"Damnit, Jason!" I thought, he must have let her watch a scary movie with him tonight. "Perfect."
"Baby, you're okay. There's nothing in your room. Go back to sleep." I said in gentlest tone.
"But I'm scared," she pleaded, "can I sleep with you?"
I was in no mood for debate, so a made room for my fragile little lamb and let her climb under the covers.
Plotting how I would handle this with her father in the morning,
Hannah was sitting at the kitchen island with her coloring books and a bowl of Lucky Charms breakfast cereal when Jason made his way in from the the family room, wiping the sleep away from his eyes. I was washing out my coffee cup from the day before when he walked up beside me and gently kissed me on the cheek.
"Good morning, handsome." he said with a yawn and a smile.
"Mmhhmmm. Did you sleep well, Bubba?" I asked, knowing where my next line of questioning was going to go since I was neither a morning person and not in the mood to deal with anyone until I had my first cup of coffee. Still, I did manage to be playful. "Our baby girl couldn't sleep in her bedroom last night. She said something about a 'monster' in her room. Would you know anything about that?"
"Princess," Jason motioned to Hannah sheepishly, "I thought you said you were a big girl now."
"It's okay, Bubba. Next time she sleeps on your side of the bed." with terse lips. Sipping at my hot cup of coffee.
"Sorry." Hannah said absently, crayon in hand as she colored.
Jason snuck up behind her to tickle her a bit saying "You don't have to say sorry for nothing. You know Pap's just a Grumpy Gus in the morning before he's had his cup of coffee." As he said this he looked up at me lips pouted out, mocking and playful.
He and Hannah giggling together.
Yes, my husband and my baby girl having fun at my expense was okay.
"It was the clown with the knives on his hands, Daddy." she said "He was under my bed."
"Really Jason, Freddy Krueger? You let her watch Nightmare On Elm Street?"
"Not all of it. She fell asleep halfway through."
I shook my head. I wasn't too concerned with my children watching horror films, or at least I thought I wasn't. But I as have gotten older, I've tried to limit their exposure to things that might give them questions or downright scare them. I want to be able to explain the content while in their presence. Sometimes Jason takes a different approach. We agree to disagree and then meet in the middle most times. I love our compromises.
"And where was CJ?" I asked bluntly.
"He has discovered a new hobby! He was in room putting together this Star Wars Lego Set I bought him yesterday." Jason replied.
He moseyed over and grabbed mu hips, pulled me close, hugged me and kissed me softly.
The door to the back patio opened and CJ walked into the dining room, face red from the mid-morning sun.
"Oh my gosh, you guys are always hugging." he said like any child embarrassed when parents show affection.
"What are you up to out there Buddy?" I asked inquisitively
"Practicing my ollie on my skateboard. Dad says we can go to the skatepark later." CJ lit up at the mere mention of an outing with Jason. Especially going to the skatepark where he could show him some new tricks that he was learning from the internet.
"Alright, Buddy! Just make sure that you are being safe and go up stairs and put on some sunblock. You're already getting pink from being outside. Jason, make sure that he doesn't overexert himself later." I felt the hyper-parentification coming out in me again.
Jason ran his hands through my hair "I'm their father too, I know what to do Baby. Chill." His tone knew how to let me know that I was not overstepping or nagging. CJ left the room and We had one more child to address.
"As for you little girl," I winked "you need to finish your cereal, then put the bowl in the dishwasher and get changed. You are going over to your Aunties house for the afternoon."
Jason looked at me quizzical "you have plans?"
"I told you that I have to go to the gallery this afternoon to meet with the new artist Thom Miszner. He would only meet with me today. Mindy is going to be there as well. we need to entice him into letting us be the gallery he showcases his new pieces at and he's being very obstinate."
"Yeah, but still, on a Saturday. We talked about this. The weekends have always been our, no exceptions." I could hear the tension in Jason's voice. Lately the bills coming in had started to make both us question if maintaining our small record shop along with a few of Jason's workout gyms were worth more than what were able to invest. Especially after hospital bills started factoring in.
"I know Bubba! You guys are still my only priority, but I need to land this opportunity so that it doesn't wind up at some other shitty venue." I didn't want to say the quiet parts out loud. I didn't want him to hear that in order to maintain the life that we had, I needed to make sure that this client went with my gallery. It was imperative.
Jason nodded his head "okay, promise me just this once."
"I promise" pressing my forehead to his.
Soon after dropping Hannah off at my Sister's house, grabbing an iced mocha latte, I finally made my way to the Singleton Dean Gallery.
Mindy met me in the lobby "Thom Miszner is here. he showed up about 30 minutes ago."
"Perfect!" I said sarcastically " Not only is he full of himself, he's also a dick."
"Thom! How nice to see you again!" I gushed with insincerity camouflaged with ass kissing.
"You're late" He bemoaned.
"I was under the impression you said 1 this afternoon. That was my mistake."
"You know, a lot of galleries have been interested in my work. They showed up on time." His cockiness was definitely aimed at digging into whatever patience I had left for the day.
"I'm sure you would have went with them too, if they had more to offer you than I do, Thom." I said sternly as I led him into my office to discuss the terms of acquire his showcase.
An hour and a half later. Legal papers drawn up. A hefty handshake and a commitment from Thom to place his new pieces in my gallery, Mindy and I paused to reflect on the ridiculousness of it all.
"Did you see his leather pants." she joked.
"He's gotta be like what, 62?" I smiled. Keep in mind, I am not ageist at all. However, the aging rockstar bit kind of played out when David Lee Roth got on stage in all his glamour, and tight leather pants, and the "little roth" made an appearance in silhouette.
We cackled like two hens at a county fair.
"It's time to go home. This day has gone on way longer than I had anticipated and I promised Jay that I wouldn't work on the weekends anymore."
"Oh yeah, still making promises to one another." Mindy asked knowing that Jason and I sometimes had our back and forth history of saying one thing and doing another. A pattern that our therapist has had us working on for years. We slip. We find a new therapist. Lather, rinse, repeat.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. By Girl. Make sure to lock up." I left Mindy in the galllery and head home. Secure in the knowledge that this deal would get Jason and I and our family through the next year or so,
"Baby, you should have seen him at the park. he's really good on that board!" Jason couild barely contain himself laying next to me, explaining his adventure with CJ. "He says wants to make his own YouTube videos."
"We'll talk about that later Bubba. You know how I feel about our kids being on social media or having a social presence. Both you and I should know this first hand." I laughed.
"Ah I know. We'll talk it over with him." He smile.
"How was Hannah when you picked her up from my sister's house?" I asked.
"Beat. I guess all of the kids played in the pool and she had a barbeque. By the time we got home, she was out like a light. I carried her to bed and tucked her in."
'Aren't you the big strong Daddy!" I joked
"Sho-nough! " Jason flexed his muscles and leaned in to kiss me goodnight.
Later that night, a rustling overhead. Again, I'm a light sleeper, my eyes peered open lazily to see Jason. His finger's pointer finger pressed against his lips, his other hand reaching for the hand gun that he kept headboard space above our bed.
Whispering to me he said "I heard a noise. I'm going to investigate it."
Panicked. I hadn't heard a thing. Our home was fit with every alarm known to man and I slept lighter than anyone in the house. If there was something stirring, I would have known.
"Jason. are you sure you heard something?" I whispered.
"I heard the door jiggle. I need to go check it." He said without hesitation and jolted from the bedroom, down the stairs to the living room.
"Jason," I followed "Put your gun down. If the kids wake and see that, you're going to scare them."
Jason knew that I didn't care that he kept guns in the house. I didn't like the proximity of them to our children.
"Jason, I need to calm down." I whispered , "I didn't hear anything." Worried that our children would soon wake up and he would cause more of a scene, I helped him assess the situation by checking out every room in the house. We secured every window, every door and made sure that the security system was set properly. Nothing had been set off accidentally. Our children were still asleep. Sasha was not stirring or barking at shadows.
Twenty minutes later, back in bed, I gave my husband a mild tranquilizer to calm his nerves a long with a small glass of water. We both made sure that his gun was locked securely before getting back into bed. we lay there, His head resting on my chest while I stroked his hair to let him know it was okay to fall back to sleep. I had him. I wouldn't let the monsters get him.
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