The sweat didn’t drip down her back. It just stayed on her back and in her armpits like somebody was pushing a warm, damp cloth there. Polly splashed cool water on her face before turning to finish up dinner. Ever since she had taken on extra work around the Freeman mansion to try to earn enough money to pay off debts she didn’t know she had, she felt like she had been run ragged.
The chicken parmesan smelled good enough to make her drool, the risotto was perfectly cooked, and the steamed asparagus glistened with golden hollandaise sauce. Polly nodded in satisfaction. The extra work had been worth it.
She left the kitchen to go find Bernie and Tyler, who were the only two here at the moment. There had been a big celebration recently with Kayla and Shane and the boys’ mother, to welcome Bernie into the family and celebrate little Xavier as Tyler’s son. It had been really nice, but it was also nice to have just the two of them again.
Polly found them in the living room. They sat on the loveseat, with Xavier snuggled between them as they swapped gentle kisses. Xavier gurgled and munched on Bernie’s hair. A spike of tightness went through Polly’s chest and she turned back around the corner so that they wouldn’t see her. She pressed her hands together, willing this surge of jealousy away. It seemed like everybody had found their One True Love. Polly hadn’t even gone on a date in years… she couldn’t even enjoy romance novels anymore.
“Kayla and Esther called me today,” Bernie murmured, her voice carrying out to Polly—as long as Polly strained to hear. “They’d like me to come out to the dig before they get the first summer students. So, we should probably head over there next week.”
“Sounds good. I can change a diaper in ten seconds flat now, so I’m ready for my mission of being a stay-at-home dad,” Tyler replied.
Bernie made a little gasping noise, like she did when he put his hands on her and they thought nobody could see or hear them. “Good. I’m glad. I mean, the college fund that Shane gave us is going to be more than enough for a good college…”
“Yeah. And I was thinking that I could also get a part-time job I could do from home, so I could bring in some more money to help out with daily expenses.”
More jealousy. Tyler had been an infamous playboy before Bernie had come around. While he had never gone for Polly, she couldn’t help but be jealous of the bond they had formed. He was willing to go anywhere for her job and take on less traditional roles to make sure the family was together and happy. Her last boyfriend thought doing his own laundry was something to be praised for.
She stepped into the living room, smiling as though she wasn’t dying inside. “Hey. So, supper is ready in the kitchen. I’m not feeling hungry, so I’m just going to go home and get some stuff done around there. Just text me when you’re done and I’ll come clean up.’
Bernie frowned at her. “Is something wrong? I haven’t seen you eat for a few days now.”
“I’m fine. It’s just so hot and I’ve been working. I’m too tired and hot to eat right now. But I have food at my place, don’t worry.”
Bernie nodded slowly. “As long as you’re not on some crazy sort of diet.”
Polly shook her head. She had always been a big girl, but after puberty, the pounds really packed on. Her mother had put her on many diets in her teenage years, but they never helped her lose weight, only made her feel like she was dying. She had come to embrace her curves. Her doctors said she was perfectly healthy, anyway, and she kept up a good exercise routine.
She quickly left the family to their meal and returned to her home. It was a small guest house near the back of the property. Older than the main mansion, but it was her space and, on days like this, she needed it. She had been on edge all day, and every little thing made her angry and threatened to send her into a spiral of self-pity.
Now, it was Bernie talking about the dig. She was an archeologist, something that Polly herself had always wanted. She had gone to school, too, and had almost gotten her bachelor’s degree. She had worked for the Freemans as she did so, meaning she didn’t have to take out student loans.
And then her identity had been stolen.
From that day on, everything had gone wrong. There were suddenly all these debts springing up and even though she had managed to get most of them erased, there was still a lot that apparently nothing could be done about. So, she had been forced to drop out of school to work fulltime to clear them. Of course, then her credit was in the trash and she had been forced to rely on the Freemans for years.
She was grateful to them, of course. Shane was a very wealthy dragon shifter, and he was as generous to her as he was to his brother. But she couldn’t help feeling like she was working herself into debt with him now… she had no intention of just taking all that money for nothing in return. Shane assured her it was fine, but still… She was going to give it back, even if she gave it to charities rather than back to Shane.
She just needed to get on her feet again. Have the freedom not to rely on her boss. Every time it seemed like things were getting better, though, she got slammed by a huge expense that wiped out her savings.
“Feeling sorry for yourself isn’t going to help anything,” Polly told herself firmly. “And if you’re going to keep this up, then you’re going to have to get a therapist again.”
That had been expensive… but necessary. Polly wouldn’t say she had a terrible childhood. Her mother loved her, even if she was a bit of an airhead and selfish. She had never made Polly feel like she was unwanted, even though she had been a whoopsie baby—her mom had met her dad at a bar one night, brought him home, got pregnant, and never saw him again.
Still, she had some resentments towards her mom. Didn’t everybody have those? And therapy had helped Polly get her brain back on track. The expense, though… She could have gotten it subsidized and Shane had also offered to pay for it, but it was one of those things. She had felt like it was important for her to do on her own. Looking back, she wasn’t certain if that had been a good idea or not.
She perked up in the shower. She had baked muffins that morning—they were going to be delicious treats to splurge on. No butter or sugar, either, so healthier than something like, say, ice-cream.
But when she got out of the shower and went to get one of them, three mice ran across the counter from where the muffins had been cooling and disappeared behind the fridge. Polly shouted in despair and disgust. Her hands clenched, and her stomach churned.
“Yuck!” She sucked in a deep breath and shook her head. She’d never had problems with mice before.
Oh, well. Doing nothing about it would only make the problem worse. So, she shot off a quick text to Tyler, explaining the situation, and rolled up her sleeves. The first thing to go in the trash were the muffins. Then she went through the cupboards and got rid of anything that the mice could have gotten into. Mice droppings were scattered at the back of the cupboards. She cursed up a storm.
Tyler brought over some traps shortly after and helped her carry the garbage to the bins.
“You’re welcome to stay in the mansion until we’ve got them,” he told her.
“Thanks,” she murmured. “I’ll definitely take you up on that.”
Tyler nodded and patted her shoulder.
Polly spent the next few hours cleaning up everything with a bleach solution. Perhaps not the healthiest product, but it would kill the mouse germs, at least. Then she packed up a suitcase and headed over to the mansion. There, she found Tyler and Bernie watching TV. She still didn’t want to be around the cuddling, though, so she hopped into her car and headed toward town.
Forget healthiness. Ice-cream it was. Or frozen yogurt…
Halfway to town, her car sputtered. She managed to get it to the side of the road before it belched out a cloud of smoke, shuddered, and was still.
Something hot burned in her stomach. It twisted around and flooded her chest. It flooded her throat, like she had swallowed flames, as she got out of the car. Fury and rage twisted so tight, she could hardly breathe.
“Argh!” she screamed as she kicked a tire.
The car jerked, a loud popping noise rang through the dark night, and the tire deflated.
“Are you serious right now?” she screamed into the void. “What did I do to deserve this?”
Headlights came around the corner, and Polly hastily moved off the road. The car slowed and Polly tensed, ready to beat the crap out of a potential kidnapper. Her shoulders relaxed when she saw it was Gilbert West, their neighbor. He took a look at her and her car and arched a brow.
“Something that can be fixed, or do you need a ride?”
Polly sighed. “Ride, please.”
Gilbert gestured to the other side of the car with his head, and Polly went around the vehicle to get in. The burning was still inside of her, and once she was in the car she felt restless, trapped. Like her skin was too small for her body. They headed off again, back to the gated community where all the mansions stood in a neat little row.
“So, what’s going on?” Gilbert asked her. “You don’t seem like your normal self.”
“Mice in my house, car broke down, it’s too hot to breathe and with the lack of rain, we’re probably going to be swarmed with forest fires… I’d say things are a bit bad right now. Sometimes it feels like I’m cursed. I don’t know how I’m going to pay for that stupid car to be fixed.”
“I can give you the money.”
Polly’s heart jumped a little. She wasn’t sure exactly where Gilbert was in the money brackets. He was a neurosurgeon, a good one, too. He was always having some sort of ball or event to get funding for his research, and she knew that he matched the donations with funds from his own pocket. They’d been neighbors for years, but she wasn’t sure she knew much more than that, other than he was constantly needing her to come over and help him clean because he was too messy to keep a housekeeper.
“Thank you,” she said slowly. “But I’ll just borrow something from Shane until I can get it sorted out.”
Gilbert nodded. “Okay. If you ever need anything, though, let me know.”
“Thanks.” Polly smiled at him… Finally, something in this day that had gone right.