Hi guys! Did ya miss me? Okay, so I know a lot of you are waiting for an update on Life Ain't Always Beautiful, and I promise it is coming soon. But winter has basically sapped me of all energy, motivation, and inspiration and I just haven't been in the mood to write - until the idea for this one popped into my head. A very wise friend said that writing anything, even if it's not what I'm supposed to be working on, is better than nothing. Hopefully this gets me back in the writing mood, so I can finish LAAB and start the sequel. But for now, I give you this.
…..
April 2010, New York, New York
"Daddy, I want this."
"No."
"But daddy, I need it," the little girl insists, her pleading bordering on whining.
Brat, he thinks as he tosses a bottle of shampoo in his basket and shuffles down the drug store aisle.
"Put it back," the father says firmly.
Little sandaled feet slap the worn linoleum defiantly. "Please?" She stretches the word out into five or six syllables. "It's just little, and I love it. Please?"
Shut that kid up, he almost says out loud. It's too early to put up with this nonsense...or maybe he's just too jetlagged to put up with it.
"Tessa, I told you in the grocery store that we're not buying toys or candy today. We're just getting groceries and Natalia's medicine. Put it back." This time, the voice catches his attention. It's ragged, and exhausted, and...older than he remembers, but there's something familiar enough that he abandons his search for shaving cream to focus on the father-daughter bickering.
"But Tali got so many presents, and I didn't get nuffin'!"
"Natalia just came home from the hospital, that's why she got presents. Put it back and let's go. Mommy's waiting for this stuff."
"No!"
When Mark peeks around the aisle, the man has his back to him, a heaping shopping basket and a package of diapers at his feet. "Tessa Jane, I am counting to three," he warns firmly. Past him, about halfway down the aisle, the little girl is standing her ground, whatever it is she so desperately wants clutched behind her back as she stares her father down with wide, pale eyes. She's just a little wisp of a thing, with messy pigtails and a pink and red striped knit dress. Between the two is a stroller, the undercarriage loaded with bags from the grocery store. "One...two...three."
After the ineffective countdown, he charges. She waits until he's an arm's length away and dodges right, but her sparkly pink sandals provide little traction on the slick linoleum and she crashes to the floor; he seizes the opportunity to forcibly relieve her of the coveted item, which he unceremoniously tosses at a display of half-price Easter candy, before lifting her by the arms and wrestling her into the stroller. By now the whining and pleading has given way to screaming and flailing limbs; he slaps her hands away when she tries to unbuckle herself, then takes her chin in one hand and forces her to look at him. "Knock it off," he orders through gritted teeth, "or you'll spend the rest of the day in your room and miss dance class this afternoon."
"I hate you!" the girl shrieks before dissolving into tears as her father picks up his basket.
"Tessa-"
"You don't love me!" she accuses loudly between choking sobs while he hurries towards the pharmacy counter. "Nobody loves me anymore. You only love Tali!"
He tries to ignore the escalating tantrum, but as he sets his items on the counter, Tessa's foot makes contact with a cardboard display unit and sends dozens of tubes of lip balm scattering across the floor. "Okay, you know what? I'll just take that," he says after stammering out an apology, and pays for the little white bag the pharmacy technician hands him before making a hasty, red-faced exit, carefully avoiding the gazes of nosy shoppers.
Finally the store is quiet, and a stock clerk reaches for the abandoned items as another gathers up lip balm and customers resume shopping. "Wait," Mark calls out, "I...I'll take it." He quickly locates the remaining items on his list, then wanders down the baby aisle and finds cause of the little girl's outburst - a little gray bunny, floppy and soft, its ears lined with a colorful floral fabric. He drops it in his basket with a shrug and heads to the register to check out.
…..
She's pacing the floor. It's time for Natalia's medicine - the medicine her husband is supposed to be picking up from the pharmacy, and left well over an hour ago to get. She stomps to the window with a huff and peeks out, hoping see him walking down the street. He's not; instead, he's sitting on the front stairs, cradling their four-year-old daughter on his lap.
"I was starting to wonder if you ran away on me," she says as she slips outside, leaving the door open so she can hear if Natalia wakes up, and sinks onto the step next to him
"Yeah, well, we had a bit of a meltdown in the drug store," he say softly before dropping a kiss on Tessa's wheat-colored head.
She raises an eyebrow. "We?"
"We," he confirms with a nod. "I told her before we went in the grocery store we weren't getting any toys or candy today. She was so good while we were there, then we got to the drug store and she lost her mind over this stupid little stuffed animal. It was probably half price, I should have just let her have it, but…"
She reaches over and brushes a lock of dark hair out of his eyes. "You're tired-"
"We're all tired. Doesn't give me license to be a class-A jerk."
"It's been a rough couple of days-"
"Months," he corrects. "We left her for two months."
"We had no other choice. And she had a great time with your family. She was fine until these last few days. I know you feel guilty, but right now consistency is important, and she needs to know we have expectations for her behavior…"
"She said she hates me," he informs her mournfully. "She thinks we only love Natalia now."
She looks at the little girl who clearly cried herself to sleep in her father's arms. "She doesn't hate you. The books said this was normal...tantrums, sibling rivalry, regression...it's normal. It's going to take some time to adjust, but she'll be fi- don't look at me like that," she orders when he gazes at her with doleful blue eyes. "She will be fine. We're all going to be fine once everything settles down, I promise." She leans in to kiss him, only to be interrupted by the sound of crying coming from inside. "Okay, well, I hate to nag, but it's time for her medicine, and-"
He reaches over and grabs the little bag from the pharmacy. "I did get that. I'll go back later-"
"We only have three diapers left - actually, she probably needs to be changed now, so make that two - and only a little-"
"Relax. That'll get us through lunchtime, and I'll stop at the drugstore after I drop this one off at dance class, okay?"
She sighs and hurries inside. "Fine."
…..
He's tidying up after lunch when someone knocks on the door. Expecting to find his mother, or, perhaps, one of his sisters, he flings it open and instead finds himself face to face with his oldest friend. "Mark? What are you doing here?"
"I, uh, I thought you might need this stuff," Mark explains as he holds up the bags from the pharmacy.
Derek takes the bags and steps aside to let Mark in. "You were there?" he asks sheepishly. "Why didn't you say something?"
"Well, it didn't quite seem like the right time to say 'hey, I'm back in town after almost five years, wanna get together and have a couple beers?'"
Before he can reply, Tessa comes skipping in, now dressed in a black leotard, pale pink tights, and a very bright pink tulle skirt covered in shimmering silver stars. "Who's that?" she asks as she hugs her father's leg and stares up at their guest.
Derek scoops her up and grins. "This is your uncle Mark."
She cocks her head to the side and grimaces. "He's not my uncle. I don't even know him!"
"Oh yes he is. Mark has been my best friend since we were just a little older than you are now. But he lives in California, so we haven't seen each other in a long time."
Her face lights up. "California? Like Aunt Nae Nae? You said we were gonna go there sometime, remember?"
Just then Addison comes downstairs, a little girl a bit smaller than Tessa perched on one hip. She doesn't bother to hide her surprise. "Mark?"
He smirks as he takes in her slim figure. "Hey, Red, looking good for a new mom," he says, oblivious to the confusion that flits across her face. "And who's this?" he asks, reaching out to tickle the child staring at him with enormous dark eyes.
She steps back, just out of reach. "This is Natalia."
Okay, I know there are unanswered questions, but I promise a lot will be revealed in chapter 2. Please please please let me know what you think! Lots of reviews leads to speedier updates so don't be stingy!