Chapter Seven
Madison
I wake to my cell phone buzzing on the nightstand. I don’t know who the hell is calling me at this hour, but at the moment I couldn’t care less after the night I had trying to get the boys to sleep earlier. It felt like only minutes ago that I carried Caleb to his bed after hours of him tossing and turning in my bed. I strain to sit upright. My body is exhausted and I am in desperate need of sleep. I doubt I’ll have enough energy to focus in the morning and will no doubt be late to work again.
I turn on the lamp beside my bed and cover my eyes from the blinding light. I rub them vigorously so I can at least see who the moron is calling. Tyler is the only one who would call me at this time, but most likely if it’s an emergency. He did have a date earlier tonight. What if there had been an accident? I suddenly panic at the thought of something bad happening to my best friend. With my heart racing and my stomach muscles beginning to twist, I grab the still vibrating cell phone on the nightstand.
When I glance at the screen my worry switches to annoyance, then grows to anger. Even though I’m somewhat relieved the call is not from Tyler; that still doesn’t prevent me from wanting to throw the phone across the room breaking it into a thousand pieces so I never have to hear from my ex-husband again. I don’t know if I have the stamina to deal with Mitch and his shit right now. I’m too tired. Too fucking fed up with his excuses and the shit he has put my boys through.
I don’t even say hello after sliding my thumb over the screen to answer the call. “What the hell do you want calling this late? I was sleeping. Your sons are sleeping. What could be so urgent that it couldn’t wait until the morning?’
“I wanted to let you know I have an out of town meeting and I can't pick up the boys after school. I can't take them this weekend.”
My anger turns to fury. “You are so full of shit Mitch. How can you do this to them again? All they want to do is spend time with their father and you purposely disappoint them every time. Way to go. I hope whatever floozy that you cancelled seeing your boys for is worth the pain you caused them yet again. Well, I'm not going to be bearer of bad news and break their hearts. If you don't want to see them, then you can explain to them why a quick roll in the sack is more important than they are. I'm not making excuses for you anymore.”
I slam the phone down and hear a cracking sound. I lower my head and take a deep breath, praying that I haven’t broken my phone to the point that it needs to be serviced at the store. That is one thing I do not need right now. I need my phone for the boy’s teachers to get in touch with me in case of an emergency. I slowly pick it up and see a thin, diagonal crack in it. I slide my fingers over the screen and to my amazement it still works despite how hard I hit it on the wood table.
I yank the covers off my bare legs and head to the kitchen to make a cup of hot tea. I need to calm down because all I want to do is rip my damn hair out. Mitch hasn’t spent any time with his kids in the last few months and I’m getting tired of covering for him in order to spare my boys the agony of not feeling wanted. I know that feeling far too well and I will not subject my sons to that pain. Caleb is still a little too young to understand what’s going on, but Aiden is old enough to realize his father isn't visiting anymore and he’s beginning to blame himself for it.
Aiden has apologized to me on more than one occasion for his father not coming by. He feels it’s his fault that Mitch left in the first place, which is far from the truth. The only thing I can do is reassure him that he is the best kid in the world and his father leaving has nothing to do with him at all. I hate the way Mitch just does as he pleases, when he pleases, without any consequences or regard to his son’s feelings.
After I finish my tea and stew in my own anger for over an hour I decide to head to bed to get what little rest I can. There is no way I’m going to let Mitch control me or my life anymore. His charm isn’t going to persuade me into enabling his disgusting behavior any longer. No, tomorrow was going to be a new day, a brand-new day.
I’m not going to be a pushover and a doormat for a man who cares for no one but himself. I need to be strong, not only for me, but for my boys as well. If I’m going to be a single mother I need to get my ass in gear and quit feeling sorry for myself. I have a roof over my head and my kids are healthy. I can make them happy on my own and I do not need help from Mitch in the slightest. He already made it abundantly clear he couldn’t be a responsible father to our kids, so I’m going to have to take on the roles of both mother and father.
I awake to the sound of birds chirping. It’s my alarm to wake up, but I still need at least ten more minutes before I’ll be ready to even open my eyes and start the day. I press the snooze button, hoping the boys didn’t hear it because there would be no way I could get those extra ten minutes if they came running into my room and threw themselves on my bed.
I swear I only closed my eyes for five minutes, but when I glance at my phone, thirty minutes have gone by. I hurriedly grab a blouse and skirt and frantically get dressed. I silently reward myself for taking a shower last night so I was able to gain some extra time there. I run to Aiden’s room, but it’s empty. Maybe he had to use the bathroom. I walk to the bathroom and he’s not there either. I swiftly shuffle across the hardwood floor to Caleb’s room and he’s not asleep in his bed either. Bile begins to rise into my throat. Where could they be? Most of the time I have to wake them up and practically pry them out of bed.
I hear a faint noise coming from the living room and rush down the hall. I freeze in the doorway, thankful the boys are in one piece. Although, there would be no reason for them not to be fine, between not getting enough sleep last night and waking up late I was more than a little disoriented.
I look down at the floor and there’s a trail of dried milk that starts from the kitchen counter all the way into the living room where both Aiden and Caleb are sitting in front of the T.V. They don’t notice I’m standing behind them because they’re too involved in the cartoon filling the big screen.
The floor creaks under my next step and Aiden finally turns around to see me. “Hi Mommy.”
“Hey buddy.”
I walk into the living room and squat next to Caleb, who is sitting on a towel naked eating his crunchy oat cereal. He shoves his hand into the milk and grabs a fistful of cereal, spilling the cold liquid all over himself. I am horrified by the mess and I take a deep breath to steady my voice because I want to cry seeing what I’m going to have to clean up. Yes, I am literally about to cry over spilled milk. “Aiden, why didn’t you wake me up.”
He shoves a spoonful of his own cereal into his mouth then swallows. “I tried but you were snoring so I made me and Caleb breakfast so you could sleep. I tried to change his diaper, but he wouldn’t stay still, and he just kept laughing, so I told him to sit on the towel until you got up.”
I clear my throat and blink away the tears threatening to fall because I do not want to make him feel bad after he performed such a self-less act. I hug him and place a kiss on his cheek. “Thank you Aiden for all your help this morning.”
“You’re welcome.”
“Well, you look like you’re all ready to go. You stay here and finish your breakfast while I give your brother a quick bath and get him ready for daycare.”
“Okay.”