Dirty Truths Read Online Free PDF Page A

lunatics.”
    Cadence stared, chewing on her fist.
    Kristina carried her to the small room adjacent to her own. She laid the baby on the change table and peeled off her sodden pajamas, then reached down to the shelf below to feel around for clean clothes and diapers. Balancing the naked baby in one arm, Kristina carted her into the bathroom for a bath before dressing her, and then carried a dry Cadence downstairs. She leaned across the end table near the living room’s door to switch on the light before dragging the pink and yellow swing out of the corner near the couch and set the baby in its seat. Cadence’s eyes lit up as she spied the spinning ball on top. She gurgled happily.
    Yawning, Kristina turned toward the kitchen and paused at the blinking light on the answering machine. She didn’t remember hearing the phone ringing, but she’d been tired. Daniel. She pressed a button, waited, and regretted it as soon as his first words issued from the tiny speaker.
    “Kris, pick up the phone,” Daniel’s voice sounded hoarse, as though he’d been crying.
    Her chest tightened.
    “Please, I need you. I’m so sorry I hurt you, but I can make it up. We can fix this, baby, I know we can. I feel like I’m falling apart,” Daniel’s voice broke. He sobbed.
    Kristina covered her mouth and took a breath. She couldn’t stand hearing his pain, no matter what he did to her. She could handle angry Daniel, but this she didn’t know how to ignore.
    “I love you so much and I’m miserable without you. I’d rather die than never hold you again. Do you hear me, Kris? I’d rather die. Why do you hate me so much? I only tried to love you.” A choking sound and the line went dead.
    Kristina stared at the machine, her body trembling. Why did he do this? One minute he hurled insults and punches, and the next he was pouring his heart out and begging her to understand his messed up head. She’d tried, God how she’d tried, but Kristina couldn’t fathom how someone who loved you could even think about hurting you. She knew he had issues, that he’d been damaged long before he met her, but should she and Cadence pay for her mistakes forever? She reached out to press the delete button.
     
    ***
     
    Jackie’s blue Taurus pulled into the gas station an hour late, leaving Kristina only thirty minutes to balance her till, close out her cash and get to the store. She wouldn’t have time to run home and see Cadence.
    “I’m so sorry,” Jackie called as she ran to the booth. “Tim didn’t get off work until just now, and I had no sitter.”
    Kristina smiled and finished recording the balances from the pumps. Though the sky dulled from a brilliant blue to a hazy grey, the air remained humid. Jackie wore short denim cutoffs and a pink tank top. She’d pulled her blond hair into a ponytail and applied way too much makeup, which was likely what made her late, not her husband. Jackie had only worked at the gas station for a month and half the time she arrived late. Kristina hadn’t told their boss. It wasn’t as if Jackie did it because she was lazy. She just couldn’t get her shit together.
    “You want me to do your cash?” Jackie asked, joining her at the gas pumps.
    “No, I’ve almost got everything done. I’ve just got to count it and put it in the safe.”
    “I’m really sorry.”
    “It’s okay; I’m just going to work again anyway.” Kristina closed the clipboard and entered the small store next to the pumps. She cleared Jackie’s purse and her book off the desk.
    If she worked nights at the station, Kristina could relax while reading about how the warrior won the heart of the fair maiden too. Fairy tales, love transcending everything bad in the world like they claimed in those books didn’t exist in the real world.
    Her mind replayed Daniel’s message and her chest tightened. It would be so easy to give up and go back. But he would never change. She was tired of fighting and he’d never stop.
    After counting the