Free Fractured Affections (The Affections Series Book 1) by Elizabeth Wills Page A

hear her talk about her sexcapades with this man that she doesn’t even know.
    “I never thought I would like it rough like that, but he certainly has changed my mind. He had this way of making angry sex desirable, and Rea, he is hung like no man I have ever seen.”
    I need to quickly change the direction of this conversation because I don’t know how to respond to her. “So, what type of work does he do?”
    Riley’s face changes from total excitement to dumbstruck. “I…I don’t know. We never talked about it.”
    “Oh. Alright, well how old is he, has he lived around here long?”
    “I would say late twenties, early thirties. He did mention that he moved to town a short time ago and didn’t know many people around here.”
    She must know something about this man. “Where does he live? Is his home nice?”
    She thinks for a minute before responding. “Well, we have only been to my place, but I think he mentioned something about staying with a friend, while he works on getting his own place.”
    “What’s his name? I at least want to know who you are out with if something happens.”
    She looks shocked with this question. I swear if she doesn’t know his name I’m going to kill her. How the hell do you have sex with a man, multiple times, without even knowing his name? I’m sure he knows more about her than he cares to. How does she do this to herself?
    “Ummm…..”
    “You don’t know, do you?” I ask with concern.
    “No, I don’t. Shit! What is wrong with me, Rea?” she asks and her voice shakes.
    “Riley, nothing is wrong with you. You’re just longing for someone to share your life with. I know you would love to give Kiley a father that she deserves. You just need to change your approach.”
    “All I want is for Kiley to have what all of her friends have, two parents at home who love her. It all started before Kiley though. If I wasn’t like this, then I wouldn’t have had a child out of marriage.”
    Riley does need help, but I have no idea how you fix this. For me the solution is simple, you don’t sleep with random people, but I have never even dated really, so who am I to offer her dating advice?
    “Listen, Ri, maybe you should just take a break from men, for a while. Let yourself have that extra time with Kiley, she loves you to death. I don’t even think she feels like she’s missing anything without a father. Find some special things that the two of you can do together to replace the time that you spend out trying to find a man. Maybe if you are not out in the bars, you won’t have to worry about fighting the urge to take another man home.”
    I watch as Riley tries to hold back tears. I hate to see her upset. She is so much stronger than she gives herself credit for. She stands on her own two feet. I wish I could be more independent like her.
    “Riley, you are an amazing mother. You love your daughter so much and are able to provide for her without anyone’s help. Start loving yourself the way the rest of us love you.”
    I hate that I go through this so frequently with her. She always hates herself by the end of our conversation. With Dalton gone, I need to put more time into checking on her and keeping her busy and focused on just letting things happen. She is not going to find anything good by looking for Mr. Right in a bar.
    We keep the rest of our conversation a little lighter and just discuss the kids, and how I’m doing with Dalton being gone. As we head out to our cars, my phone rings with a number I don’t recognize.
    “Hello?”
    “Hey, it’s me, Striker. I just wanted to see if tonight was good for you and the boys. It’s supposed to be nice this evening, no chance of rain of anything. Are you guys free?”
    “Yeah, hold on Striker, I was just saying goodbye to my friend.” I move the phone away from my ear and hug Riley goodbye, promising to call her tonight.
    “Striker, are you still there?”
    “Yeah, so would tonight work for you guys? I think the