The Single Mother

Chapter 14- Phoenix King: So It Wasn't A Date?

My Dad's phone began aggressively buzzing, and the initial sound of the alarm slightly scared both me and my Mum.

"It's Michael." Dad stated and held the phone up to his ear and was silently listening to the receiver.

"Can you ask if it's okay if we arrive to the dinner late?" Mum questioned my Dad and placed an encouraging hand on his shoulder. Dad hadn't even properly answered, and Mum was already grabbing the files she and Dad walked in with and was placing them tentatively in her handbag.

"Sorry Carmen," My Dad stated and hung up the call, "but Michael's already angry at me for standing him up last time and I think this time it's desperate that we pay him a visit." Dad had already began placing his research papers into his briefcase. "So Phoenix, now would be the time to ask any last minute questions."

"I just have two questions." I admitted and both of my parents stopped packing and stared at me with a look of bewilderment in their eyes.

"Wait... only two questions?" Mum inquired. "If I were you, I would have at least five or six."

"Well I have more, but I think some of it will have to be discussed with Talla." I confessed and made a mental note to get into contact with Talla later today. "Anyway, the first question I have why did it take you three years to establish a new contract with the Knights and the second question is did Talla know of her and Nathan's contract?"

There was a long pause before my parents answered the two questions that had been eating away at my curiosity. Based on the subtle looks they were exchanging, I couldn't tell if they were debating on just leaving for their dinner or if they were going to be brutally honestly and not withhold any information.

Right as I thought I wasn't going to be getting an answer due to the fact that both of my parents were now putting on their coats, my Dad suddenly blurted out, "Casey Knight is a shady man- he keeps his cards held pretty close to his chest and he doesn't like airing out the skeletons within the closet. For the past three years, Talla's situation is one of his biggest secrets."

"Jaxon, we're running late." My Mum cooed from the doorway to my office. "Have a lovely night Phoenix. I'm sorry that your Dad and I kept this information from you." She called out and blew me an air kiss as she and Dad exited the room and entered the elevator.

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My brain was swimming with all this new information, and I really wanted to call Alexander and vent, but I didn't know how to express how I was feeling at this point in time. To take my mind off my problems, I glanced out of my office's gigantic floor-to-ceiling feature window. From where I was standing, I could see my parents' small frames hop into an Uber and speed down the busy streets.

The nagging need to call my parents and demand that they call me as soon as they safely exit the car and enter the restaurant was almost unbearable. Sometimes the PTSD that I obtained on the night that Nathan died, drove me insane. The mistrust I have towards cars and the severe anxiety and dear that I suffer when I, or anyone I care about, is in a motor vehicle can be intolerable because of the mood swings. I knew that my parents were having an important meeting with their business partner, Michael, tonight so I decided that instead of giving into my urge of frantically contacting my parents, I should take a couple of deep breathes and move away from my window and distract myself by closing down the office building.

Just as I finalized shutting off all the computer systems for the night and moved on to enable the security systems, my phone began pulsating in my pocket. I wasn't expecting anyone to call me and was praying that it wasn't the police calling to say that my parents were in a coma or worse, dead, due to a car crash.

It felt like hours had passed in the couple of seconds that it took me to fish my phone out of my pocket. In the couple of seconds that it took me to pull my phone out of my pocket, I had begun sweating buckets and could feel my heart rate spike. However, when I finally caught a glimpse of my phone screen, relief flooded over me as I realized it was Talla that was calling me instead of the police.

I slid my finger over the phone screen and calmly said hello to Talla, even though my heart was still pounding in my chest.

"H-Hey Phoenix." There was a long pause before Talla continued, as if she had practiced this speech but was getting stage fright now that she actually had to speak it out loud. "I'm really, really sorry about dropping that truth bomb on you today; I shouldn't have just blurted out all those things."

"It's okay Talla." I soothed. I could tell by her voice that she was working herself up over this. "I mean I obviously have questions. However, I'm thankful that you told me about your past. Even though it was a kind of a depressing date, I feel like we completed a goal- which was to get to know each other a little better."

I heard a soft laugh come from Talla, but I didn't recall saying anything humorous or stupid. Either way, I found myself quickly growing fond of Talla's cute little giggles. I'm guessing that before the incident, Talla had the ability to bring a smile to other peoples faces based on her laugh alone. Maybe that's why Nathan reportedly loved her so much.

"Personally, I wouldn't have called that meeting a 'date' Phoenix." Talla announced. "How about I make it up to you? We can go to the movies or something like that?"

"The movies... really?" I mocked. "I mean no offence Talla, but two adults, who come from money might I add, don't go to the movies for a date."

I heard a huff come from Talla's end of the line. I could feel my faint smile stretch even wider because I anticipated Talla to argue that going to the movies would be a great idea for a date. "I think you underestimate just how long it's been since I've come from money. I can practically go anywhere incognito these days."

Without even meaning to, Talla's statement pulled on my heartstrings. When you're a young adult, you should be living life to the fullest and Talla had clearly not done that and instead sacrificed this crucial part of her life to provide for her young daughter.

Suddenly a massive lightbulb lit up inside my mind. Considering Talla hadn't dated since she had found out she was pregnant, I was going to be the person that allowed Talla to live through any dreams or aspirations she had wanted, meaning if she wanted to go on a movie date while incognito, then I wasn't going to object.

"Alright. I'll pick you up tomorrow evening at six o'clock sharp and we can go watch a movie." I declared and was stunned when Talla tried to rebuttal and suggest that we should just go out for dinner again.

"Tomorrow evening. Six o'clock. Dress casual so we can both camouflage in with the crowd. I'll let you choose a movie." I declared and hung up, to signal that I wasn't going to let Talla argue against this idea.

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Hey everyone, thanks for reading this chapter of The Single Mother. This chapter is kind of a filler because I wanted the date to be told by Talla's perspective. I was going to write the date in Phoenix's perspective but figured it'd be more interesting in Talla's for reasons you'll see in the next chapter.

Also, if you have any feedback for me please, please comment it because I want my character's to have their flaws (i.e. Phoenix suffers from PTSD from the car crash and Talla suffers from depression and social anxiety) and I don't know how to write normal reactions to these flaws because I don't know/I don't suffer from any of these conditions.

Anyway, if you enjoyed this chapter please vote, comment, share it with your friends and add it to your reading lists. Have a lovely morning/afternoon/evening/night and stay tuned for the next chapter, which I'm already hyped to start writing!

-C.J. Todd