Players

9. You Are The Only Exception

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"Cassidy, your food is going nowhere. And I will anyone's hands if they try to take it from you. So please eat like a human." Dominic sounds all serious but is grinning as he eats his hot dog.

I hold up a finger to say 'Give me a moment' and swallow my mouthful of hash browns, taking a long sip of my mojito to wash it all down.

Then I say, "You know, last day I was telling my daughter off on the way she ate her pancakes and did you know what she said?"

"What?" He asks, his gaze intent on me.

I clear my voice. "'Mommy, you should never tell anyone how to eat.'"

"So basically, she is Cassidy 2.0." He grins.

"Nah. She is nothing like me and everything like my sister. Well, she lives with me so she takes up a few of my personality but otherwise, she is her mother through and through. Sweet, kind, and every good thing in the book." I tell him.

I look down at my hash brown. Suddenly they don't look so appetizing as my thoughts have come back to my Maddie and the fact that my paradise with my little girl is under attack.

"Something on your mind?"

I look up at him and take in the whole of him.

What the hell am I doing?

Just today morning, I was thinking of ways to get rid of him from my life and now I am sitting across from him, on a park bench, having hash browns and corn dogs and mojitos like some teens on their first date.

What the hell is wrong with me?

This was a lapse of judgment and the best way to deal with this is by seeing it through and being as natural as I can with it.

But I cannot afford to make the same mistake ever again. It will be a disaster.

He is the vulture waiting to get nits and bits of information he can use against me. And just because I am not feeling like my glorious self, does not mean that I can hand-feed him all the information that he requires.

I can be dumb at times, but I am not thaaaat dumb.

"I did promise Jeremy that I will get his paperwork done." I lie smoothly. "Now, there is going to be unnecessary drama on his part first thing in the morning."

"Want me to beat him up for you?" He asks.

I lean forward, gazing up at him intently just the way that he does all the time.

"This is the second time in the last ten minutes that you have talked about beating someone up. What's up with you? You actually like hitting people?"

Dominic chokes on his corn dog while I laugh out loud, throwing my head back.

"That *cough* sounds so *cough**cough* wrong!" He sputters out, coughing into his fist.

I move his drink towards him, which he immediately grabs and almost downs the entirety in one go.

"So?" I ask. "What's with you and beating people up?"

He shrugs, looking behind me. Suddenly, he is deep in thought, leaving me to draw along the contours of his face, his brows, perfectly arched, framed by his deep-set eyes, which remain fixed on whatever is behind me with unwavering concentration, and for the first time, I noticed the lines etched on his forehead and around his eyes.

This man intrigued me.

And the intrigue is not a good thing. I think it will be the death of me.

"So, do you usually zone out and fly off to your own world mid-conversations?" I ask, finally. It's time to leave. It's time to get out of here and get this lapse of judgment behind me. "Or am I an exception?"

"You are the only exception."

I give him another flat look before tapping on my phone kept on the table. The clock says past midnight.

"That's my cue to get back," I say.

"Doing a Cinderella rendition or something that you are leaving at midnight?" He asks, and he almost sounds disappointed that I have to leave. Did he expect me to go home with him or something?

"Something like that. Time to put Mommy shoes on and go back home to my daughter."

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"Mommy?"

I narrow my eyes as I look over at my daughter. I know that tone. She wants something from me.

"Maddie darling, after that corn snake, you better not ask for anything else for at least a month."

Maddie pouts and walks over to me. I squint at her neck and then put on my glasses. "Why do you have Tobey wrapped around your neck?" I am off my chair immediately.

"He looks cool, doesn't he?" She grins at me.

I grimace as I touch the tail of the reptile, recoiling immediately. "No, he does not look cool, Madison Montgomery. Take him off your neck." I tap at the leathery skin of the animal. I still cannot bring myself to touch the creature. But I am getting there. I am not allowing any creature in my house that I cannot personally remove in the case of it becoming a threat to my daughter.

"I will allow up to wrapping around your arm but wrapping around the neck is where I draw the line." I hold my hand up when she opens her mouth to argue. "I respected your wish to have a snake. So now you must respect my concerns about your safety and the measures that I take to assure it."

"No one can win an argument against you." She grumbles, unwrapping Tobey from around her neck.

"Yeah. I sort of get paid for this ." I retort with the same amount of sass.

"But Mommy, in all the videos that I watched-"

"I am pretty sure that there were warnings on the bottom of the screen saying 'do not try it at home' or 'to be performed by trained individuals' or 'not safe around kids'. And if none of those weren't there, then show me the video and I will report it."

Maddie does the thing she always does - she makes a face as if she is the mother and I am the daughter and I have said something that has deeply offended her. How old does this young lady think she is?

"What were you Mommying me for earlier?" I ask, changing the subject. No, I am not backing away because she is intimidating. There is no way in hell that I, Cassidy Meyers, will find a seven-year-old and that too my own daughter, intimidating. It's just that when she does that she reminds me of my own mother who is a very... intimidating lady.

"Ah right!" Her stern look melts away and is replaced by her puppy face. She is all set to bargain for something else, her secret weapon at the ready. Except it is not going to work this time because Sally isn't here and I am immune to her charm. "So, Mommmyyyy...?"

"Yes baabbyy?" I drawl it out, biting my lips when I see my kid narrow her eyes in annoyance.

"I was thinking..."

"You thinking usually means trouble for me, sweetheart. Nine out of ten times." I smile sweetly at her.

"Will you just listen?" She almost shrieks.

"You just sounded like Ok Taec-yeon in Vincenzo just now." I rile her up further.

"Mommy!!!"

"Why are you mother and daughter bickering so early in the morning?" Nora walks into the hall, a sweet smile on her face.

"Maddie darling wants another she-snake to give Tobey company." I shrug.

"Yeah, and it makes sen- Wait, how did you know that?" Maddie's eyes are as big as saucers. I think it's the most adorable sight in the whole world.

"Oh, I don't know. I think it has something to do with the fact that I took a minor degree in occult and now I have mind-reading abilities which I usually use on my clients. But since you have been hella suspicious lately, I have started to use it on you as well."

Nora looks at me like I am crazy while Maddie simply gives me an unimpressed look. "Funny." She says dryly.

Should have just blown raspberries at me or something.

"I am your mother, Madison. I know exactly what you are thinking." Also because I have been thinking about it all night myself. Tobey will get very lonely when Maddie goes to school, won't he? Poor little reptile. And then I had to smack that thought away from my head because I am not seven years old. I need to think of the practicality of the whole thing.

First of all, I am not happy with the idea of giving a seven-year-old a snake as a pet when I am not here to supervise them at all times. Two snakes are where I draw the line.

"So will you get him a friend, Mommy?" She asks, all cute despite how annoyed she is with me.

I smile as I bend down in front of her, making sure I am a safe distance away from her friend.

"No." I say, firmly.

Maddie's well up, just a little.

"Why not?" My heart throbs at how wobbly her voice has instantly become, but I stay rooted to my decision.

"Because I am only giving you two choices, Madison," I say.

"What?"

"You either get to keep your one snake. Or, if you are adamant that he has a companion, you will have to take him back to the store where he can be with other snakes."

"I don't want to do that." She sniffles.

"Then you will have to make sure that Tobey does not feel lonely. You brought him home because you needed a friend, right? So you also have the responsibility of reciprocating that friendship. Have I made myself clear?" There is finality in my voice and I just love how I stern I am despite my heart wanting to take back all of those words and give her what she wants.

"Now go to your room and get ready for school."

Maddie mumbles a quiet "Okay Mommy." and leaves the room.

And I take a deep breath, rubbing my chest.

"I never thought you would be this strict with Maddie. I thought-" Nora starts but I cut her off immediately.

"Strict? How many seven-year-olds do you know with snakes for pets? I am a very lenient parent, Nora. I will give my daughter whatever she needs in life. And I will get her the things that she wants as well. But only if she is deserving of it. She needs to prove that she can take care of one pet before I decide whether she can have two. It's as simple as that. That does not make me strict. That makes me responsible."

I want to add that if she had been a 'strict' parent then she would not be living in her dead daughter-in-law's sister's house. But I swallow it. I can't cut that low. Not yet.

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