I am just finishing up with the salad when Andrew’s phone starts playing Meredith Brooks’ “I’m a Bitch” on the table. Last weekend, he had me program it into his phone as Jessica’s ringtone. I told him he can’t keep it like that, because Emerson is likely to hear it, but he insisted.
“Hello,” I answer.
“Bailey! I miss you,” a sweet angelic voice comes over the speaker.
“I miss you too Emerson. Are you having fun with mommy?”
“Well, I’m kinda bored now. We’re at the beach, and mommy fell asleep. I’m not allowed to leave my towel.” What?
“Andrew!” I yell into the living room while covering the speaker on the phone.
“Emerson honey, are you sitting on the beach right now?”
“Yes, I really want to play in the sand, but Mommy said no touching the sand while she sleeps. So I called you instead.”
Andrew comes running in from the living room hearing the urgency in my voice.
“What’s the matter?” he asks as I cover the phone again.
“Emerson just called your phone. She said they are on the beach and that Jessica fell asleep and told Emerson not to move off the blanket.”
Andrew grabs the phone out of my hand as I hand it to him.
“Emerson, it’s Daddy. Are you okay?” he asks Emerson quickly.
“Yes Daddy, I’m just bored. I’m not allowed to play in the sand while Mommy sleeps,” Emerson explains.
“Wake Mommy up please, I need to talk to her,” Andrew commands.
“No, she told me not to wake her up and if I’m really good, she’ll take me out for ice cream tonight.”
“It’s okay baby. I really need to talk to Mommy. You’ll still get your ice cream tonight,” Andrew promises.
Andrew is pacing in the kitchen. I can hear Emerson trying to wake Jessica up.
“Mommy, it’s time to wake up. Daddy wants to talk to you. Mommy?”
“Damn it, Emerson. I thought I told you I needed to take a nap. What is so hard to understand about that?” Jessica bellows.
“Daddy wants to talk to you.”
Jessica’s voice now fills the kitchen. “What in the Hell do you want Andrew. I’m trying to relax here,” Jessica yells.
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me Jessica. You fell asleep on the beach with a five-year-old?”
“Oh, calm down. It was five minutes. I told her not to move off the towel. Although, she is now not getting any ice cream tonight, because she woke me up.”
“Jessica, try to understand this. You cannot fall asleep on the beach. You need to watch Emerson,” Andrew instructs.
“I don’t see what the big deal is. You go to sleep every night when you have her don’t you?” Jessica remarks.
Andrew’s voice is getting louder and louder. He is now gripping the counter, and he takes her off speaker.
“Do not fall asleep with her on the beach again. If you don’t want her to be there, I will come pick her up right now,” he hisses through his gritted teeth.
He pauses to listen to Jessica. I can hear her screaming through the phone, but I can’t hear what she is saying.
“Jessica, if I find out you fell asleep this week and you are not locked in your hotel room, I will call the cops. Do you understand?” Andrew threatens.
Another pause.
“And you will take her to get ice cream tonight. You are not going to punish her for something you did wrong. Let me talk to her.”
He puts the phone back on speaker so I can talk to Emerson too. He sits down at the island, putting the phone down between us.
“Hi again Daddy,” she says sadly. I’m sure Jessica is shooting daggers in that poor little girl’s direction.
“I just wanted to say good bye, and I love you. Enjoy your ice cream tonight.” Andrew says and I add, “Get some sprinkles for me!”
“I will. Bye guys!”
“I’ll see you soon.” Andrew hangs up the phone, puts his head in his hands, and takes a deep breath. I walk behind him, and try to rub the stress out of the shoulders.
“She knew she was wrong. As soon as I called her out, she started back pedaling. She never apologized, but she knew she fucked up,” Andrew explains into his hands. “What if something would’ve happened to her?”
“It didn’t. Don’t think about what ifs. They’ll only drive you crazy,” I try to comfort him.
He spins around on the stool and puts his head on my chest, hugging me tight. We stand like that for a long time. Coming down off of a scare like that is not easy, especially when it deals with your child.
“Go sit down on the deck and relax. I’ll grill the steaks and bring them out to you,” I offer.
He shakes his head and stands up.
“No thanks, I’d like to be able to chew my steak tonight,” he laughs lightening the mood as he walks into the kitchen and pulls the plate of steaks out of the fridge.
Andrew is grilling the steaks while I get the rest of the dinner ready in the kitchen. I bring everything out to the deck just as he is turing the grill off.
“This all looks great honey, thank you,” Andrew compliments.
“You bet, how was your day today? How’s Jake doing? I haven’t heard about him in a while,” I say.
“Now that you mention it, he did ask me today what your plans are for your house,” Andrew recalls.
“I don’t really want to have to think about selling it right now. Does he want to buy it?” I just promised Ella that I wouldn’t sell my house until later, but I really don’t want to get into an argument with Andrew about why I decided not to sell yet.
“No, he just wants to rent it. He bought a huge house with his wife, and he’s still paying on that for now. He’s not ready to buy a house again yet.”
“Wait, if he moves into my house he’ll be living on the same block as Ella.”
“Yeah, so?” Andrew asks.
“That could make things very convenient for them,” I plot.
“What things? What are you talking about?” he asks. I just shrug, smiling.
After we finish dinner, we’re washing the dishes when Jessica calls again.
Expecting the worst, Andrew runs for the phone.
“Hello?”
I dry my hands and come to stand next to Andrew so I can try to hear what she is saying.
“Now?” Andrew answers into the phone.
“No, I’m at Bailey’s. Drop her off here,” he seethes.
I put my hand on his arm as I see his face getting red.
“I’m not going to argue with you about this Jessica. Drop her off at Bailey’s.” He tosses his phone on the couch behind him, and he tugs his hands though his hair. I walk up to him and wrap my arms around his back. He brings his hands around me and holds me tight.
“She’s bringing Emerson home now. She said she couldn’t take another day at the beach with her. They’ll be here in an hour.” He lets out a sigh and I can feel all the stress leave his body.
“I’m going to make up a fort in the living room. Why don’t we all camp out in there tonight together,” I suggest.
“That’s a great idea baby, thank you.”
“Go sit down, and relax on the deck. I’ll take care of everything.” I push him toward the kitchen then walk toward the living room to set up a pillow tower. After every pillow and blanket in the house is built into the most awesome fort ever, I join Andrew on the deck. I see that he is asleep in a lounge chair. I lay the top of the chair down some so he can get more comfortable. He’s been doing so much lately.
Going back into the house, I pop some popcorn and make some chocolate milk shakes. Emerson is starting to love them as much as me. After all the snack are laid out on the table waiting for Emerson, I pull out my kindle and try to catch up on some reading.
A few minutes later I hear a car pull into the drive. If that’s Jessica, she must have flown down the highway. Not very safe with a little kid in the back. I stand shaking my head and walk towa
rd the door as I see Jessica swing her door open yelling at Emerson.
“I said get unbuckled now, Emerson. I have to go,” she shrieks.
I walk toward Jessica’s car door helping Emerson out of her seat.
“Hello cutie pie. Did you have fun at the beach?” I ask as I lift her into a hug and notice tears in her eyes. “Go on inside, there’s a surprise for you,” I whisper into her ear. Her face brightens and she runs for the door.
“Where’s Andrew?” Jessica snaps at me.
“Inside. I’ll take her things,” I answer calmly.
“What I have to say doesn’t concern you so I’ll just go inside and find Andrew.”
I grab Jessica’s arm, “He’s asleep. Whatever you have to say, you can say to me, and I will let him know.”
Ripping her arm out of my hand, she scowls at me. “Just because you’ve weaseled your way into Andrew’s life doesn’t mean I have to put up with you. You need to back the fuck off or things will get very ugly, very fast.”
“What happened to you? We used to be best friends.”
“No, you were just a shy little nerd that clung to me like glue. I was never your friend and you were always jealous of me and what I had. I just let you hang with me because I felt sorry for you.”
I just shake my head at her because there is no point in arguing. “Be that as it may, while we don’t have to be friends any more, we will be civil for Emerson’s sake.” I step closer to her face and raise my voice to make my point. “I’m not going anywhere.”
“We’ll see about that.” She pulls Emerson’s bag out of the trunk and throws it to the ground, slams the trunk shut, and gets into her car.
“What was that all about?” Andrew whispers into my ear as he wraps his arms around me.
“Aww, just Jessica trying to act big and bad,” I answer.
“Are you okay?” he asks concerned.
“Yeah, she doesn’t bother me. Let’s go inside and start our sleep over.”
We walk inside to find Emerson already pigging out on popcorn.
“Are you hungry?” I laugh.
“Yeah, I didn’t eat dinner yet,” Emerson replies as she shoves another handful of popcorn into her mouth. I look wide eyed at Andrew thinking the same thing he is. “Why don’t I go cut up some apples and and cheese to go with the popcorn.”
Andrew starts the movie then follows me into the kitchen.
“Andrew, it’s after 8:00 and she hasn’t eaten dinner. Would it have killed her to stop for a burger on the way home?” I ask trying to hide me anger.
“Already on it,” Andrew said as he pulls out his phone. I finish cutting up some snacks for Emerson as Andrew goes onto the deck. I can hear him yelling at Jessica as I brought the tray into the living room.
“I haven’t seen this movie yet. Thank you for renting it for me,” Emerson says as she climbs onto the couch next to me. “I’m sorry my mommy yells at you all the time. She gets really grumpy sometimes. I try to sing a song in my head when she yells at me.”
I pick her onto my lap and hug her close. “Don’t worry about me baby girl, a little bit of yelling doesn’t bother me.”
“Wait. You’re going to Hershey Park tomorrow?” Ella asks as she packs up her book bag with her teacher’s manuals. We’re finally done rewriting the Math curriculum. We only have a few weeks left, and we still have to finish Reading yet. I haven’t even been into my room to start making copies or set up my room yet. September’s coming way too fast.
“Yes. I haven’t been there in years. I can’t wait.” Ten years to be exact.
“I’ve never been there,” Ella reveals.
“Are you kidding me?” I ask in surprise. “How is it possible that you live an hour away from the chocolate mecca of the world and you’ve never been there? I am taking away your chocoholic membership,” I declare.
“I’ve been to concerts in Hershey, just never to the actual park. What’s so special about it?” Ella asks as she walks over to the kitchen to make popcorn. Curriculum writing days always end with us vegging out in front of a movie marathon, because our brains are usually too fried to do anything else.
“What’s special about Hershey Park? Well, first there’s Chocolate World which is a ride that simulates the Hershey factory with a free sample of chocolate at the end. Then there is huge store with every Hershey product you can imagine including a ten pound Hershey bar.” I’m getting excited just explaining it to her. “You can make your own candy bar, wrap kisses, a bake shoppe, chocolate tasting, and that’s all just in Chocolate World.”
“Okay, I get it. How do you know all that?” Ella wonders.
“Let’s just say I’ve been there a few times.” We walk into the living room with a tray full of junk food and drinks. “Hey, you should come with us tomorrow.”
“That’s okay. I don’t want to be a third wheel.”
“Come. Emerson and Jake are coming too so we’ll be a person short for most of the rides anyway.”
“Okay. What do I wear to an amusement park?” She jokes. I laugh and throw popcorn at her head.
“We are leaving early, so we can ride some of the big coasters before it gets too crowded . You won’t have time to go home anyway. You can wear something of mine,” I suggest.
Ella: She bought it. Everything’s set.
Andrew: She did? Perfect. I’ll be there a little late because I still have to get a few things from the store.
Ella: You need anything else from me?
Andrew: Not tonight. Thanks!
“Everything’s set on Ella’s end.” I tell Jake as I finish packing the last of the things I’d need for tomorrow in the bags.
“How did she get Bailey to invite her?”
“Well, Bailey is trying to play match maker between you and Ella, so she just told her you were going to be there.” I answer waiting to see his reaction to Ella’s name.
“That’s all it took? Hmm.” Nothing. He gives me nothing. I think Bailey’s crazy if she thinks something’s going on between these two.
Bailey: It worked. Ella is going with us tomorrow. Did Jake say yes? Can you believe she has NEVER been to Hershey? That should be against the law.
“Is that Ella again?” Jake asks.
“No, Bailey telling me she invited Ella.”
Andrew: No. He can’t make it. We’ll have to get them together at another time. It’ll be easier for rides if we have an even number anyway.
Bailey: Oh man. She’s so excited to see Jake. I’ll see you in the morning. I can’t wait! TTFN
“Do you think she has any idea what’s going to happen tomorrow?” Jake asks as he pops open a beer for both of us.
“I can’t imagine how she could. I pulled this all off in three days, and I haven’t seen her since I made up my mind to do it.”
“You do realize you are setting the bar very high for the rest of us men. The woman I end up falling in love with is going to hear this story from Bailey and want something bigger,” he groans. “This is going to be hard to top. Are you sure you want to pull out all the stops on a proposal? You have a long life ahead of you.”
“Yes, and I will spend every day of my life trying to top this to make her happy.”
Ella: She is wound for sound this morning.
Andrew: What’s wrong?
Ella: Nothing. She’s just like a kid who’s waiting to go to Disney. It’s quite humorous.
Andrew: Jesus, don’t scare me like that. I thought something was wrong. We’re on our way.
Ella: Thank God. She is standing at the window watching for you. I got yelled at three times already because I don’t have my shoes on yet.
“Ella, would you put your sneakers on? Andrew is going to be here any minute. And who have you been texting? You’re not going to have that thing out all day are you?
“Geez Mom, lighten up.” Ella says as she puts her sneakers on. “And for your information, I am texting my new boy toy. I’ve had to find something to keep me busy all summer sin
ce my best friend ditched me.”
My shoulders sag. I have been a really horrible friend. Even when I was married I spent more time with Ella over the summer.
“Oh no. Don’t go all sullen teenager on me.” Ella walks over to me and puts her hands on my shoulders. “I’m completely joking. I think Andrew is great, and I’m very happy that you two are so happy together.” In the middle of our hug, I hear Andrew’s truck in the driveway. I jump back from Ella and yell, “He’s here! Let’s go.” I grab my bag and head for the door. When I look back, Ella is still in the same place shaking her head at me.
“Bailey, I’m so excited!” Emerson yells as she runs up and jumps in my arms.
“Me too baby girl, me too,” I agree.
“Is everyone ready to go?” Andrew asks as I buckle Emerson back into her car seat.
“She’s been ready since the crack of dawn.” Ella scoffs as she gets in the car next to Emerson.
“Listen,” I turn around to scold her. “If you are going to be a party pooper this whole day, then you get no chocolate.” I turn back around, buckle, and announce. “Let’s go have a chocolaty fun-filled day!”
“Before we go, I have a present for you,” Andrew says when he hands me a manila envelope.
“What is this?” I ask opening the envelope and taking a stack of papers out.
“It’s my divorce papers. It’s finalized.” He whispers, so Emerson doesn’t hear. Emerson knows what is going on, but we don’t like to talk about the divorce in front of her. I’m still trying to be as nice as possible when talking about Jessica when Emerson is around. I know it’s best if Emersion has some kind of relationship with her. It’s just really hard to encourage it.
I look down at the papers and give him a glowing smile. I hug the pile to my chest and squeeze my eyes. This is the best present a girl could get. I look over at Andrew, and mouth “Thank you.”
Andrew turns the car on and mouths, “You’re welcome” to me.
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