Stripped by Brenda Rothert Page B

each other a short time, but it was
getting harder and harder to imagine life without him.
     
     
    Sara had finished her ice cream in the car, but
Audrey nursed hers slowly, taking it down to the basement as she followed Sara.
    Abby passed the waffle cone she and Chris were
sharing back to him.
    “Don’t give me any more,” she said.
    “Abby, you could stand to put on a few pounds.”
    “The only place Mickey wants me to put on weight is
my boobs,” she said, walking into the living room to pick up a blanket from the
floor.
    “What do you mean, implants?” he asked, incredulous.
    “Yes. I’m straddling a B and a C, and he wants me to
be a D. He harasses me about it all the time.”
    “Don’t do it,” Chris said, looking serious. “You’re
perfect just the way you are.”
    “No, I won’t…” Abby’s thought drifted away as she
saw Tim, her former stepfather, walking down the hallway toward her, buttoning
the fly of his jeans.
    “Abby,” he said when he got to the living room.
“This the new sugar daddy?”
    “What are you doing here?” she asked, the color
draining from her face.
    “I came to pick up my girls for a visit. I was
killing time with Kathy while I waited. Audrey, Sara!”
    Abby’s eyes widened in horror as her younger sisters
pounded up the stairs.
    “Dad!” Sara called happily, running toward him.
Audrey stood back cautiously.
    “Girls, get back downstairs,” Abby said briskly.
“Right now.”
    “Nah, how ‘bout coming home with me for the night?”
Tim asked Sara.
    “Get downstairs!” Abby said, a note of panic in her
tone. “I mean it, you guys.”
    Audrey grabbed Sara’s arm and pulled her toward the
stairs as Sara looked back forlornly at Tim.
    “But we haven’t seen him in so long,” Sara said
sadly. Abby listened to the thud of their feet on the stairs, waiting until
they were gone to turn back to Tim.
    “Get out of this house,” she hissed.
    “My family lives here,” he said congenially.
    “They’re not your family anymore,” Abby said.
    “Kathy and I will always have a connection.”
    “Yeah, as long as she’s desperate enough to screw
you for drugs,” Abby said icily. “This is my house. I own it. I pay the bills.
And I will not have your dysfunction here.”
    She felt Chris standing behind her and was comforted
by his presence, but also embarrassed by the scene he was witnessing.
    “I’m taking my daughters,” Tim said levelly.
“Kathy’s passed out, anyway.”
    “Over my dead body.” Abby was shaking with fury, and
Chris rested his hands on her shoulders.
    “Come on, it’ll give you a night alone with
loverboy,” Tim said, growing agitated.
    “You will never take those girls anywhere, and you
will never be alone with them, and you know damn well why!” Abby said angrily.
    “Are you still whining over that? It was years ago.”
    “Get the fuck out of my house or I’ll call the
police right now and report it,” Abby threatened.
    “Bet the statute of limitations is long over on
that.”
    “Only one way to find out. And there’s no statute of
limitations on child support, which you’re years behind on.”
    Tim glared and moved toward her, and Chris stepped
around Abby, pushing him back.
    “You heard her. Get the fuck out of here,” he said.
    “You want some, big boy?” Tim scowled. “You big dumb
jocks are always slow.”
    “Yeah, let’s go outside and see how slow I am,”
Chris challenged, shoving Tim again. When he bounced back up, Tim’s eyes blazed
with fury.
    “Chris, don’t,” Abby said, laying a hand on his arm.
“He’s not worth getting in trouble over.”
    “This piece of shit needs to be taught a lesson,
Abby.”
    “Not here and now, okay?”
    Chris looked at her and nodded.
    “Okay. But I am throwing his ass out.”
    Tim beat him to it, heading for the door.
    “I’ll be back. You’re not here all the time, Abby.
And when Kathy’s awake, she’ll let me take them.”
    Abby glared at him furiously, saying