The Summer of Kayleigh Cohen

Chapter 25

Anna sat in the small hotel room staring at the phone. She had just snuck over to Seth's new house but no one was there. She had to admit, the house looked great. Kayleigh's little room was adorable.

Now Anna was struggling whether or not she should call Seth's cell. It had never stopped her before.

Suddenly the doorbell rang; Anna got off the chair and answered the door.

"Hi. Can I help you?" Anna asked the man who stood on the opposite side of the door.
"Are you Mrs. Stern?" The man asked. His gray suit seems to engulf his fail body but his strong voice overpowered his appearance.

"No, I'm her daughter"

"Oh okay."

"Do you want me to tell her you stopped by?"

"Umm, Yes. Tell her Mr. Petersen came by." Anna nodded.

"Okay. I will. Goodbye."

The man nodded back at her pleasantly and walked into the parking lot.

Anna shut the door and walked back towards the phone. She picked it up and dialed the familiar number she used to always dial when she dated him.

"Hello?" Summer answered. Her voice was distorted by the loud background noise of the store and Kayleigh's crying.

"Hi Summer. Can I talk to Seth?"

Anna could basically hear Summer's bubbling anger as she told her that.

"Is this Anna?" Summer asked. She juggled crying Kayleigh in one arm and Seth's cell phone in the other.

"Yes; does that matter?" Anna retorted.

Summer gritted her teeth. "Well, Anna," She paused for a moment. "Seth isn't here at the moment. He went to find the dog food with our dogs. And I wouldn't have given him the phone anyways." Summer announced bitterly. She shut Seth's flip and threw it in her purse.

"Hi Kayleigh. Shhh. Everything will be all right." Summer rocked her baby and took the cart to find Seth.

7688888888888900000

Summer strolled her cart over to the dog food aisle where she found Seth laying on the ground with Pixie and Twiggy licking his face; he was frantically trying to remove himself off the floor and dry his face all at the same time. His feet kept sliding on the slick floor (like there were marbles on the ground) which also didn't help him in his goal of getting up.

Kayleigh had stopped crying when she saw her daddy and she started giggling at this sweet sight. Summer was still upset and was ready to throw Seth's cell out of a 10-story building and get a new one so Anna didn't know the new number.

"What in the world are you doing?" Summer demanded. She was tired from the move and buying new animals. Anna completely stabbed her buttons and she was ready to go strangle that girl if she came near her family again.

"Oh, hey Summer." Seth replied awkwardly and waved. Twiggy pounced on him again with his tongue and Seth scooted back. "I'm just meeting the family."

Summer nodded, not in the mood. "Can we go now? I have to kick some ass."

Seth had a horrified expression on his face. "Summer! You can't curse in front of our daughter." Seth scrambled up and covered Kayleigh's ears; she only giggled more.

Summer rolled her eyes and pushed the cart to the front of the store.
"I'll meet you in the parking lot." Summer left the cart, pushed her purse on her shoulder and exited the store.

As soon as she got into Seth's car she took out the phone and dialed 69.

She wrote down the number and called to find out the address of the number.

She was ready to get even with Anna.

843295728975839274593

20 minutes later, Seth came out of Petco with Kayleigh on his hip and Pixie and Twiggy in the cart. Summer shook her head. How were they ever going to get along with two huge dogs in their house? She could hardly keep up with Seth.

He loaded all their new things in the back and seated their daughter in her car seat.

"It's a good thing we got a 4-seater for my graduation present." Seth announced as he got into the driver's seat. Twiggy stuck his head into the front seat and tried to jump into Summer's lap. He succeeded.

"Cohen! Get him off of me." She cursed as the dog crushed the map she had gotten out of the glove department in order to find the hotel in which Anna was staying.

Seth scrambled to grab the dog and place him back into the back.

"Sorry Sum." He explained. "Now where to? Home?"

Summer looked over to him. "Nope. How about a little road trip? How does the Majestic Hotel on Basic sound to you?"

Seth eyes widened but he did what she wanted.

A good ten minutes later, they arrived at a 3 star hotel. Summer did not bother for Seth to turn off the car before she got out and walked up the stairs to room 215.

"Summer? What in Batman's name are you doing?" He asked and quickly followed her with Kayleigh in tow. The dogs would be fine for a few minutes; the windows were down.

"I'm going to get some things straight." She stopped at the correct door and pounded on it with her small fist.

Kayleigh stared at her with an intense interest at this scene. She had never seen her mother in such a huff.

"Anna, damnit. Answer this door." Seth covered Kayleigh's ears again and waited to see what happened. If he dared to intervene, he would not like the outcome or the couch.

The door opened and Anna appeared.

"Oh look," Anna began. "You did not have to bring him to me. I would have come over." She finished dryly.

Seth gulped. Anna was in for it.

"You're such the little angel. Aren't you Anna? You are going to be the little princess to save Seth from the horrible fate of being with me. Huh? Is that it? You want to be the hero? Well, this is my family. So leave my family alone or I'll give you pure hell."

Summer threatened with her voice so low it made Seth shiver.

"Oh, really?" Anna began, "And what if I disobey fairy Summer?" She replied easily.

"Or this," Summer sunk her fist into Anna's pale face with all her strength until Anna fell backwards into the small hotel room.

Summer turned around to see Seth's shocked expression and she walked back to the car- ready to go home.

Seth gulped again and followed his angry fiancé into the parking lot. This had been an interesting day for sure.

9805093845903285908243

It was past midnight and Seth laid in an empty bed. Summer had demanded she remained in the kitchen sipping her hot chocolate. Ever since she gave Anna a black eye, she remained in a nasty mood.

The dogs enjoyed sitting by Summer's feet and would not leave her side for any reason. Seth had offered them treats and new dogs toys to leave Summer but they would not. Kirsten and her new baby had stopped by around dinner to view the new house. She thought it looked lovely but she also caught on to the tension that stood between Summer and Seth. Seth had spilled and Kirsten had told Sandy. He also stopped by and pretended to come only because of the dogs. Seth recognized this immediately and Sandy understood this had been one of Summer's rare rage blackouts. Maybe at least they would not have to see Anna anymore; but with Anna you never knew. She could be handing out brownies to them the next morning. This, Seth hoped, would never happened. He had only been there for a day and he wasn't ready for a murder scene quite yet.

Only 3 weeks until Christmas in Orange County and maybe only a miracle could make everything fit "happily ever after" again.

TBC..

Please review. It makes my day!