and at night after Desee went to bed. It had been months since she’d left Alaska, and she still hadn’t heard a thing from her soon-to-be-ex-husband, although the military garnished his wages and sent her child support every month. Between that, her savings, her student loans, and a lot of help from her parents, she was surviving. She hadn’t had a nightmare for weeks, and the only marks left were the scars she was so good at hiding.
    She liked her little routine. Routines were safe and predictable. She was doing well in classes and not neglecting her little angel. Her family, though, worried about her, as it seemed families were supposed to do. “You haven’t done anything fun since you got back from Alaska,” Kate said over the phone as Ivy drove home from school.
    “I have too. We played cards while you were here,” Ivy objected, trying to hold the phone on her shoulder while shifting gears. Whose bright idea was it to buy me a stick shift?
    “That isn’t fun. You’re twenty-three years old. You should be hanging out with friends, going on dates, getting back out into life. Doing the things you missed the first time.”
    Yeah, ouch. That one hurt a little . Ivy had gotten married right out of high school. She’d missed ever being a young adult, being crazy and staying out late and going to parties and living with friends and traveling the world. She’d missed all those things. Instead she jumped right into being an old married lady, a poor old married lady, since Vick had never had a job until he joined the army – which meant she had worked two or three at once to make ends meet. “I can’t do those things, Kate. I have a baby.”
    “Yeah, and you have a mom who adores her and doesn’t mind watching her at all.” Kate chuckled. “Besides, Desee goes to bed at seven. Go out after that.” Kate sounded smug, even over the phone.
    Ivy sighed, trying to check her blind spot and change lanes without dropping the phone mashed to her shoulder. “I have to get up at five-thirty to make it to my seven o’clock class. I go to bed as soon as my homework is done.” Sometimes before, if I fall asleep at my desk like I did last night. She didn’t say that out loud, though. That might give Kate more fuel for her lecture.
    Kate, however, wasn’t easily deterred once she got an idea in her head. She was one of the most persistent people Ivy had ever met. “Everyone needs friends, Ivy. Go out on a Friday. Or better yet, find some friends to do homework with.”
    Ivy smiled. Her big sister was a pain in the butt, but she loved her to pieces. “You aren’t going to give up on this, are you?”
    “Nope.”
    “But I don’t want friends.” Friends hurt. Letting people in hurts.
    “ Yes, you do. You just don’t know it.”
    Ivy snorted. “Fine. Fine. Okay. I’ll try.”
    “Promise?” Kate was grinning, Ivy could tell. She never was a polite winner.
    “I promise.”
    She waited to make the call until after Desee went to bed. Trying to talk with a toddler squealing — or worse, screaming — was next to impossible. But while a toddler slept peacefully in another room, now that made things easier.
    “Hey, Gigi. It’s Ivy.” Ivy hated the phone. It scared her. In fact, there were times she’d wondered if she had some weird phone phobia, although texting was fine. I should look that up some time. Phone phobias. That’d be fun.
    “Ivy! Hi!” Gigi said, apparently not sensing Ivy’s discomfort.