Chapter 20
Sophie
My head is killing me.
It’s first thing on Monday morning and having yesterday to recover from my tequila-filled night was clearly not enough. I stumble around the house, desperately trying to keep my head attached to my shoulders when I give in and call work.
Knowing it’s too early for anyone to be in the office, I give Jen, our receptionist a call on her mobile. It rings a few times before she picks up in a way too cheery voice.
“Sophie, hey. How are you?”
“Ugh. Do you need to be so loud?” I whine.
“Geez,” she laughs. “I heard you had a big night on Saturday but I didn’t realise just how big.”
“Yeah,” I sigh. “It was huge.”
“So I’m guessing you’re working from home today?” she questions.
“Well, I’m going to try to,” I tell her honestly.
She lets out another laugh. “Ok, well let me know if you need anything.”
“Thanks, Jen,” I say before hanging up the call and collapsing into the lounge.
The knowledge alone of knowing I don’t have to get my shit together today makes me feel a million times better but I should at least try to get a little work done. Though, it can wait until I’ve had a few more hours sleep.
I head back to bed and climb straight in. My head hits the pillow and within moments I’m falling straight back into a well-needed deep sleep.
I’m woken a few hours later by my phone ringing on the bedside table and I grab it to find Dani’s name on the screen. With a groan, I try my best to sit up and answer the call.
“What do you want?” I mumble into the phone. “I’m trying to sleep.”
“I can’t handle it today,” she whines. “Mia has a temp and I haven’t quite recovered from Saturday night yet.”
“Me either.”
“I’m assuming that since you’re sleeping, you’re home. Can we come around? I’ll bring lunch and we can take care of this baby together.”
I let out a groan. “Fine, but lunch better be good.”
“Thank, fuck,” she sighs in relief. “You good with hamburgers?” she questions. “I can’t be stuffed making anything.”
“Yep,” I say before hanging up the phone and crashing back down on my pillow.
Half-an-hour later, I hear her unlocking the door and the sound of Mia’s cries instantly fill my home.
I pull myself out of bed and slide on my bunny slippers before making my way down the hallway. I find Dani and Mia in the kitchen and I walk in after them to the beautiful smell of my lunch. Fuck. that’s good.
I take the screaming baby from Dani and curl her in my arms. “What’s wrong my little princess?” I soothe.
She looks up at me with tears in those big blue eyes and the sight absolutely breaks my heart.
“She’s been like this since the middle of the night,” Dani tells me as she searches my cupboards for some plates.
My heart breaks even further. Mia is so tiny, it’s not fair for her to be suffering from this sort of pain. If there was a way I could take it from her and make the pain my own, I’d do it in a heartbeat. “Have you taken her to the doctor?” I ask as I slowly rock her in my arms.
“Yeah, the home doctor came out during the night. There’s not much we can do for her besides letting her rest,” she tells me. “She wasn’t calming down at home so I thought I’d try you, she always seems to relax with you.”
I smile down at the precious gem in my arms. “That’s because I’m your favourite person in the whole wide world,” I tell her in my baby voice before walking her to the lounge and taking a seat with her snuggling in close to my chest.
“No way. She loves her mummy the most. You come in a close second though,” Dani says as she brings our lunch over to the lounge and sits down beside us.
“I don’t know what your mummy’s talking about,” I tell Mia. “She must have taken a trip to crazy town.”
Dani ignores me as she gets stuck into her lunch and I do the same but struggle with only one hand. An hour later and a lot of rocking and soothing, we manage to get Mia settled into a deep sleep.
I walk down the hallway and put Mia down on my bed and come back to find Dani spread out on the lounge just moments from falling into her own well-needed sleep.
I go about the house, cleaning up from lunch and the million toys and dummy’s that are currently spread out over the lounge room before finally deciding I should at least do a little work today. I make my way into the study and get stuck into my investigations as I allow Dani some time to catch up on her rest.
I’m an hour in when a call comes through on my phone. I look down with a frown as I don’t recognise the number.
“Hello,” I say with a questioning tone.
“Hi, uh… is this Sophie? It’s Luke from Frisky Framing,” the voice says.
Understanding dawns instantly. “Oh, hi. Yes, it’s me. What can I do for you?”
“I was just calling to let you know your frame is ready,” Luke says.
“Already?” I ask in surprise. “I wasn’t expecting that for another week or so,” I tell him.
“Yeah, I know,” he says sheepishly. “I sort of put a rush order on it.”
“Oh,” I say, slightly taken back. “You didn’t need to do that.”
“Well, yeah actually. I did. Consider it an apology after I awkwardly hit on you last week when you made it obvious you have a husband and kid.”
I don’t bother to go into the details of correcting him so I just let it slide. “Thanks,” I say. “I have a free afternoon. Can I get it today?”
“Yeah, sure. It’s pretty big though,” he warns.
“Excellent,” I smile before hanging up.
God, I can’t wait to see how it turned out. Tank is going to be so surprised.
Excitement fills me as I try to get stuck back into my work but I just can’t concentrate so I dash down to my bedroom to get dressed making sure to be as quiet as a mouse so I don’t wake little Mia. Though, her soft snores let me know she is well and truly out of it.
I come out to the lounge room and gently rock Dani’s shoulder. “Mmm?” she questions with her eyes still firmly closed.
“I’m ducking for a half-hour. You good here?”
“Yeah,” she mumbles as she adjusts herself on the lounge.
“Mia is still asleep in my bed. Why don’t you go climb in with her? I’m sure you’ll be much more comfortable,” I tell her.
Dani lets out a deep breath as she pushes herself up off the couch. “Good idea,” she murmurs before sleepily making her way down the hallway.
I smile after my best friend as she bumps into the wall when she tries to turn the corner into my room too soon but she eventually works it out.
I go about the kitchen and search out my handbag. Before I know it, I’m in my car and pulling up out the front of Frisky Framing and practically running on inside.
I push through the door of the store and instantly come to a screeching halt. My frame leans up against the front counter and my god, it is big. My eyes instantly roam over the piece and take in the picture of Tank and I that has been blown up and printed in black and white.
The picture perfectly captures the love we have for each other and also the love we have for our missing child as Tank cradles my stomach, forever protecting him.
A tear slides down my cheek as I make my way closer towards the counter. “Hey, Sophie,” Luke, the framing guy says. “Do you like it?”
I look up at him with a beaming smile. “It’s absolutely perfect,” I tell him in complete honesty.
“Excellent,” he smiles.
I look at the pure size of it and realise there is no way I’ll be getting this home by myself so I look up at Luke with my man-eating smile. “Do you mind helping me get it to the car?” I ask.
I have to stop myself from laughing at the way he stares before he is able to pull himself together. “Oh, um, yeah. Of course,” he says as he comes around the front of the counter and helps me to lift this bad boy.
We make it outside and Luke balances the frame against the glass window of the shop as I quickly go through my car and put the back seats down.
After a lot of manoeuvring and struggling, we finally get it stashed in the back of my car. I close the boot and turn around to thank Luke when I hear a voice calling out from across the street.
“Hey,” the angry voice says, demanding my utmost attention.
I turn around and practically drop my jaw in shock at the person I see storming towards me. Tanks crazy stalker, Jill rushes across the road and doesn’t come to a stop until she is right up in my face.
“Um… Can I help you?” I question as I take a step back to give myself a little personal space but all that does is back me into my car.
“Yeah, you can, in fact,” Jill says, raising her finger and jabbing me hard in the chest. “You can back the fuck off,” she demands.
I grab her finger and give it a twist away from my chest and use every bit of my willpower not to rub the spot she just jabbed. Regretting my choice of stepping back into my car, I push myself forward, forcing her back off me. “Back off?” I question. “Look who’s talking,” I practically laugh at her.
“Tank is mine,” she tells me like the crazy bitch she is. “He is wasting his time on you and now that your kid is dead, you can stop trapping him and he can finally see that he belongs to me.”
No. She. Didn’t.
“Excuse me?” I question as I get in her face and start backing her into the wall of Frisky Framing. “How dare you mention our child.”
“Please,” she scoffs. “It probably wasn’t his anyway. His child wouldn’t be weak like yours was. I couldn’t have been happier that day. I followed him to the hospital and it was like all my dreams came true but I swear, I could have killed you for making him feel that way. I would never do that to him. You don’t deserve him.”
I see nothing but red as she continues spurting on crap but a voice to my side pulls me out of my rage-fuelled anger. “Ahhh… I’ll leave you to it, Sophie,” Luke says, with both hands raised, letting me know he wants nothing of this.
“Yeah, thanks,” I grunt as I turn my attention back to Jill.
“Just great. You’re fucking cheating on my man,” Jill continues as she looks at Luke’s retreating form. “How much do you plan on hurting him? I can’t believe he is so blind to this shit,” she says with a shake of her head.
“You are seriously, fucking nuts,” I laugh. “Tank. Is. My. Husband. He married me. He made me vows. He comes home every day to me. He is mine and never, ever will be yours. So get the fuck over this crazy obsession you have with my husband and find one of your own because he is not going anywhere. He is not interested in a bat-shit crazy stalker like you,” I tell her. “Didn’t you get the hint with the restraining order?”
I watch as her face goes bright red and she clenches her jaw together. Her hands turn into fists at her side but I just don’t care. This woman spoke ill of my son so she is going to get every single bit of my opinion thrown her way.
“He’s going to leave you. He’s in love with me,” she yells.
“The day he leaves me would be the day he takes his final breath on this earth. I have done literally everything possible to fuck up my marriage yet he still stands by me,” I tell her. “Is that not proof enough? He has had every chance to leave me, yet he doesn’t. You know why? Because he is madly in love with me and he shows me every day he comes home and fucks me until I can’t walk.”
That must be her breaking point as she lets out an ear shattering scream and runs full force into me. Together we stumble back into my car and fall to the ground. She comes down on top of me and I try my best to push her off.
She holds on and before I know it a sharp pain cuts through my forearm. My eyes flash down to find the bitch fucking bit me. Like what the actual fuck? Is she a fucking toddler? Who the hell bites someone in a fight?
I see red once again. No one gets away with knocking me down in a public street, airing my dirty laundry and fucking biting me for the world to see.
With my leg squarely between hers, I bring my knee up and nail her in the cooch, which is enough for her to release the grip her teeth have on my arm as she lets out a pained groan. With the distraction of her pained pussy, I’m able to push her off but she keeps coming for me and before I know it, a fist is coming straight for my face.
I move away as quickly as I can but I still get nailed in the shoulder.
I hear the distinct sound of people in the street, starting to gather round. Some are calling for someone to help while others are letting the world know there’s a catfight.
One thing I know for sure is that sooner or later, someone is going to break this shit up and I refuse to let that happen before I finally have the chance to put this bitch in her place.
As she comes back towards me, I raise my leg and kick it out. I connect hard with her chest and she falls back, leaving her in the middle of the pathway on her back. So what do I do? I take my one and only shot.
I scramble up and leaps towards her. I straddle her waist and let every bit of my weight come down on her before I bring my fist back and let it fly. It shoots straight through the sky and lands hard on her jaw. I give her a second and then a third for good measure.
“This is your last fucking warning,” I tell her. “Tank is not interested in a delusional twat like you. Leave him the fuck alone. Stop harassing him at training. Stop calling him. Stop messaging him. Stop breaking into our home. Stop fucking stalking him everywhere he goes because I swear to you if you don’t. I will fuck you up.”
Her eyes open wide and I see that she sees the true warning in my voice. She doesn’t agree but at least I get the feeling she is going to back off, well, at least for now.
I lean down and press my weight against her as I use her body as a crutch to get to my feet.
There are cheers coming from the men standing by and I cringe as I notice that a few of the people have been recording the whole thing. Great. Just my fucking luck.
I take a step away from Crazy Jill and look down at her to make sure she is staying down. Once I’m completely satisfied, I make my way to my car as this is now the last place on earth I want to be.
I reach for the door handle when an approaching person, clears his throat.
What now?
With a groan, I look up to see none other than Detective Andrews. “Don’t even think about it, Soph,” he says, indicating to my car.
“You can’t be serious?” I grunt.
“Sorry,” he says with a tight smile.
“No,” I say, refusing to go with him. “This is all on her,” I say pointing to Jill on the ground. “She’s the one we have a restraining order against.”
“Yes, I realise this and she is being taken in too but I can only go by what I’ve witnessed and that was just you threatening this woman after punching her three times.”
“Seriously?” I groan. “You’re telling me you missed the rest?”
“Unfortunately.”
“Fuck,” I moan before looking around at the crowd and trying to search out one of the dickheads who was filming only to find they have all scattered at the sight of the cops. “Fuck,” I moan again.
“Come on,” Detective Andrews says. “Let’s get this shit over with so you can get home.”
“Fine,” I murmur as I follow him to his car. He reaches for the door handle of the back seat and I give him a look. “You’re seriously going to make me sit in the back like some kind of criminal.”
“Yep,” he says, practically popping the ‘p’.
I let out a frustrated groan and climb into the backseat. I may as well be cooperative, after all, Detective Andrews is right, I want to get this shit sorted so I can go home.