I dug through my purse, throwing everything out as I looked, nothing. “Brady,” I called out.
“Mommy,” he offered in the same singsong tone I had called his name.
“Monkey,” I looked up at his smiling face, “Do you know where Mommy’s keys are?
“Um…” he tapped his chin as he thought, “I only know where the keys to da Jurassic Park guy’s car is.”
“Well where are those?” I’m about ready to snap. He just turned five years old and he’s already hiding my keys. Where did he learn that?
“I dunno,” he shrugged, “I know! We could go see the Jurassic Park guy and he could give us some more.”
I threw my head back and took a deep breath, “I told you Monkey, we don’t need to worry about Jurassic Park man anymore.”
“But Mommy, he gets ta go see da dinosaurs! And I wanna go! He said he’d take me.”
“I know babe, but…” I paused to try and come to some compromise; “I’ll call him ok? And see. He’s probably busy though, but I will ask him” I lied.
“OK… I go find da keys,” Brady stood up and walked into his room. I really don’t know if I should be laughing or crying at the fact that my five year old son is already trying to wheel and deal.
He came running out a second later with the keys in his hand, “Make sure you tell him that I wanna help get the raptor!”
I grabbed the keys from his hand and clipped them to my bag before helping him with his jacket, “Thank you Monkey, but you can’t take Mommy’s keys like that.”
Brady nodded his head and grabbed onto my hand as I led him to the car. “Mommy, where’s the Jurassic Park car?”
Oh my gosh, it’s like seriously every single thing goes back to that with him. “Maybe we can get a movie for you to watch tonight with Kelly,” I suggested.
“OK… how bout Nemo?”
“Monkey we have Nemo,” that’s all he ever wants to watch, Finding Nemo, Jurassic Park, or Sponge Bob. We spent the day running errands, just like we do every Saturday. When we got home Brady went right to the couch. There was a sudden change in his attitude; all of a sudden he was really quiet, “Are you ok?”
“Mommy my tummy hurts.”
“Your tummy?” I asked and he nodded his head. I sat down on the couch and pulled him on my lap before feeling his forehead, it’s warm. “What else hurts?”
“My neck.”
“Your neck?” he nodded his head, “Like the inside?” he nodded his head again, “That’s your throat babe. How about a popsicle?”
I spent the night on the couch with Brady. It just breaks my heart to see him sick like that. There was no possible way I could leave him alone. Part of me didn’t want to go to the club anyway. I haven’t been in almost a month and I wasn’t really planning on going back. Although after seeing Justin the other day I did tell him I would go. But it’s not a big deal, in fact it’s probably better that I don’t go. I was afraid it would be rather awkward.
Both Brady and I fell asleep on the couch. I woke up the next morning and he was still sound asleep. I managed to sneak away without waking him and cleaned up the mess from the night before. When he woke up he still wasn’t feeling wonderful but he was better.
By Monday Brady was back to his normal self. I remembered that I was supposed to call Justin and honestly my hands were shaking as I was dialing his number.
“Hello?” he answered softly.
“Hey, it’s Chloe.”
“Chloe, good. You’re supposed to go look for a dress today.”
“Today?”
“Yeah,” he laughed, “Actually at two.”
I looked over at the clock to see it was 1:40. Thanks for the advance notice buddy. “I can’t, I have my son.”
Justin was silent for a few seconds while he was trying to figure something out, “My mother can watch him.”
His mother? Is he serious? Justin is really suggesting that I leave my son with his mother? There are not many people that I trust enough to leave Brady with. And I will tell you that there is no possible way that his mother would be one of them. I realize that I do not know his mother, but I highly doubt she is a wonderful babysitter. I mean really, she didn’t raise him very well for him to act like such an asshole.
“I’m not leaving Brady with your mother.”
Justin was silent for a few more seconds, “He can come. I’ll go with you and help you with him while you’re trying them on.”
I think that would be the best option. Although I don’t really want Brady alone with Justin at least I’ll be there. I can take him with me as much as I need to. “OK.”
“I’ll come pick you guys up?” he suggested.
“No, we’ll meet you there.” I don’t want him knowing where we live.
Justin chuckled, “Alright then. Come by my house and we’ll go together. Are you sure you don’t want me to pick you up?”
“Yes. We’ll meet you at your house.”
“For two.”
“It is two.”
“Yeah, so hurry up,” Justin answered with a laugh.
I rolled my eyes and hung up the phone. What exactly am I doing? I know that this is not a good idea but for some reason I am still packing my son up to take him with me shopping for a dress for an awards show that I am getting paid to go to with Justin Timberlake. This is insane.
“Where we going Mommy?”
“We’re going shopping for a dress.” I answered as I helped him in the car.
“A dress?” Brady shouted throwing his hands up, “I don’t wanna wear a dress Mommy.”
I really am the luckiest girl in the world to have such an adorable son. I know most mothers think that their son is the cutest kid in the world but mine seriously is. He is really worried that I’m going to make him wear a dress.
“Not for you silly goose, for me.”
“Oh, ok phew,” he wiped the imaginary sweat from his forehead.
A smile covered my face as I looked back at my son. He makes me forget that I’m about to turn into Justin’s driveway. I’ve never been to his house and just pulling into the driveway makes me remember what exactly it is I’m doing. I’m starting to shake again. This house is huge.
“Mommy! It looks like a castle!”
“I know, it does,” I answered with a laugh as I parked the car. I know this is going to be yet another thing that Brady does not stop talking about.
Brady’s mouth fell open as Justin came out of his house, “Mommy! It’s the Jurassic Park guy!”
“Yeah I know; he’s going to come help us look. You’re going to be good right?”
He giggled, “Mommy you always tell me that but you forget I’m always good.”
“You’re right Monkey, I’m just making sure.”
Justin opened my door and stuck his head in, “Hey, I’ll drive. What’s up kid?”
“Hi Mista!” Brady began, “Can we go in da Jurassic Park car and find da dinosaurs?”
“Yeah man, let’s go, we’re late.”
I helped Brady out and Justin quickly put the car seat in his jeep. He picked it up with one hand as if it weighs two pounds. It takes me a lot more to get it out, it’s so heavy… or maybe I’m just weak. Brady jumped in and I climbed in the front seat.
“How’s it going Chloe?”
“Fine, how are you?”
“I’m good,” he smiled, “So you stood me up Saturday huh?”
I made a face and Justin let out a chuckle, “Stood you up? I didn’t know we had plans.”
“I said I’ll see you Saturday and you said yes.”
“I don’t think I said yeah, I wouldn’t have said yeah,” I turned my gaze away from the window and to Justin. He was smiling, which is always a good sign. I’m still not exactly positive he wouldn’t take me somewhere and kill me.
“You did.”
“Well,” I paused as I thought of what to say next, “Brady was sick.”
“Oh,” Justin nodded his head and looked back at Brady, “Are you feeling better Tec?” He laughed after noticing Brady looking out the window, trying his hardest to find a dinosaur. “Hello?”
“Did you call him Tec?” I asked, why on earth would he call him Tec?
Justin nodded his head again and laughed, “He’s the lie detector, Tec.”
I shook my head and rolled my eyes, “Clever.”
“I like to think so,” Justin smiled as he pulled into the parking lot of a small building. “They got a bunch of dresses in here for you.”
The building looked like a factory or even an old abandoned building from the outside. But inside there were off white walls and bright flowers surrounding the racks and racks of dresses. Two men and three women as well as two glasses of champagne and a juice box met us at the door for Brady.
I followed the team of consultants into the dressing room and Justin sat down in the waiting area with Brady. I still don’t know how I feel about them spending all this time together.
The first dress I tried on was purple. I like purple as much as the next guy but it’s really purple. I walked out of the dressing room and couldn’t help but just watch Brady and Justin interact.
“My favorite is the Spinosaurus,” Brady said with a smile as he played with the string on Justin’s sweatshirt.
“Which one is that?”
“It’s got a sail on the back. Its so cool looking Justin. You gotta see it next time you go hunting.”
“That is pretty cool,” Justin smiled before looking over at me.
“Mommy!” Brady shouted, “You look like Barney!” he giggled.
That’s nice. Brady thinks I look like a big purple dinosaur.
Justin laughed and shook his head, “Dude, I don’t think that’s something she wants to hear.”
“Yeah, probably not. Thanks Monkey,” I answered sarcastically as I went back into the dressing room. I’ve never been a really girly girl. I never went to my prom or anything like that. Hell, I was pregnant with Brady during my prom. I’ve never been one to dress up. But the second I put the next dress on I knew it was the one.
The strapless baby blue dress reached the floor. The top was tight and looked like it was wrapped in a crisscross across the front. It pushed up my boobs and made them look fantastic. I definitely did not think I’d find a dress I liked at this place, never mind the second dress I tried on.
I walked out of the dressing room and heard Brady continuing to teach Justin all about the dinosaurs. Justin looked up when he noticed I was standing there. The look on his face was quite confusing. A smile slid on his face as he looked me over. He nodded his head, “That’s it.”
I smiled back and twirled around, I do love the dress.
“Mommy I like that one!” Brady shouted, “You look pretty.”
Justin chuckled, “Yeah, that’s much better Tec.”
Brady giggled as he walked over to me, “Mommy, he calls me Tec cause I’m a lie detector!”
I laughed and picked Brady up in my arms, twirling him around with me. He has no idea what a lie detector is but he still thinks it’s the funniest thing ever. This all goes back to how my son is the cutest kid in the world.
After I got changed back into my jeans and t-shirt Justin was signing some papers and Brady was sitting on the chair, keeping himself occupied by pulling the blinds up and down.
“The dress will be ready for you Thursday. We’ll send you some shoes and purses and you can decide what you like,” one of the consultants said to me.
“Thank you so much,” I said as I walked closer to Brady, “Come on Monkey.”
As we drove back to Justin’s house Brady continued searching for the dinosaurs. Justin pulled into his driveway and turned the car off, “I would have taken you guys to dinner but he seems tired.”
I followed Justin’s gaze to Brady who was fighting to keep his eyes open so he wouldn’t miss a dinosaur passing by. “Yeah,” I answered, “Thanks for everything.”
Justin nodded his head, “Thanks for doing it. Are you going to call me Thursday? I’ll let you know what’s going on with everything.”
“Yeah, sure.”
He nodded his head again and bit at his lip, “Do you go to the club any other days or just Saturday?”
“I haven’t been in a while.”
A smile formed on his face, “So you’re due back then?”
“I… guess.”
He laughed this time, “Do you… guess you could be there tomorrow?”
“I guess.”
“I guess I could be there too.”
He made me smile at the way he said it and I cursed myself for letting him make me smile.
