“Oh, my god, Morgan! Why didn’t you tell me?” Alicia exclaimed excitedly.
“Because, we’re not having a baby. Drew fell down the steps and bumped his head,” I retorted, glaring at Drew.
He smiled and reached for the pickle, snapping off a piece for Nicholas. He whined, he wanted the pickle, and pushed the spoon of broccoli away.
Celeste saved the day and an argument by changing the subject, thank god.
“Are you getting a safety deposit box?” Celeste asked, looking at Alicia’s phone.
FUCK!!!!
“I don’t know. I thought maybe we should. You know for the kid’s birth certificate, socials, and stuff like that,” Alicia replied, right on target. I breathed a sigh of relief. I never thought about that happening. Celeste went on to tell her they didn’t need that, they had a walk-in safe in her office, and for her not to worry about things like that. She took care of it. , she was so much like Drew. Alicia gave me a look while, taking her unnecessary lecture. She knew I was up to something.
“You’re still doing lunch with me tomorrow, right?” Alicia asked at the door. I looked to Drew for the answer. I hadn’t mentioned that to him. He would throw a fit about it, I was sure.
“You’ve been together all day. Why do you need to do that?” Drew asked, taking Nicky from my arms. Drew really did think I liked being with him twenty four seven. It wasn’t all a control thing. He honestly thought I needed to be up his ass day in and day out. Mostly I did, but I still needed to breathe different air than him occasionally.
“Did you have plans for me tomorrow, Drew?” I smartly asked. You could say I was a little annoyed with my husband by the time we left. Alicia already lectured me about the way he controlled everything I did. I hated it when he did it in front of her. I couldn’t deny it all the time when he did that.
“No, I’m working, but I’ll be at home.”
“Yeah, so what? Yes, I’ll go. You picking me up or you want me to pick you up?” I asked. I didn’t mean to say the ‘so what’ part. It slipped.
“I’ll pick you up at one. Maybe we’ll go downtown and check out that new art museum.”
“Okay, talk to you tomorrow,” I said, saying goodnight. Drew didn’t speak, not to her anyway.
“And maybe you won’t,” he answered where only I could hear him. I knew he wouldn’t let me go downtown for whatever reason. He had a million of them, the traffic, drugs, rapes, the murderers, I might get lost, I could be in another accident, or the reason I think was behind it I could disappear again.
“You don’t need to have lunch with Alicia tomorrow. What do you want? I’ll have Marta make it for you,” Drew said, taking my hand in the car.
“I’m not sure what I will want tomorrow. It’s not about that and you know it. Drew you’re smothering me. You’ve got to stop.”
“I know. You’re right. You can go with Alicia, just promise me you won’t go downtown to some art museum.”
“I am not going to promise you that. Alicia and I are both grown women capable of handling society.”
“We’re not going to argue about it, Morgan. I don’t want you on or around the strip and that’s that. You can go to the little sandwich shop, the bookstore, library, even that dumb little pawnshop you like going to, but I don’t want you on the strip. I’m not talking about it anymore. I mean what I say.”
The pawnshop….That’s it. I could get money from the pawnshop. I had a jewelry box full of rings, necklaces, bracelets, broaches, and I was sure everything in there was worth a pretty penny or thousands. Drew would never miss it, and if he did, I’d just say I lost it.
“Morgan, did you hear me?” Drew interrupted my scheming thoughts.
“Yes, what part did you think I missed? The part where you gave me permission to go on this side of town, or was it the part where you were forbidding me to go to the strip.”
“Are we really going to do this?”
“No, Drew. We’re not doing this,” I agreed, deciding it wasn’t worth the fight. I wouldn’t win it anyway.
Drew needed to go work in his office for a while. Drew and I needed a timeout. He was irritated with me, and I was indisputably exasperated with him. He didn’t go back to work. He followed me upstairs with Nicholas. I changed his diaper, and Drew took him to the toy box. Nicky didn’t play with any of it. He made a mess, taking everything he could reach out and dropping it to the floor. Once in a while, he’d sit down and put it back, but that was more work. It was easier for Drew to put them back.