Addicted To You

23 - Roller Coaster

Jinki jumped up on the bed and lay by me with her head on my shoulder. She was purring very loudly and looking at me with those gorgeous blue eyes. She slow-blinked me and I slow-blinked back. I gave her ear scratches and she pushed into my hand for more pets. We snuggled for several minutes and my melancholic thoughts were pushed aside for the moment while I focused on my girl.

Eric texted that he had the girls and they were on the way. I apologized to Jinki and got up to change my clothes. I put on jeans and a Monsta X T-shirt. I had already fixed my ponytail and put on a little makeup since we were going out. I was spritzing some perfume on my wrists just as I heard Eric's SUV pull into the driveway.

I met them at the door and the girls ran to hug me. I loved that they were still both so affectionate. A couple more years and it probably would not be cool to hug me. I cherished it while I could. Eric was dressed a little nicer than usual. I raised my eyebrow at him. He looked shy and grinned.

"What's up with this?" I gestured at his attire. He looked handsome in a crisp white dress shirt and jeans. His light brown hair was freshly cut and he was clean-shaven for the first time in months. He had been sporting a permanent five o'clock shadow of late.

"I am meeting a friend for drinks." His smile told more of the story than his words did.

"Dad's got a girlfriend!" Alicia announced with a giggle.

"She's not a girlfriend. Not yet anyway," he defended himself.

"What? A girlfriend?" I gasped.

Eric had been single for ten years and had only gone on a handful of dates in the past couple of years. Alicia's mom had died when she was three. She was an ER nurse and the cops brought in a suspect one night who was shot during a robbery attempt. He was high on something and broke free of his restraints, attacking her when she tried to put an IV in his arm. The guy passed out right after that and Ashley kept going like nothing was wrong. She thought she was just bruised on her abdomen and didn't realize she was bleeding internally. She died two days later. The irony was that she knew better but didn't get herself checked out. He later went to prison for manslaughter as well as armed robbery.

The only thing that had kept Eric going was his baby girl. Amber was born a few months after Alicia and the two babies held the family together when we dealt with losing Ashley.

Eric didn't even consider dating for a few years. He said he felt guilty if he even noticed another woman. He once told me Ashley was the love of his life and no one could replace her. I told him that was true, but she would not want him to be lonely either.

"She's not my girlfriend!" He laughed, repeating himself. "But I kinda hope she wants the job."

"Come on inside and tell me about her."

"Okay, I guess I have a couple of minutes. I don't want to be late."

We went inside and the girls found Jinki and started giving her all the attention she could stand. I shoved a glass of iced tea into Eric's hand and we sat at the counter.

"Let's hear it."

"Well, her name is Rachel and I met her at the gym. We were in kickboxing class together and just hit it off. We started working out together and then we started walking together. We've gotten to know each other over the past six months. And now we are going out for drinks."

"It took six months before you asked her out?" I laughed.

"Actually, she asked me. I was too chicken." He grinned and looked at his glass. "Rileigh, she is smart, beautiful, and funny. She is a physical therapist. And I really like her. She met Alicia a couple of weeks ago, she wanted to try the gym out so I took her with me. They hit it off right away."