“That seems innocent enough,” I said thoughtfully.

“Yes, nothing crazy,” he said. “I’m willing to pay three grand a week.”

“Three grand a week?” I said and frowned. That bastard Bob was only paying me a grand. I was going to really confront him about how much money he was taking.

“Is that not enough?” Aiden looked worried.

“No, that’s great.” I said and leaned back for a few moments. “Are you sure this is something you want to go through with, Aiden? Sometimes games and these small lies aren’t the way to go.”

“I’m sure,” he said, his eyes determined and bright as he looked at me. I was slightly taken aback by how much he resembled Scott and it made my heart ache.

“Okay then. I’m in,” I said and leaned forward and shook his hand. “Just let me know what you want me to do and it’s done.”

“Great. Thank you. You don’t know how much this means to me.” He jumped up and pulled me towards him and gave me a quick hug. “Thank you, Elizabeth.”

“Thank me if everything works out with Alice.”

“Yeah.” He nodded and stepped back. “Let’s hope so.”

“If she’s the right one for you, it will work out,” I said with a soft smile. “Everything works out if it’s meant to be.”

“Yeah, I believe that as well,” he said, and then he looked into my eyes and I felt as if he were trying to glimpse into my soul. “We’ll have to grab lunch this week to chat and figure out how this is going to work, and I hope to get to know you as well, Elizabeth.” He smiled. “Seeing as we’re going to be spending a lot of time together.”

“Oh, there’s not much to know,” I said with a small smile.

“There’s always a lot to know.” He gave me a knowing look. “I’ll get it out of you.”

I laughed and didn’t say anything else. Little did he know that I had a past with his brother.

“I’ll let you go now, but maybe we can meet up tomorrow for lunch and talk?”

“Yeah, that sounds good,” I said. “Meet you here?”

“Yeah, we can meet here.” He nodded. “See you later, Elizabeth.”

“Bye, Aiden,” I said and watched as he left the room. I was about to call Lacey and tell her what had just happened, when I decided to call my mom instead. I hadn’t spoken to her in a couple of weeks and I knew she was likely waiting for me to call. I’d call her while I was still in a good mood and hopefully she wouldn’t bring me down.

***

“Hello?” My mom answered the phone in a soft questioning tone, though I knew she had caller ID on her phone.

“Hey Mom, it’s me.”

“Elizabeth?”

“I’m the only one that calls you Mom,” I said in an exasperated tone.

“I was just checking,” she said defensively.

“How are you, Mom?” I asked, not wanting to get into it already.

“Okay.” She sighed, a long deep sigh that told me that she wasn’t really okay.

“What’s wrong, Mom?”

“They cut my food stamp allowance,” she said in a small voice. “I’m hungry.”

“You don’t have food?” I said in a small voice.

“Nothing good,” she said in a bitter tone.

“Do you want me to send you some money?”

“No, I’ve got my Social Security money and food stamps,” she said in a pitiful voice.

“Mom, I can send you some money if you’re hungry.”

“I didn’t think you cared,” she said. “I haven’t heard from you in months.”

“Mom, I called you three weeks ago.” I sighed, regretting that I’d even called this time around.

“I thought that I was hurt when your dad left, but nothing hurts more than when you own child, that you pushed out with no painkillers, barely calls you.”

“Mom.” I sighed. “I’ll send you some money, okay?”

“Don’t send it Western Union. They steal the money. Put it in my bank account. I have an account with Chase now.”

“They let you reopen it?” I said, surprised.

“I went to a new branch. They didn’t check the system.” She sounded almost gleeful. “That’s not my problem.”

“What if they take the money I deposit and use it to pay off your other account?”

“They can’t do that. That’s my money!” she screeched. “That would be stealing.”

“Yeah,” I said, though I was thinking that it’s not stealing if you owe them money for insufficient funds in another account.

“Can you send the money today?” she asked hopefully.

“Why?” I asked suspiciously.

“So I can go to the store,” she said. “To get some food.”

“Uh huh.” I said, but I didn’t say anything else. I knew she wasn’t going to get food. I knew she wasn’t hungry. I knew what she really wanted.

“Don’t uh huh me, young lady.”

“Sorry, Mom,” I said and stared at the wall. “So how are you, asides from being hungry?”

“Fine.” She sighed. “I’m still getting headaches, but the bloody doctor won’t prescribe me any Oxycontin. He doesn’t care about my pain.”