The Mistress, Part Two by Lexie Ray Read Free Book Online Page A

of lame and/or desperate attempt at trying to mold a perfect family, but she wanted to think of it as trying to keep her family a family despite the looming cloud that waited.
                  To an average onlooker her current actions could be misconstrued as getting a couple of toddlers together to go on a day trip as she quickly packed two insulated lunch bags with various snacks and beverages. To her it was over-compensating for the day that did await her children. Family fun day!
                  Only, not with her. With Preston. And only Preston. She still wasn’t ready to speak to him, nor was she ready to even look at his face for longer than a few seconds. In fact, she had taken down all of their photos together and stored them under their bed for the time being. She would deal with them later. She would deal with them after she dealt with whatever the hell was happening with her marriage. But just because she couldn’t see him, didn’t mean the kids couldn’t.
                  “Lucas, Sophie! Come here down here!” she called from the kitchen’s doorway, hoping that they could hear her from whatever hiding spot they were in at the moment.
                  She took a deep breath and prepared herself for what Lucas was going to say about the situation. She was sure that Sophie would be ecstatic to spend the day with her father, but Lucas on the other hand – she knew it was going to be a hard sale.
                  She heard the pitter-patter of their feet and knew that they’d soon be present. She smiled. It seemed just like yesterday that those pitter-pattering feet were much lighter and she was greeted by the faces of smiling toddlers. She missed those days. Everything was much simpler.
                  Their steps approached the kitchen, each coming from a different direction, one definitely in front of the other. She was nervous all of a sudden, and she had to turn away from the doorway. She was not ready to see which one of her kids came first.
                  “Are we going on a picnic?” Sophie exclaimed as Marissa’s back was turned. And then she heard stronger movement until she saw the girl running in her peripheral until she was in front of her, excitedly clamoring over the all the snacks prepared on the kitchen island.
                  “Sort of,” Marissa responded. One down, one to go – the hardest one.
                  “Mom…That blows. I wanted to stay home today,” Lucas replied from the doorway. There it was. There was that infamous Lucas reaction she was waiting for. She turned around to look at him.
                  “Well, you’re home all the time, Luke. It’s time to get out and enjoy this weather. School is letting out soon and you’ll be home all the time.”
                  Lucas sighed and rolled his eyes vividly, and then looked to her, as if awaiting further clarification as to what they were doing. And then she wasn’t sure she could give him the news. He already looked pissed – and she hadn’t even told him the best part!
                  When Marissa didn’t respond right away, he dramatically hit his head against the refrigerator and spoke between hits, “Are you going to tell us what the three of us are doing or are we just supposed to be surprised?”
                  Marissa walked to the boy, grabbed him by the shoulders, and shifted him away from the appliance. She couldn’t stand how much like Preston he really was sometimes, so dramatic and annoying. “Well, it isn’t the three of us ,” Marissa replied.
                  “Mom, I don’t want to see Haley,” Lucas responded, annoyed.
                  “I do!” Sophie exclaimed, obviously unfamiliar with the situation. There was the answer to the question she had been asking herself for days. The girl likely didn’t know about