As if these last few weeks haven’t been crazy enough I haven’t be able to sleep in what seems like years. Even when I finally manage to sleep I have nightmares about Gabe taking Brady away.  Ever since my mother died I’ve been having sleeping issues. It was becoming a real big problem until I met Justin. Well, until I started dating Justin when he started being amazing. He was another reason why I wasn’t getting any sleep when I first met him back at the club.

We’ve come a long way, Justin and I. He’s done a complete 360. At the beginning Justin was the crazy asshole and now he’s pretty close to amazing. I hate to jinx it but I think it’s safe to say he’s the best thing that’s happened to me in a real long time, besides Brady of course.

I open my eyes and realize I’m alone in bed. It takes me a few seconds to figure out why until I look over at the clock to see it’s 10:30 in the morning. I feel like I’m living in a dream or a nightmare maybe. Everything is foggy and even after just waking up I feel like I haven’t slept in months. The reality is I could easily go back to sleep, I trust Justin completely to take care of Brady while I catch up on my sleep but I’m so tired I know it wouldn’t be possible for me to go back to sleep if I tried.

I stretch my hands in the air before heading out into the living room where Brady is sitting on the couch with Justin, both of them laughing at whatever it is that’s on television. The way they’re sitting there together makes me smile. It’s almost as if Justin is really Brady’s father, the way they sit and act the same. I know that’s probably because Brady wants to be just like Justin and copies everything he does, but I swear sometimes I think they even physically look alike.

“Hi Mommy!” Brady noticed me first and greeted me with excitement.

“Hi Monkey!” I answered with as much excitement as I could even though it does not compare to his level.  I sat down on the couch between my two boys and pulled Brady on my lap before kissing his forehead, “Did you sleep alright?”

“Uh huh! Real good!”

“Good,” I smiled before leaning closer to Justin so he could kiss my forehead, “Good Morning.”

“Morning,” he answered with a smile, “How are you doing?”

“Fine,” I really am so extremely lucky. Justin puts up with so much of my crazy drama and for some weird reason he’s still here. I know I’m not supposed to worry about that and it’s just my old habits coming back that I even think that he’s going to leave me, but the truth is he could easily get any girl he wants. I need to figure out why he picked me. “What do you guys want for breakfast?”

Brady giggled then looked at me and giggled some more before looking at Justin who joined in, “We already ate Chloe, it’s almost noon. There’s some French toast left on the stove.”

“Well thank you,” I said as I stood up and fixed myself a plate, “Where’s Tiny?”

“He went home,” Justin answered as he followed me into the kitchen and wrapped his arms around my waist before kissing the back of my neck, “It’s just the three of us today. Any plans?”

I shook my head before grabbing the plate from the microwave, “What are you thinking?”

“I’m fine staying in. It’s kind of shitty out and I do want a rematch of Hungry Hungry Hippos,” he smiled.

“That sounds perfect to me. I’m sure Brady will approve.”

“Yeah, he’ll be good. I do want to run down to the police station at some point.” Of course the few seconds that I forget about all the shit that’s going on and now we’re back to it. “Don’t get that look, it’s going to be fine.”

“I know,” I answered softly with a quick nod of my head. For some reason I do feel like everything is going to work out. I am pretty sure I get that feeling because of this with his arms around me. I don’t know where I’d be without him.

The majority of the day was spent exactly the way Justin suggested. We played hundreds of games of Hungry Hungry Hippos with Brady winning each and every match. He does cheat, but I’m almost positive he would win even if he didn’t. Then we watched a movie before a late lunch/early dinner.

Justin wanted to head down to the police station so I wanted to take a quick shower so he could watch Brady before he left.  There really is some weird thing with me, it’s like the planets aligned and something crazy happens in the universe that I can’t be happy for more than a few hours at a time.

When I got out of the shower I heard Justin asking Brady about Gabe. “Remember when we were in Vegas and you and your mom left early and got to go on the plane?”

“Yeah! And then I wake up and you were here and then we go BACK on the plane again!”

“Yeah man, that time. Was there a guy at the door when you came home?” I stood at the door to the bathroom unable to move. Why is he asking my son about this? I wanted to go out there and scream at him but I couldn’t move, I just stood there in shock.

“Nope. Just me and Mommy and you and Tiny.”

“Yeah, I mean when you came home, just you and Mommy.”

“Oh that time. Umm… we got in the yellow car and the guy took us home. That guy?”

“No, another one. Was there another one?”

“No. Just me and Mommy,” Brady shook his head. “Oh wait! There was the guy at the door. Him?”

“Yeah,” Justin nodded his head, “that guy. What happened? Did he do anything?”

“He was kinda scary. He said I have his nose. But I don’t have his nose! I have my nose! I didn’t take his nose Justin, I promise.”

Justin let out a quick chuckle, “Nah, I don’t think that’s what he meant. Do you know who that man is?”

“Nope. Mommy knows him though cause she said he could come inside. And then I was sleepy so she said I could go to bed and then I did and that’s it.”

“That’s it? He stayed with Mommy when you went to bed?”

Brady nodded his head again, “Yup! I was sleepy cause of the plane. And then I wake up and SURPRISE! Justin’s here!”

I finally gained the strength to move but I know Justin is going to wish I didn’t. He has absolutely no right in asking my son about Gabe. That is just purely unacceptable.

“Brady go to your room,” I spoke angrily as they both looked at me with confusion covering their faces. Brady can be confused but that look on Justin’s face makes me want to slap it right off him. How is it possible for him to go back and forth from being an asshole to this amazing guy in a matter of minutes? I should know about that by now, Justin’s been like this since the night I met him.

“What? How come Mommy? I didn’t even do anything.”

“Just go to your room.”

“Justin, tell Mommy I don’t gotta. I was being good, huh?”

“You’re not in trouble buddy, just go to your room for a few minutes.” Justin answered calmly and Brady just stood his little bum right up and went right to his room.

“Why does he listen to you and he doesn’t listen to me?” I shouted as I readjusted the towel wrapped around me and walked past Justin and into my room. I want to yell at him but I don’t want to do it right outside of Brady’s room. Luckily Justin got the hint and followed me into my room. “What the fuck?”

“What?” he can’t possibly be that stupid that he doesn’t understand why I could even be a little pissed.

“What?” I shouted, “Are you serious?”

“What’s going on?”

“What’s going on? Seriously? What’s going on is that you say you believe me about Gabe and I have nothing to worry about and then you go out and question my son like he’s on trial.”

“Alright,” he answered calmly, “Relax, I was just trying to figure out what was going on.”

“Yeah, and you asked me and I told you. You said you believed me so then move on. Why the fuck would you think it’s a good idea to ask my fucking son to see if our stories match? It’s complete bullshit and you know it.”

“Calm down. You’re doing it again.”

“Doing it again? Doing what again Justin?”

He took a deep breath and threw his head back before answering me, “Acting like this. You need to calm down. You take everything so personally. I was just asking Brady what happened, maybe he remembered something…”

“Stop with the bullshit!” I broke in, “You must seriously think I’m an idiot if you think I’m going to fall for that shit. There is absolutely no reason for you to ask Brady about that night. He was scared to death and I would much rather him forget it ever happened.”

“Well it looks like he did.”

“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?” now he’s acting like I did make the whole thing up because Brady just remembered me putting him to bed. “The fact that Brady only remembers a random guy coming over is exactly what I wanted him to remember. I handled it the way I should have. I put Brady to bed so he wouldn’t have to see what I knew Gabe would try to pull. I talked to you that night and if you think I’m fucking paranoid and made that shit up then you need to reevaluate this whole thing.”

“Alright, Calm down Chloe.”

“Stop telling me to calm down! I don’t need to calm down. I’m not paranoid! Why do you always go back to that? I’m not. Stop acting like I am.”

“I didn’t say you were. You need to calm down. No one is acting like you are; I didn’t say anything about that. This is the shit I’m talking about Chloe; it always goes back to that. If you need help then we’ll get you help.”

“Fuck you, I don’t need help! It doesn’t work like that. You went behind my back and asked my five-year-old son about that night where his crazy father came and made me suck his dick! Remember that Justin? Why the hell would you ask Brady about that? And I’m the crazy one? No. It doesn’t work like that. You need to go, I don’t want you here anymore.”

“Come on Chloe, I didn’t mean anything by it. Just relax, calm down.”

“Fuck you, calm down. Stop. I don’t want you here, leave.”

Justin threw his head back and ran his hands through his hair before licking his lips nervously and finally speaking, “I’m going to go to the police station but I’m coming back. I’ll give you some time to calm down and cool off.” I really want to punch him in the face. I don’t need to calm down, he needs to get his shit straight before he goes and asks my son about everything. “I’ll be back in a little while Chloe, keep the doors locked and call me if you need anything. I’m coming back.”

He grabbed his keys and left, I heard him locking the door from outside. I watched him walk down the hallway and closed the curtains quickly since I still do feel nervous when I’m alone. Justin is the one that needs to calm down. I’m not overreacting even a little. There’s absolutely no reason why he should go behind my back and ask Brady that shit. It’s not acceptable.

I went into the closet and grabbed my suitcase, throwing my clothes in it quickly. For some reason he felt the need to tell me he was coming back several times. You can come back Justin, but we won’t be here.