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That night, there was a person that came to Summer and Nathen’s house while her children were sleeping, I was tossing and turning. The doorbell had woken me up completely though. So, I went upstairs and sat on the couch. I had watched Summer and Nathen exit the house with the person. I knew not to go open the front door and watch so I went out the back door and out of the house so I could spy on them.
I knew spying was wrong, but I was curious.
I recognized the person as a man, I also heard what he was saying because I was close enough, sneaking in Summer’s thorn bushes which hurt my skin. “Now that you are moving, what are we going to do with my child?” His child? Like Hayden?
“We don’t know, we know that you have done very well about the contract, but we think you and us can change the contract,” Summer said with a guilty smile. Contract?
“I love him, I need to see him.”
“You don’t even know him.”
“Because you were young, and I was having an affair. I didn’t want to lose my three girls.”
“Yeah, blame it on the contract. You were the one who wanted that.”
“Either tell him or don’t move.”
“No, we are moving, and we are not telling him and that is the way it is going to be.” Summer is such a boss.
“I will tell him if you don’t and take you to court to get custody. Remember, that is not against the contract. If you move, it breaks it.”
“Fine, we will tell him,” Summer looked at Nathen then looked back at the man and said, “Your wife is going to hate you for all these secrets in your marriage. Wow, and you won’t see any of your kids but Hayden, and that will only be a few weeks in the summer.”
“At least, my 5 girls will be in town, and by the way Nadia is pregnant. So, she will be willing to forgive.”
“Good for her, poor her though she will be raising it alone. May I recall, she was pregnant when you were having an affair too.”
“She won’t leave while she is pregnant.”
“You never know. You were sure she was going to leave then!”
“Oh yes, I do know. She is my wife. And she knows about Hayden by the way, I told her. She wasn’t mad in fact she hates you because I can’t see him.” They were fighting like little girls on the playground. It was worse than any of Natalie’s fights.
“I really don’t care,” Summer said, “the only reason I have anything to do with you is the fact that you are my kid’s dad.”
“You really should care it’s a family that you broke up.”
“Leave, get off my property!”
“No,” the man said.
“You heard my wife, get the hell off our property!” Nathen had decided to step into the conversation because he could feel his fierce wife losing her temper. When Summer loses her temper, all hell breaks loose.
The guy had left, and I fell out of the bushes that I had been hiding in. I was all cut up about the thorns. I was going to get caught, I could just pretend I was sleepwalking.
Summer got up and walked over to me and immediately said, “Did you hear any of that?”
“No,” I had lied, “I had just followed you outside. I guess, sleepwalking makes me do that kind of stuff.”
“Oh, ok if you did hear anything please don’t tell anyone, especially Hayden.”
“Why?” I asked as I followed Summer back into the house.
“Don’t ask,” Summer replied with an exhausted sigh.
I walked back down the stairs and went back to sleep. I got some blood on the white covers, but it is ok because they were throwing them out before the move.
* * *
THAT NEXT MORNING, I was eating cereal when Hayden walked in. He was all normal, but he had not heard the news yet, that I heard last night in the bushes. Now that will change the load of everything.
After Hayden walked in, Nathen and Summer walked in and asked me to watch the twins and also asked Hayden to go into the laundry room and talk. It is about to get real. I should have given him a heads-up beforehand. He is not going to be happy. I am spiraling.
I put my head down and walked out of the kitchen and into the living room. I watched as they walked into the living room and I thought of how shocked and mad Hayden could be. If I were Hayden, I would be really mad.
I sat and waited for him to start yelling or storm out of the room. I heard something get knocked over and knew things were not going well. He stormed out of the room and grabbed my hand and pulled me to his room.
His beautiful eyes were filled with tears, “Lilian, please lock the door.”
“Ok,” I said and locked the door.
“Do you want any cereal?”
“No, no, I’m fine.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, I’m fine and why do you have cereal in your room?”
“I would blame this on packing, but I keep random stashes of cereal and candy in my room.”
“Oh, well I don’t blame you.”
“Ok, look,” Hayden glanced out of the window and sighed, “Yeah I’ll tell you later.” Hayden said, “Pretend to be happy when you go into the kitchen. And pretend nothing happened.”
“Ok,” I said raising an eyebrow then laughing shaking it off while I followed Hayden to the kitchen.
We walked into the kitchen and sat down, “What are you doing today? Just packing?” I asked. Hayden said act normal.
“Yes,” Summer answered.
“What am I going to do today? My room is all packed up.”
“Ok, can you go visit Ashley or someone?”
“No, I don’t think so, can I just pack some stuff for you?”
“Yeah, plates and bowls?”
“Sure.”
Summer showed me how to wrap plates and bowls in newspapers and put them in boxes. So, what did I do?
I put bowls and plates and all of their kitchen stuff into boxes. My hair was getting in my face after a few bowls. So, I took my hair tie off of my wrist and put my hair up in a messy bun.
This job is tiring. I guess there is nothing else to do though so I should not complain.
Two more left. I was sitting on their floor in their kitchen. One more left. And Done! “Summer!” I yelled. “I’m done!”
Then Summer introduced another cabinet to me.
I had a grimacing smile and then packed that cabinet.
When I finished, I went over to Summer and told her I was finished. “And please say there are no more cabinets with plates and bowls.”
“There isn’t and there isn’t much more for you to do.”
“Ok, then what do I do?”
“Do you want some lunch,” Summer asked, “You have to eat it off the pan there are no plates.”
“What happened to them?” Sometimes I am so dumb.
“Have you been asleep, you’ve been packing them for the last few hours.”
“Oh, I packed the plates.” I giggled
“Yeah, I know,” Summer laughed.
I went over to the pan in the kitchen and ate about four or five chicken nuggets. Then I went and sat on the couch. I tried to find the remote so I could turn on the T.V. but they already had the T.V unplugged and the remote packed.
So, I laid down on the couch in the very boxful living room. I rested my eyes. Well, I ended up going to sleep and having an extremely interesting dream.
It was the weirdest dream yet, the dream was about my mother. Sabrina was telling me all the things’ mothers say like brush your teeth or eat your veggies. Something was different about Sabrina than other moms, she was relatable, my best friend. There were words I kept hearing, “Lilian, I miss you and I need you. Come be with me!”
Then my mother grabbed a gun and pointed it at me.
“It’s just a dream, it’s just a dream, it’s just a dream!” I chanted to myself. I woke up short of breath and was sweating. I got off the couch to go get some water.
“How was your nap?” Summer asked.
“It was good. I saw my mom, she is doing great, but she is crazily scary. She held me at gunpoint.”
“Oh, that is great, I guess. And very scary.”
“Yep, really great,” I said sarcastically.
I sat at the empty table and drank my water. After I got one drink I would refill and got another, I was very thirsty. It was almost four o’clock and there was a knock on the door.
Summer went to go answer it and I was taken by surprise when I saw who it was. Natalie Sweetie was at their front door, she was wearing a red dress with a red bow in her hair.
“Hello Mrs. Ross, are Hayden and Lilian here?” Natalie asked.
“Yes, they are would you like to talk to them?” Summer answered.
“May I?” She asked.
“Sure, come in and sit at the table.” By me? Why?
“Thank you!”