Read Online Splintered by Kelly Miller - Free Book Online

rolled over to face the wall. Lily backed away and closed the door. After such a long day at work, she almost welcomed Maddy’s cold shoulder. She couldn’t have handled another heated confrontation, or playing another round of “Who’s the Worst Mother in the World.” It had been all she could do to make it through the day’s grind at the craft store.
    Lily stretched her back, rubbing the sore muscles near her spine. The large garden bathtub in her old house would have been nice to slip into right about now. She nearly moaned at the thought of sinking into a steaming hot pool of water, her favorite bath beads filling the room with the scent of lavender. Their new house only had a tiny box of a shower to spray off in—not conducive to enjoying a long, leisurely soak. She’d have to settle for her footbath tonight.
    It had been an anniversary present from Tom. A portable water basin with two open slots for her feet and a built-in massager. When Lily had opened the present, she’d feigned delight and gone on about how thoughtful it was, all the while silently wondering what had possessed him to buy such a ridiculous gift. It seemed indulgent, something she would never use. It had sat unopened until she came across it packed away in one of her moving boxes. Now she knew what kind of woman needed a footbath—one stuck working on her feet all day. One who lived in a house with no bathtub.
    Lily decided to skip dinner. Her low-level nausea had turned into stomach cramps, and the thought of food made her belly seize. From the mess in the kitchen, Lily could tell Maddy had already heated up a Hot Pocket for herself. Not the most nutritious of dinners, but Lily could tell from the apple peel sitting beside the empty plastic wrapper that her daughter had at least had a piece of fruit. That would have to be good enough.
    Standing at the kitchen sink, Lily waited for the footbath to fill up. Her thoughts drifted to Tom and the mess he’d left her with. The same thoughts that had plagued her all day. For some reason, she couldn’t get her mind off the merry-go-round of negativity.
    I’m tired of taking care of everyone else’s needs. What about me?
    Lily had no one she could turn to. She had ended up pushing all of her friends away. Instead of turning to them for support when she and Tom were having difficulties, she’d put up a wall so she wouldn’t have to admit to them that she had a less-than-perfect life. An only child, she had no siblings to call, and talking to her mother was out of the question.
    She yanked the footbath out from under the faucet, barely registering that she sloshed some water onto the linoleum. She walked over to the couch, set the machine on the floor, and plugged it in. It began to hum loudly.
    I don’t even have a proper bedroom to hide away in.
    When Tom walked out, Lily and Maddy had stayed in the house until she realized the rent was too much for her meager earnings. All she could afford now was this place. Lily knew how hard the divorce had been on Maddy, so she gladly gave up the one bedroom. But Lily didn’t know how much more of the lumpy couch she could take. She hadn’t gotten a good night’s sleep since they’d moved in. Soon even a palate of blankets on the floor would look like five-star accommodations to her.
    Not for the first time, Lily wondered what the course of her life would’ve been if she’d turned down Tom’s proposal of marriage. He’d surprised her when he bent down on one knee, asking for her hand less than a week after she’d told him about the pregnancy. Lily thought Tom truly loved her, that she’d finally found someone who would be by her side forever. But Tom had proposed out of a sense of duty. Tom’s father hadn’t been there for him growing up, and he had said he couldn’t stand the thought of his own child growing up fatherless—the irony was not lost on her now. Lily’s best friend, Emma, had begged her to wait, to see how the relationship