Free Cimarron, Denver Cereal Volume 4 by Claudia Hall Christian Page B

door.
    “ Hi Daddy,” Noelle said.
“It’s okay, Daddy. I only cried a little bit.”
    Sandy closed Noelle’s door. Walking back to
her bedroom, she returned to the shower. As she pulled the curtain
closed, she felt nothing but the cold chill of her wet wandering in
the apartment.
    Then, like the water falling onto her head,
a wave of desperate sorrow overcame her. After working her butt off
for the last month, everything would change. The children would go
back to their father and she…
    And she…
    Her mother would never speak to her again.
Her father was dead. Her condo was rented by Elizabethe. Her
private secret was spread around the world and back again.
Everything she once had was gone. Everything she’d worked so hard
for was gone.
    She had nothing.
    She was nothing.
    Again.
    With each tear, her sorrow transformed to
resolve. Today she would get Nash back into school. Tonight, she
would move out. Aden could have his house, his children, and his
life back.
    She would tell no one. Not even Jill.
    She’d just leave. She would disappear from
Denver. Forever.
    Stepping out of the shower, she felt calm
and ready. She dried off and combed her hair. She had a plan. Now
all she had to do was work her plan. She nodded to herself in the
bathroom mirror.
    It was for the best.
    Opening the door, she stepped out into her
bathroom.
    “ It’s not for the best,”
Delphie said.
    “ I thought you were dead,”
Sandy said.
    “ I’m not dead enough to let
you do something stupid,” Delphie said.
    “ I’m not being stupid,”
Sandy said. “There’s nothing left for me here.”
    “ The children love you,”
Delphie said. “Aden loves you. Jill would be devastated if you
disappeared. That’s not to mention Heather and Tanesha and all of
your clients and everyone in this house and even me. What’s wrong
with you? Why would you hurt all those people?”
    “ You wouldn’t understand,”
Sandy said.
    “ Try me. You’d be surprised
at what I can understand.”
    Sandy sniffed at Delphie. She moved around
the woman and started to get dressed.
    “ I get that you’re mad at
Aden. He’s been a complete ass. But that’s his path, Sandy,”
Delphie said. “He has to discover himself.”
    Sandy scrapped the hangers around in her
closet.
    “ And making my life and the
kids life a complete mess is how he ‘finds’ himself?”
    “ Sadly, yes,” Delphie
said.
    “ Not fair,” Sandy said.
“And I don’t really like it that you read my mind. It’s very rude
and intrusive.”
    “ I’m trying to keep you
from doing something dangerous and stupid,” Delphie
said.
    “ Dangerous?” Sandy pulled
on underwear and a pair of black pants. The pants wouldn’t close.
She groaned. Taking off the pants, she put on a green broom skirt
and pulled a purple long sleeve shirt over her head. “How is it
dangerous?”
    Delphie patted the bed next to her. Sandy
sat down.
    “ You’re still in danger,”
she said. “Not from other people but from inside you. When you and
Aden connected, you let your heart open. If you close your heart
now, it will never open again, even for your child.”
    Sandy looked deep into Delphie’s eyes. After
a moment, Sandy shook her head.
    “ I can’t do it,” she
whispered.
    “ Yes, you can,” Delphie
said. “You and I… We’ve suffered under the hands of selfish men. I
lived with that shadow all of my life. Your shadow is gone. You
could live the rest of your life in the glow of everyone who loves
you. But you have to let go of the shadow.”
    “ What shadow? You sound
crazy, Delphie.”
    “ The shadow of what
happened to you,” Delphie said. “You lived a lot of years sucked
dry by your cruel father and selfish mother. Now, when you feel
exhausted, you relive those experiences, like a shadow.”
    “ Is that why you think
you’re dead? Because your shadow is gone?”
    “ I am dead,” Delphie
said.
    Delphie glared at Sandy to prove her
certainty. Sandy shrugged.
    “ Give Aden a