Grady called Maggie and explained everything to her, but we kept the details from Harper, only telling her what she needed to know, that her big brother stuck up for his best friend. She’s not old enough to understand all of what has happened, and she adores Bri like a sister, so we didn’t want her to worry. Grady wanted Maggie to hear it from him, not only knowing how much Bri means to Maggie, but also because word will be around school on Monday, and probably sooner, thanks to social media.
Barrett left for about an hour today to get Grady’s screen replaced. While he was at the cell store, he was informed that we could upgrade our phones. I think he needed the break away from the house and all the drama, clear his head, so I told him to go ahead and switch ours over to the newer versions, knowing it would give him more time away from the house. Of course, no doubt because of our old age senility, we messed things up during setup and now somehow keep receiving each other’s texts. We’re both way too technically challenged, as is obvious by our texting issues. I’m sure Grady or Maggie can figure out how to get our phones back to normal, but for today I’m just too wiped out to care, and we both need to focus on the family. Besides, it’s not like either of us have anything to hide, so receiving each other’s texts isn’t that big of a deal. Stupid Cloud. Who understands it anyway?
This evening we’re having a family night. A much-needed, long-overdue family night. We order pizza, grab a bunch of snacks and some soda, and head into the family room, where Harper and Maggie have already picked out a couple of movies for us to watch. Barrett sits down on the large, dark brown sectional in one of the seats that doubles as a recliner. Maggie saddles up next to him while the boys stretch out in the other recliners. Harper makes herself comfortable on Cole’s lap, still not letting the poor guy out of her sight for more than a few minutes at a time, and I sit on one of the corner seats. Barrett and I are nowhere near each other. Again.
The first of the two movies comes to a close, and Harper didn’t make it to the ending credits before falling asleep. She’s dead on her feet, so Cole picks her up and carries her to her bedroom. Barrett glances over at me with raised eyebrows and says, “See how easy that is?”
Is it right to want to gut check your husband? Probably not but that’s my initial reaction. I’m sure he didn’t mean it to be rude or hurtful, but hurt doesn’t even begin to describe what those five words do to me. I don’t even know why. It’s true. It’s not hard to bring Harper to her room. What hurts is that he acts as if it’s all on me.
Just last night we were back to ourselves, and now it’s like we took a hundred steps backward. How can we go from forgiving and loving toward each other to this? The day has been a bundle of stress, but that’s when we should lean on each other, not pick each other apart.
“Did you see how easy that is?” I smart back.
I notice Maggie and Grady are looking back and forth between us and can see the concern flashing in their eyes. We know the kids need to see a real marriage, which includes disagreements, but what they don’t need to see is their parents being plain nasty to each other, so before it can escalate into something far worse than those few words, I turn my attention toward the TV and try to focus on whatever family movie the girls chose for round two.
After we’ve finished watching the movies, the entire family stands up to head to their rooms. I know Grady will flip his top if Bri doesn’t answer the phone soon, so am not surprised in the least when he asks if it’s okay if he and Cole head out to check on her. Maggie says she’s tired and heads to bed, and Barrett says he’s going to let the dogs out, leaving me to clean up the empty pizza boxes, chip bags, soda cans, water glasses, and all the paper plates and napkins. Apparently no one had a single thought of possibly helping good old mom out.
I finish cleaning up, check the coffeepot to get it ready for the next morning, and shuffle my way to bed, only to be greeted by Barrett’s light snoring. Just great.
I get ready for bed, which takes way longer than it used to. Some nights I’m so tired and dread the thought of all that it entails to get ready: washing my face, brushing my teeth, applying ointments and creams and lotions. It’s like a strange science experiment I have to conduct on my face every night. In the middle of my bedtime regimen, I hear my phone chirp with an incoming text, so before I settle into bed for the night, I check my phone, only for my heart to nearly stop.
Thanks to somehow goofing up our sending and receiving of texts, I received one of Barrett’s. Only I’m fairly positive this one I’m not meant to read. So much for neither of us having anything to hide.
Keri Office: Thought you’d like to see what you were missing tonight.
Followed by a picture of who I assume is Keri, since I’ve never actually met her. But now I’ve seen her. Naked. Well, basically naked. It’s of her with no top on, her one arm stretched over her chest barely covering her perky bits. Her slim, toned stomach on full display, and I’m sure if the camera view would have allowed it, I’d have gotten a good look at her southern region too. Yay.
I stare, dumbfounded. My eyes well with tears before I can stop them. A loud sob erupts from my throat that I don’t even try to catch. With shaky hands, I put my phone down and stare at it.
What the hell do I do?
That question flits through my mind for about 0.4 seconds before I pick my phone back up again. Then with some clarity that comes from somewhere magical, I walk over to the door to our bedroom and lock it so Harper isn’t able to sneak in. Then I turn back around and chuck the stupid phone at a sleeping Barrett’s chest. I watch as he hastily wakes up and looks around the room in complete confusion as to why he was just pelted with a cell phone during his sleep.
“What the hell?” he grumbles.
“What the hell? What the hell!? I’ll tell you what the hell! Look at the phone, Barrett! You had the balls to sit there and tell me that she was nothing but an office manager and that!? What the hell is right!” I whisper scream, my voice coming out like that of a pubescent teenager, my words barely making any sense.
He sticks a finger in his ear and wiggles it a bit. “Tess, when you scream in such a high-pitch voice that only dogs can hear, I don’t understand a word of it. Now, what the hell is going on?”
“Look at your phone you… you… you liar!” Nice one. “Remember how we have been receiving each other’s texts all day? Well, it totally screwed you over, buddy.” I cross my arms to keep my pounding heart from exploding through my chest, which it feels like it could do at this very moment, as upset as I am.
He glances down with confusion then swipes my phone to wake it up. I hadn’t cleared out of my messaging app, so it’s right there for him to see. He drops the phone like it’s acid and quickly scampers away from it and is in front of me faster than a man of his size should be capable of.
“Oh shit, Tess,” he says reaching for me.
I shrug away quickly and cross my arms tighter. “Oh shit is right.”
“No, you don’t understand. Not oh shit that I got caught — oh shit that it was absolutely not meant for me. I guarantee you I have never, ever, ever received or sent any texts to Keri like that. Go through my past texts from her. I promise. You’ll see nothing but work related stuff.” He reaches back onto the bed and picks up the phone before shoving it at my chest so I’m forced to take it. It feels like hot lava in my hands.