Underestimated Too(122)

I didn’t see my mother that night. I wasn’t in the mood for company. This was a well thought out plan. Drew had the kitchen stocked with food, milk brought in, and even laundry soap. He remembered we needed it from the last time we were there, not that it should surprise me. Drew was the most organized man I knew. He even had a red dump truck sitting on the table for Nicholas. I placed it on the floor hardwood floor for him to play with. I knew Drew was serious when I opened his office door and everything was cleared out.

I tried Drew’s number for the tenth time after putting Nicholas to bed. I’m not going to cry, I’m not going to cry, I chanted over and over, crouched in the corner of the sofa. Why wouldn’t he answer his phone? Was he seriously just going to let us go like this? Never in my wildest dreams would I have expected this from him.

Mentally exhausted, sleep finally took over around eleven at night. I didn’t go to our room, not wanting to sleep in our bed without Drew. I stayed on the sofa, covered with a quilt my mother had made for me when Drew bought me the house.

Waking to the sound of an angry storm, I went to Nicholas.

“Hey, it’s okay,” I soothed, picking him up.

I stood in front of the glass doors, swaying him back and forth while watching the massive waves, lap the beach, lightening that looked like it was touching the ocean, and wind and rain beat off the glass doors in front of us. I knew how it felt. I felt like that. If I could produce that much wrath, I’d do it too.

I did cry the next day. Jason took Nicholas and Caroline for a walk along the beach and I cried, soaking my mother’s pink top into a red one.

“How can he just throw us away like this?” I cried.

“He’s not throwing you away, honey. He’s trying to protect you.”

“You talked to him?” Oh, my god. Everyone knew he was doing this. I wondered if Alicia knew, and I made a mental note to call her as soon as I was alone.

“Yes, he called. He wanted to make sure I would take care of you.”

“I can take care of myself.”

“Maybe, but I’m still your mom. It’s my job to take care of you.”

“Humph,” I let it slip, rolling my eyes. I didn’t mean to, but hearing those words from my mother was still foreign to me. She never took care of me, not like she does Caroline. “I’m sorry,” I instantly said.

“I deserved that.”

“No, you didn’t. You’re no different than Drew. You had me when you were sixteen. You did what you knew to do, what everyone else around that god forsaken town did. I’m just happy that you’re here now,” I tried making up for my stupidity.

I was glad my mother was there, and I was glad that she had Jason and Caroline.

I spent three weeks without one word from Drew. I was getting pissed. It is one thing to toss me out, but Nicholas didn’t deserve this. He was probably wondering where his daddy was. How long did it take a one-year-old to forget? Was he already starting to forget him? How long does it take a grown woman to forget?

Alicia was never any help. Celeste doesn’t talk about it, that’s the answer I always got, not that I didn’t find it to be the truth. I knew Celeste minded her own business, and I was sure Drew wasn’t telling her anything. I needed a plan. There had to be something that would get him to call me.

I started with the credit card, spending nine thousand dollars on anything and everything I could think of to buy online in a one week. When that didn’t work, I bought a twenty five thousand dollar ring. That would surely do it. Drew would be pissed that I bought something like that, especially from the company that he hated most, his biggest competitor. Drew despised Malibu jewels. I knew he’d call. He didn’t.

Next I decided to remodel Drew’s office. I had the walls lined with bookshelves, the desk taken out, replacing it with two big comfy chairs with matching ottomans, one for me and one for Nicky. My next spending spree was books to fill the shelves. That part I loved and actually did occupy my mind. Every time I got a shipment of books, I spent hours organizing them. I was going to read every last one of them. That would occupy my time and my mind.

Okay now this was getting to be ridiculous. Drew didn’t care that I’d spent close to one hundred thousand dollars in less than a month. He wasn’t calling.

“Here, you read this,” I said, taking my book from Nicky and handing him one of his shiny books with the fat pages. I sat on the floor with him and dialed Celeste. I was going to demand that she give him the phone, enough was enough. He had plenty of time to get over feeling sorry for himself, and I wanted our family back together.