The knock on my door made me jump. When it creaked open to reveal Zackary's scared small face I shot out my hand to call him to me. He ran to me, a fire truck in his hand, and I pulled him up to sit on my lap.

"Are you alright?" I asked.

He shook his head, tears in his eyes. I embraced him, perfectly understanding why. The whole place was in a commotion because Jillian was throwing a drunken tantrum. She had returned suddenly a little while before dinner and tore through the house smashing things and cursing like a sailor.

Since then it had been nothing but screams of fury, and the smashing of things either to the ground or against walls, alarming movements, and thuds that no one could decipher.

Mr. Boothsworth had gone up to attend to her, but he remained outside her door, as she would not let anyone in.

From her cursing and swearing I could almost suspect what was happening. but I couldn't believe it, or rather I was too scared to. I had not forgotten Brett asking me if it was his divorce that would pave the way for us.

Zackary cupped his hand over my ear. "Is Mummy mad with me?" he whispered.

"Of course not. You haven’t done anything wrong, have you?”

He shook his head solemnly.

“There you go. She's just a little upset right now, but everything will be fine when Daddy comes home. Do you want to come outside with me to play for a little bit?"

He nodded, needing to be away from the racket just as much as I did. We headed hand in hand over to his new playground and whiled away an hour on the swings. He was building a mighty sandcastle in his play box when we heard the helicopter arrive in the distance. I decided to keep Zackary outside, so he didn’t accidentally hear anything he shouldn’t.

When the sound of police sirens came up the driveway not too long after, I made sure to keep Zackary with me until all had subsided.

“Have the police come to take Mummy away?” Zackary asked, his eyes enormous with fear.

“No, of course not. I think they’ve just come to help Mummy feel less upset.”

He nodded gravely and carried on building his sandcastle. After the police had left I walked into the kitchen after sending Zackary up to wash his hands.

Mrs. Blackmore talked to me in hushed tones. "We don't know who called the police, but they took Mrs. King away for destruction of property. Apparently, she started her damaging rampage at the restaurant where she was lunching and carried on at the local bar."

“Wow,” I said quietly.

She looked stumped as she stared into nothingness. "I don't understand what could make her get so mad like that. She’s always been bad tempered, but never like this."

"You should have heard the way Mr. King spoke to her. He was furious," Carrie said. "So much so he even dealt with the cops himself. He promised them he would make good any damage she had caused. They wanted to breathalyze her, but he wouldn’t allow them to. He had Mr. Boothsworth smuggle her quickly into the helicopter and off she went. I think they knew they had been outwitted, but they were a bit in awe of Mr. King.”

I listened quietly, not knowing how I felt about it all. Things were spinning out of control and so quickly, I didn't know when something was going to fly out of nowhere and take me down. When I said no to Brett I was sure that my principles were more important than my own pleasure, but as the hours passed I became more and more confused and truly at a loss about what I should do.

Zackary came down, and immediately Mrs. Blackmore began to fuss over him. For the last two days, I had been allowing him to eat dinner in the kitchen instead of the big dining room that felt cold and impersonal. He sat down and quietly ate his dinner paying little attention to the cartoon that I turned on for him.

When it was time to retire for the day I headed to my room and sat on my bed, staring up at the intercom. Waiting but for what I wasn't sure. I had turned him down. What did I expect? He would come chasing after me! After a while I got up and headed over to the window, hoping to see his silhouette at his window just as I had multiple nights in the past.

But he never appeared, and his lights never came on.

My heart waited for a call to come from him until I eventually fell into a restless slumber. All I had were the memories of his touch, a bitter sweet company.