Page 59 of Falling for the Unexpected

“Time for a nap, sweetie,” I said as I lifted her up and placed her in the crib. “I love you.”

“Love you, Mama,” she responded, her eyelids already growing heavy.

I closed her door gently behind me and walked back into the living room where Brad was sitting on the couch with his head rested on the back cushion and his eyes closed.

“Hey,” I said while kicking his foot with my own to wake him. “What did you want to talk about?” I had absolutely no patience and I wasn’t going to act like the old Simone and be passive in order to keep him calm.

“Can’t you sit down?” he asked, but it sounded more like a demand.

“You don’t get to tell me what to do, Brad.” I crossed my arms and stared at him waiting for him to tell me why he was here. “Talk. Or get out.”

He wasn’t used to my sassy attitude. I wasn’t either, but I was done being used and treated like crap and just taking it when I deserved better. This was about me finally standing up to this asshole. “So, how are things going?” he started, looking cagey and uncertain.

Seriously? He was attempting to make small talk? I had no desire to engage with him.

“Brad, what do you want?” I asked again, my irritation with him growing even stronger.

“I want to come home,” he said, matter-of-fact.

“What?” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.

“I miss you and I want to come home,” he said, but he wasn’t even looking at me.

“Bullshit!” I knew the bastard didn’t want to come home. He made it obvious he could barely stand my presence when he was with me. There was absolutely no way he missed me.

“It’s not bullshit, Simone! I’ve been thinking about things and I want us to be a family again.” The jerk was totally trying to use my old insecurities in an effort to manipulate me.

“Okay, I’m going to stop you right there. In the seven months since we broke up, you have made no attempt to contact me, you’ve missed almost all of your visitation days, and you sure haven’t paid any child support.NowI’m supposed to believe you want to play the family man?” I asked, the sarcasm dripping from my words. I rolled my eyes. “Forgive me, but I just don’t buy it.”

He looked shocked at my statement. Maybe because when we were together he never heard me stand up to him until the day I told him I wanted a divorce. I had always tried to keep the peace, to not make waves because I had wanted to make things work between us so desperately.

But now I knew how a real relationship was supposed to be, how it should feel. I never had to hide my feelings from Kyle. I was able to express my needs without worrying that he was going to verbally berate me. I could never go back to the kind of relationship I had with Brad. One where I had to hide my feelings. And knowing that my daughter was doing well despite an absent and uncaring father gave me courage to not fall back into the ridiculous notion that I needed to be with her father in order to provide stability or a happy home for her.

“What the fuck has gotten into you? I thought you would be happy I wanted to come back,” he said, genuinely surprised I wasn’t jumping up and down at his offer.

“Too much has happened,” I stated. I shook my head. “I’ve changed. I’m not the same person you were married to.”

“Is there someone else?” he asked, scowling at me.

“If there was, it wouldn’t be any of your business,” I shot back.

“Fuck that! Of course, it would be my business. Whoever you’re seeing would be involved with my daughter. I should have a say in that.”

That had my blood pressure spiking. “Like I had a say when you were fucking someone in our bed and doing drugs while our daughter was a room away?” I needed to take a breath. There was no point in arguing these details with him. I just needed him to leave.

I was about to tell him the conversation was over when I heard a knock at the door. I knew in my gut that Kyle was on the other side. Suddenly, I was filled with anxiety. There was so much bad blood between the two of them that I knew this could only end badly. It was one of the reasons why I’d wanted to keep our relationship quiet.

“Who the hell is that?” Brad asked, jumping up from the couch.

“None of your business,” I replied as I got up to answer the door before he could.

I pulled the door open and Kyle must have seen the distress on my face.

“Hey, babe, what’s wrong?” he asked, quietly.

“Is that the asshole you’re seeing?!” Brad shouted, trying to catch a glimpse of who was at the door.

Kyle looked over my shoulder and then back to me again. His face was red and there was a look in his eye that I had never seen before. He looked like he wanted to murder someone.