Page 68 of Falling for the Unexpected

Chapter 17

Simone

My heart was broken. Completely broken. The moment the door closed behind Kyle I fell to the floor, a total sobbing mess. I hadn’t stopped crying for the last thirty minutes. I heard Stella start to stir in her room. I was grateful she had slept as long as she had. I needed to pull myself together and take care of my daughter. No matter what other crap was going on in my life, I would not ignore Stella when she needed me.

I pushed myself up off the floor then shuffled to her room. Picking my daughter up out of her crib, she looked at my face and her mouth turned down at the corners. “Mama sad?” she asked.

“Mama’s okay, baby girl,” I told her, trying to sound cheerful.

My heart may have been crushed, but I was determined to make this the best Christmas for my daughter.

Her eyes darted around when we entered the living room. “Where’s Ky?” she asked, looking for the man who had just walked out on us.

I understood he needed some time to think things through, but to walk away without letting me explain? That wasn’t fair and that wasn’t the Kyle I had come to love. He knew how upset I had been about Brad walking out of Stella’s life and I couldn’t believe he was going to do the same thing.

Speaking of Brad—I was furious with him. First, I had no idea he had taken any pictures that first night we were together. Second, why was he determined to hurt me so bad? He had to have suspected Kyle would react horribly based on his childhood and dealing with his mother’s drug use. I still didn’t believe he wanted to be with me, despite him coming over a few weeks ago, so that wasn’t his motivation. If anything, I had been more than fair during our divorce. Why was he punishing me?

My curiosity got the better of me and I decided to send a text him. I went back to the couch and sat down with Stella then grabbed my cell phone I’d thrown there earlier

Me:Why?

He would know exactly what I was asking and I didn’t want to say much more than that to him. Knowing him, if I started to rant he would just ignore me.

I heard my phone buzz and I dreaded what I was about to read. When I picked it up to look at the screen I was surprised to see a text from Marla.

Marla:This is last minute but I was wondering if Stella could come spend the night? We’re getting a tree tomorrow and thought it would be fun to take her.

Knowing how much fun Stella had today shopping for the tree and then decorating, I knew she would enjoy another round with her grandparents. I had talked with Jim and Marla about not scheduling Saturday visitations anymore after Brad had shown up unannounced a couple weeks ago. I knew they loved having her whenever they could. But if I wasn’t scheduled to work Saturdays, I started to keep her with me. They watched her when I worked so they still had a lot of time together. However, if one of us could have a happy weekend, I’d prefer it be my baby girl. She didn’t need to hear me moping and crying.

Me:Sure. Would you like me to bring her over to your house?

Marla:Trent is coming over in a little bit. He said he could pick her up on his way if you’re okay with that.

While I wasn’t too keen on seeing anyone given my emotional state, I figured I could hide my devastation from Trent much easier than I could from Marla. Marla’s mothering senses were strong. No one could hide anything from her watchful eye. It was one of the many things that made her a wonderful mother.

Me:That’s fine with me.

Marla:He said he would be there in about an hour. Does that work?

Me:Yes, it does.

“Hey, sweetie, you’re going to spend the night with Grandma and Grandpa. How does that sound?” I asked my daughter who had climbed off my lap and was now inspecting our tree.

“Yay! Gramma’s house!” she said enthusiastically as she started dancing around to the Christmas music I hadn’t noticed was still playing.

I went into her room to pack an overnight bag. Then I went to the kitchen to make her a snack. I knew Marla would feed her dinner, but Stella had been going through a growth spurt and seemed to be hungry all the time.

While we waited for Trent to come pick her up, Stella and I started to watch a Disney movie together on the couch. Having to take care of Stella was helping keep my mind off of Kyle and the cuddles were soothing to my soul. Admittedly, I was worried about what would happen as soon as she left. I could still feel the pain in my chest and knew it was going to get worse when I didn’t have anything to distract me.

A while later, I heard a knock at my door. I pushed myself up off the couch, the mental exhaustion from the day finally catching up with me. I opened the door and invited Trent to come in.

“Unky Trent!” Stella yelled as she slid off the couch and ran to him. He picked her up and hugged her tightly to him. At least Trent would always be a positive male role model in her life. The thought made me both happy and sad. I knew she would never feel the sting of abandonment from her doting uncle, but I wanted her to have Kyle in her life as well. He would have made an excellent father.

Trent looked at me and my face must have given me away. “Hey, what’s wrong?” he asked, placing a comforting arm around me.

“Just a really bad day,” I told him honestly.

“Where’s Kyle?” he asked, looking around my apartment like he was expecting to see him. “He told me he was going to be over here all day.”