He Stopped Loving Her Today
It had been a week. One week since Henry had been in her home. The first day, he was a normal obedient kid. The second day, however, he was that of a demon. Breaking things, swearing, ignoring commands. And what was so irritating, was that he did those things when Brock was not around. The kid was an angel when Brock was in the room, but as soon as he left, Henry would terrorize Reba.
She stood in the living room, holding Esme and looking out the window, waiting for Henry to wake up from his nap. It was May 29th, and school had just let out for the summer. Reba had to stay with Henry all day while Brock was at work and Jake was gone with friends or up in his room all the time.
Reba had discussed Henry's behavior with Brock, but all he told her was that he was in new surroundings and wasn't used to new people telling him what to do.
"I'm not new people," Reba muttered as she watched a car go by. "He knows who I am. He knows this house."
She turned away from the window to sit on the couch, not bothering to turn on the television.
"Boo!"
Reba screamed and jumped, waking Esme. She could hear Henry's giggle as he ran into the kitchen over the baby's cry.
"Henry!" Reba yelled.
No answer.
She turned her attention to Esme, who was still screaming. "Shhh. Don't cry, darlin'. Henry, get in here!"
"Hey, what's with all the yelling?"
Reba turned to see Brock walking in the front door with his work bag, his eyes tired.
"Henry just snuck up on me and scared the heck out of me. He woke up Esme." She bounced the baby up and down as the screaming continued.
Brock set his bag down by the staircase and loosened his tie. "He was probably just kidding around."
Reba shoved Esme into his unsuspecting arms and walked off towards the kitchen.
"Where are you going?"
"Going to find your son.
"Reba..."
She found the kitchen empty. Going to the backdoor, she flung it open and found him playing basketball, like nothing had happened.
"What's your problem?" Reba demanded, walking up to him.
He didn't respond. Instead, he stopped playing and stared at her, the ball resting between his forearm and hip.
"Answer me!" Reba yelled. Her face was hot and her eyes were raging. The few nerves she had left were shot to Hell and gone as she gave him another chance to respond. "Answer. Me."
When he didn't, she lost it.
There was no sound as she brought her hand back and swung it towards his face, connection with a smack! that rang throughout the air.
He began to cry and dropped the basketball. Reba felt a whoosh of air as he ran past her and into the house.
She stood there for a minute, sustaining herself. She figured Henry would probably tell Brock she tore the gutters off the house and swung it at him, but she didn't care. The little brat got what he deserved.
She kicked the basketball into a nearby potted plant, cracking it. She didn't care about that either as she picked up the ball, dribbling a few times. She shot it towards the net and patted herself on the back when it went in.
"I still got it," She said as she walked inside and shut the door. Henry was already complaining to Brock when she got into the living room.
"And then she swung it at me," Henry was saying. "I fell down and then she kicked me. A hundred times."
Brock saw Reba walk in and told Henry to go back outside and play. The seven-year-old stuck his tongue out at Reba on his way out and and Reba found it difficult not to do the same.
"Did you beat him with a stick?" Brock said, frowning.
Reba took Esme from Brock. "All I did was smack him on the cheek. It didn't even hurt." She sat down on the couch and patted Esme's back, thankful she had calmed down quite a bit.
"Reba, you know how I feel about spanking."
"And you know how I feel about your son's attitude. And I didn't spank him. I simply put him in his place."
"I don't want you hitting him."
"Well, timeout didn't work, as I learned the other day. What do you want me to do when he misbehaves?"
"Timeout will work if you stick with it. If he gets up, sit him back down."
"I don't have time to do that. He screams and yells and that upsets Esme. Then I have to go tend to her."
"Well, then I guess I'll talk to him." He headed outside. "Just what I wanted to come home to: screaming kids, no dinner, and a headache."
That night, everyone went to bed early, including Henry.
After Reba got Esme to fall asleep by softly singing to her, Reba settled into bed with Brock. He was facing the wall and appeared to be asleep by his deep, rhythmic breathing and quiet manner. She sighed quietly and scooted closer to him, laying her arm over his side and grabbing his hand. After a moment, he woke up and held onto her hand as well. A moment later, she felt him raise her hand to his lips, kissing it gently.
Reba put her forehead to his back and inhaled his scent before letting her eyes flutter closed, drifting off to sleep, satisfied with their silent apologies.
First update for the new story! I hope you guys liked it! Please, please review. ((: