Chapter 3
Abby lay on her back, silent. She turned to look at her two children, who were sound asleep. She laid her hand gently on Riley's cheek. "I love you, baby," she whispered to him, even though he couldn't hear her. She switched her hand to Jill's cheek and said, "I'm going to take care of you two." With those promises made, she turned onto her side to brainstorm.
Fortunately, as she was leaving she had discovered that her neighbor needed a house-sitter. So she had three more days, but she still had to come up with a plan.
She was still considering other nursing jobs, but it was probably out of the question since she didn't even have an address. In fact, that made most jobs impossible. So what could she do?
Even if she could somehow get a job, Abby knew that she wasn't going to get interviewed, hired, and paid in four days. When were they going to live until she got a job?
Her credit cards were maxed out, which meant she couldn't get a hotel room. In four days, her neighbor would be home, and she would expect the Wyczenskis to get out of her apartment. Where would they go then?
A sudden thought occurred to her, and it was so startling that she sat up in bed. What about Carter? If he knew he had children, she was sure he would take care of them. But she didn't want anything to do with Carter, and she didn't want his help. She was sure if he gave her money, he would expect to see the twins, and Abby couldn't bear the thought of that.
An even more horrible thought came to her. If she contacted him, what if he tried to get custody of the twins? It would be quite easy for him to take his own children away from their homeless, jobless mother. Abby couldn't bear the thought of not having her children. She couldn't call him.
But was keeping them away from Carter more important than seeing them well fed? She looked over at their quiet, sleeping bodies. What if a time came when she couldn't provide for them? Would she still keep them away from Carter?
Thinking about the problem more rationally, she realized that Carter wouldn't want to take her children away from her. He would probably try to make up with her, make everything better, and then they could just be one big happy family. Abby shook her head firmly. No. She didn't want that. How could she forgive Carter, after what he had done?
But her kids needed to eat. Abby decided that if she ran out of money and still hadn't come up with any ideas, she would call Carter. That decision made, she settled down to sleep next to her kids. "Things are gonna be okay," she promised them. And she was sure that they would be. Hopefully, she would come up with a plan before her stint as a house sitter ended.
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Danielle smiled coyly at the young business man as he walked past her. He smiled back, and was so busy looking at her that he ran into a pole. Danielle rolled her eyes. Men were such idiots.
She remembered the only man she had ever loved. Xavier, the man of her dreams. He was perfect in every way until the day he broke her heart. He left her for another woman, without so much as a, "Sorry, it was fun, bye." Xavier's leaving had made her realize one of the fundamental truths in life: men were pigs. All they cared about was sex, and they would happily drop their wife, girlfriend, whatever, if they came across someone who looked better.
Of course, this was just a theory at first. SHE knew that all men were superficial jerks, but she had to prove it to the rest of the women in the world. So she did. She got $20,000 worth of plastic surgery, and when it was done, she looked good enough to stop traffic. Then she went out into the testing grounds.
Over the years, she had gone through many jobs. It was easy to get hired; the people in charge of hiring new employees were always men, and therefore always easy to influence with a smile, a wave, a flash of skin. Once she got hired, she had more than enough willing test subjects.
She smiled, remembering one of her favorites. It was when she had been a nurse's assistant in a hospital; was it in Chicago or Detroit? She couldn't remember. But she did remember that doctor. As soon as she saw him, she knew he was her mark. He had a kind of big nose, but he was without a doubt one of the best looking men she had ever seen. She knew that if she could get him to fall for her, it would prove her theory that all men were shallow, and only cared about what a woman looked like.
He had been one of her toughest cases. He had a girlfriend who worked in the hospital. She had a hard face, obviously toughened by years of hard living. She was dumpy, much fatter that Danielle, and her blondish hair screamed bad dye job. Danielle had wanted to tell her, Honey, you're not fooling anyone but yourself. Especially if you think you can keep a good looking man like this, with your homely self.
Eventually, he had given in, just like all the others. Danielle's theory was proven. She could still remember the horrified look on his dumpy little girlfriend's face when she caught the two of them in the supply closet. Danielle wasn't wearing anything above the waist but a smirk. The boyfriend left immediately to chase Dumpy, who had stormed out, but Danielle knew that their relationship was over. Dumpy would never take him back after this.
Dumpy had been so mad, but really, what could she expect? Men were animals.