Chapter Six
"Come on guys! We're gonna be late!" Brooke yelled to her children.
The clock read 7:05. They should have left five minutes ago. Vaughn and Laney mumbled and groaned as they trudged into the kitchen, their backpacks dragging behind them.
"Orange juice and toast on the counter. Vaughn, dance rehearsal after school today?"
"Yep." Vaughn nodded and downed her orange juice in one gulp, setting the cup back on the counter and taking a hearty bite of her toast.
"Laney you have piano?"
"As always." Laney sipped her orange juice and the two girls just stood there staring at her.
"Right. Tavian! Saylor! Move it children!"
Tavian came running into the kitchen and stopped dead in front of his mother.
"Saylor says she's not going." He announced.
Brooke groaned, looking around the kitchen. Laney and Vaughn shrugged.
"Laney start the car please. Keys are on the wall. Vaughn, get your brother in the car please. I'll get Saylor."
Brooke went down the hallway towards her youngest daughter's room and stopped in the doorway when she found Saylor sitting on her bed and swinging her feet aimlessly.
"Hey baby girl, what are you doing?" Brooke asked, taking one step inside the room, "Your sisters are gonna be late for school if we don't get going."
"I don't wanna go." Saylor mumbled.
"You love going to pre-school. Why don't you wanna go?"
"Cause."
"'Cause why?" Brooke moved further into the room and sat on the small bed next to Saylor.
"You won't come back."
"What?"
That answer really confused Brooke. She had never once even been late to pick Saylor up, let alone forget her there. So why the sudden separation anxiety on the three year olds end?
"Say? I've never left you at pre-school before. I wouldn't start today, but we gotta get going. Come on."
"You won't come back." Saylor said simply again, looking up at Brooke with a very sad look in her eyes, "Daddy didn't."
Sudden realization hit Brooke and she immediately felt tears well up in her eyes. She pulled Saylor into her lap and hugged her tightly.
"That's what this is about… Daddy dropped you off Friday and when you came home, he was gone. Now you think I'll do the same thing."
"I don't want you to go too Mommy."
"Saylor, Mommy will never ever do that to you. I will never leave you."
"I don't wanna go Mommy."
"Ok Say, I tell you what. We have to go now or else Laney and Vaughn are gonna be late. Then Tavian has to be dropped off and after that, you and I will spend the day together, just the two of us. Does that sound good? I won't make you go to pre-school today."
Saylor's eyes brightened just a little bit and she nodded.
"Alright then, come on." Brooke stood with Saylor in her arms and they headed out of the house together, just quickly grabbing a cup of orange juice off the counter for Saylor and Brooke's travel mug of coffee.
They reached the car, strapped Saylor into her car-seat and Brooke sped out of the driveway.
"Hey Say… what happened? How come you don't wanna go to school today?" Laney asked her little sister as they drove.
Saylor just frowned and shook her head, which in toddler code meant that she didn't want to talk about it.
"It's a D-A-D-D-Y issue." Brooke spelled out.
"Oh." Laney nodded her understanding and leaned over, placing a quick kiss on Saylor's cheek, "Love you Say."
Saylor grinned.
"Love you too."
For the most part, the quick five minute drive to the high school was quiet, allowing Brooke to think. She had planned to take the day and figure out the specifics of her divorce. Who would get the house and the cars? Alimony? Child Support? Custody? But if she was spending the day with Saylor, then her plans would have to change.
"Have a good day girls!" Brooke called out to the twins as they jumped out of the SUV and rushed into the school to avoid being late.
She hurried out of one parking lot and headed down the road towards Tavian's school. Dropping him off wasn't as simple. Even though he was in the first grade now, she still liked to walk him to class and today, under the circumstances the family was in, she thought she should talk to the teacher and warn her that Tavian may have difficulty dealing.
"Alright kids, let's go." Brooke got out of her seat and opened the back door.
Tavian jumped out while Brooke unhooked Saylor and the three of them headed down the school hallway towards Tavian's classroom. They still had a few minutes to spare which meant that Brooke had time.
"Good morning Brooke." Mrs. Valero, Tavian's teacher, greeted her.
"Good morning."
Tavian immediately ran off and found some of his friends to play with for the last few minutes before class. Saylor was clinging to Brooke though, which could make things difficult.
"Hey Say, why don't you go look at one of the books over there huh?"
That excited her and she ran off to do that while Brooke sighed, watching her carefully.
"Everything ok?" Mrs. Valero asked.
"Well… I thought I should warn you that um… well I'm not sure how Tavian's gonna do today or what he'll say. I'd kinda like to keep this under wraps as much as possible, but being his teacher, you should know that there's things going on at home that may cause him to act up or act out in some way. Lucas left Friday. He moved to St. Louis without any warning or even a goodbye, so the kids are taking it pretty hard. He's been ok this weekend, but I don't know if he's gonna talk about it or what. I thought Saylor was ok but then this morning she suddenly refused to go to pre-school so…"
"Wow Brooke, I'm so sorry. I'll keep an eye on Tavian. Is there anything else I can do?"
Brooke smiled weakly.
"Thanks, but no. Just be warned that if he does act up, I'd rather you just called me and I'll come get him than punish him."
"Absolutely. If you don't mind me asking… were you and Lucas having problems? Last time I saw you two together you seemed great."
"He's gay." Brooke admitted simply.
Mrs. Valero's mouth fell open just as the school bell rang signaling the start of the school day.
"Yeah, exactly." Brooke had expected that kind of reaction, "Saylor! Come on baby!"
Saylor closed the book she had been looking at and put it away before running back to her mom and jumping into her arms.
Brooke snuggled her and kissed her forehead then smiled at Mrs. Valero who was still in shock.
"It'll probably take you all day to digest that. I'm still getting used to it myself." Brooke laughed, "Thanks for keeping an eye on Tavian."
"Oh um… sure thing. Good luck."
"Thanks."
Brooke and Saylor said goodbye to Tavian and then exited the classroom, heading back to their car.
"I'm hungry." Saylor announced as they began to drive again.
"Me too. Denny's or IHOP?"
"Umm…" Saylor thought seriously over her choices and then grinned, "IHOP."
"Sounds good my love. IHOP it is."