Rude Awakening

A knock on the door woke me up. Groaning, I lifted myself up on one elbow and looked pass Josh and Jess to the clock sitting on the nightstand by the bed; it was 3pm.

When the knock came again, I glanced at Josh who was still snoring softly. “Josh?” I gently shook his arm, “Honey there’s someone at the door.”

“Mmm,” he turned his head towards me, opened his eyes a little but he didn’t say anything, and then closed them again.

“Josh?” I shook his arm again and was rewarded with snoring.

The knock came louder this time, “Damn it! I’m coming.” Pushing the blanket off me, I shivered at the temperature difference. Grabbing on of Josh’s sweatshirts, I pulled it on over my head as I walked out into the hallway.

Bang! Bang! BANG!

What the hell? I gripped the doorknob and flipped the lock. “Bloody hell, give a person a…” I opened the door and came face to face with Carol. Son of a *****!

“What are you doing here?” Carol looked pass me, into Josh’s apartment. “Where is Josh? He better not have left Jesse with you!” She tried to push me out of the way and walk in but I held firm.

“Whoa wait a minute!” She stepped back from me quickly as if touching me contaminated her somehow. “What do you want?”

“We are here for Jesse.” Until he spoke, I didn’t notice the guy that was with her. Glancing over at him I raised a brow and couldn’t help but think, she left Josh for that? Carol’s husband, Phil I guess his name is, was a lot older than I expected. When Josh told me what she said in the note she left, I assumed that the guy would be young, hot and built. But the guy with her was none of the above. Phil was probably pushing 60, about 5’9 and chunky, very chunky. I suppose, I thought, if you tilted your head to the side and squinted, his comb over was sexy. I would’ve laughed but the sudden pressure of a hand on my back made me jump.

“I have Jesse until 5, you know that.” I looked up at Josh and could see his jaw twitching from the clenching.

“No go daddy.” A sleepy Jesse said as he snuggled against his dad’s shoulder.

“Now Josh,” Phil spoke calmly and slowly. “We have an arrangement…”

“Yeah, and it says I get him until 5.”

Carol rolled her eyes and reached for Jesse, “Josh grow up. We dropped him off a day early; picking him up a couple hours early shouldn’t be such a big deal.”

Josh turned, keeping Jesse away from Carol. “It was your choice to drop him off early, but I have every right to keep him until 5.”

“I no go daddy!” Jesse said frantically as he wiggled to get down. “No go to mommy’s! No go!” With all the wiggling Jesse was doing, Josh had no choice to put him down or he would drop him. The moment his little feet touched the floor, Jesse took off down the hall. “I stay daddy!” He called out as he turned the corner and disappeared into Josh’s room.

I was still facing the direction Jesse ran off in, upset that he continuously had to be put through this situation when it was very apparent that he didn’t want to go.

“What the hell are you telling him?” I turned back to Carol in time to see her grab hold of Josh’s arm. “How can you play these mind games with your own son?”

Josh pulled his arm out of her grasp. “Me? Mind games?” He laughed, “You think I enjoy seeing Jesse like that? You think I get some thrill out of watching him bawl his eyes out and scream until he’s hoarse every time you come to pick him up?” Josh took a step forward and Carol jumped back, “I don’t know why he doesn’t want to go with you but I’m sure as hell going to find out. And if you are doing anything to hurt him or scare him…”

“What? What will you do?” Carol sneered. “You can’t do anything Josh, there is no reason Jesse wouldn’t want to come home. He’s fine when he’s there but the second he’s here? What are you saying about me?”

When I reached out and took his shaking hand, he turned to me for a second and then turned back to Carol. Taking a deep breath, he shook his head. “No matter what I think of you, I would never bad mouth you in front of Jesse. He doesn’t need to know what kind of person you are.”

Carol glanced down at our hands, “What kind of person I am? Maybe you should be worried about what kind of people you have around him instead of trying to create problems where none exist.”

“You have got to be kidding me.” Josh ran a hand roughly through his hair. “You mean to tell me that Jesse’s reaction every single time you come for him isn’t a problem?” When Carol nodded her head, Josh squeezed my hand…hard.

I wanted to say ‘ouch’ but I didn’t instead I turned to Josh and placed my hand on his chest. “This isn’t really getting you anywhere honey.”

“I agree with the little lady,” Phil chimed in. “Why don’t you just go get Jesse and we’ll be on our way.”

Josh shook his head, “I get him until 5!”

“We are here now for him,” Carol snapped.

I looked up at Josh and he was glaring at Carol and Phil, who weren’t backing down either. I sighed, I wanted to just close the door and tell them to come back at 5 but I was afraid to say anything. Resting my forehead against Josh’s arm, I prayed that he would be able to convince them to leave when out of the blue Phil said, “I know you from some place.” I glanced at him; he was scratching his head as he thought about where it was.

My shoulder’s lifted in a half shrug, “I’m sorry I don’t know where that would have been.”

“Let me think,” he said then he smiled. “You were at the Policemen’s Charity Auction last month.”

I nodded slowly, “Yes I go every year, my brother insists on it.”

Phil stared at me, “Your brother?”

I smiled, “Yes, Zach Christenson. Maybe you’ve heard of him?”

The moment I said Zach’s name Phil’s face went white.