Chapter 31 – Steps

Sara met with Nick at home. She was very glad to be with him again and gave him a big kiss before saying hello. She got Charlotte to school and went to bed right away. Something about talking to George had drained her. She fell asleep as soon as she hit the pillow. When she woke up about 4 hours later she expected to see Nick in the house. She looked for him for a minute before seeing the note on the table.

It said that he had gone to the store. She smiled and looked at her watch. Charlotte was supposed to be home in about half and hour. She was tidying up the kitchen when she heard the doorbell ring. She went to get it without looking into the peephole. She regretted doing that later.

"Hi, Sara," Jeff said as she opened the door.

She stood there with her mouth open. He had a slightly black eye from where Nick had punched him and he looked at her like he had been anxious to see her. She was completely taken off guard by his presence. She thought she had finally gotten rid of him, but here he was, standing on her doorstep.

"Can…can I come in?" he asked timidly.

"No you may not." Sara was about to close the door but Jeff put out a big arm stopped her.

Sara looked at his hand then back at him. "So we're going to go down this road again?" she asked sarcastically.

"No," Jeff said, taking his hand off the door, "Sara. I didn't get to tell you how sorry I was the other night…we were….interrupted." Sara saw a hint of disgust at the mention of Nick.

"Jeff, I really don't care any more. There is nothing you could say to me. I'm finished with you." Sara made a move to shut the door again, turning, waiting to hear the satisfying slam of the door. When she didn't hear it she looked back. Jeff was standing in her foyer.

"Get out of my house." He must be used to hearing this by now.

"Sara, I need to talk to you." Jeff sounded a little desperate but she didn't care. She stood in her hallway, with her hands on her hips waiting for him to get out. When she didn't answer, Jeff continued.

"I'm really sorry. I have a temper and sometimes…it gets a little out of control."

Sara let out a snort. She rolled her eyes and turned around, heading up the stairs. Right now she really didn't want to see him. She walked up the steps and rolled her eyes again as she heard Jeff follow her. She was on the landing of her L-shaped staircase when she turned.

"Sara…"

"No. You know what, Jeff?" Sara had a temper herself and right now, Jeff was pressing all the right buttons. "I don't want to talk to you. Charlotte is still traumatized. This is just going down now and every time I see it I can't help but think how mush I hate you!" Sara indicated the yellowing bruise on her cheek. She pushed on Jeff's chest and he stepped back a step. Sara spun on her heel and started up the remaining steps. She took them two at a time and Jeff ran after her.

"Sara. You have to listen to me!"

"No I don't!" Sara yelled, spinning to look at him again. "You don't listen to me anyway and I don't want to listen to you! It doesn't matter Jeff! Its over! I don't understand how you don't get it!" Sara screamed. She threw her hands up in the air and started walking up the steps again.

Jeff ran up the steps to block Sara's path. Sara let out a shaky breath, trying to calm herself, preventing herself from hurting him.

"Get out of my way."

"No, Sara. I need to talk to you and you're not listening!"

"Neither are you!" Sara yelled. "You're not getting out of my way!" She was at the top of the steps, turned toward her bedroom, on the right of the staircase, with Jeff blocking her path. She looked at him. He took a deep breath and hung his head. This was obviously frustrating him and that was brightening Sara's mood. Slightly.

"I'm very sorry. Shouldn't that be enough? I thought you liked me."

Sara narrowed her eyes at him. "Jeff! I liked you. Emphasis on the 'ed'! You slapped me! How can you think that's some…forgivable act?!" Sara's voice rose and rose with each word. She could feel her face getting hotter and hotter with rage as she overpowered him with her voice.

"Sara! Stop yelling!" Jeff yelled. "I made a mistake!"

"Damn right you made a mistake!" Sara yelled, pushing him in the chest again. He recoiled and grabbed her by the arms for the third time in the past week.

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Charlotte was excited. School ended in a couple of minutes and she couldn't wait to get home. She loved playing with Nick and ever since that thing with Jeff last week she couldn't bare to be away from her mother for very long. She waited anxiously for the bell to ring. Her friends were talking and laughing around her but she was staring at the clock. She didn't exactly know how to tell time yet but she knew that when the short hand was on the 12 and the bigger hand was on the 6 then morning kindergarten was over. The big hand was almost there and she was waiting anxiously for it to move.

When it did she ran out of the classroom. Mrs. Duffy, her teacher, told her to slow down but she only slowed to a quick walk. When she got outside she ran around to the front of the school. There was a long line of busses, as there was every afternoon, and now Charlotte had to find the one with the blue cloth tied to the front; the one she would take home. It only took her a few minutes before she found it and got on, sitting in the front seat so she could get out quickly.

The bus seemed to go slower then usual. He stop was third and she had to wait patiently for all the kids to get off at the first two stops. Her mom always said she was bad at being patient and she was right. Charlotte swung her feet under her seat until they got to her stop. The bus stopped right in front of her house so when she got off she nearly flew into her front door. She dumped her stuff onto the floor and called her mom's name.

The front foyer is right in front of the dining room. Off to the left was the living room past the hall. The staircase was right behind the living room and you could see the upstairs hall from the downstairs hallway. Once Charlotte dumped her stuff on the floor she looked around for her mom. She looked up and saw Jeff. She stopped short and stared up, not able to move.

Sara saw Charlotte burst through the doorway and looked down in terror. She didn't want her to see another one of Jeff's…outbursts. Jeff still had her by the arms, that crazy look in his eye that Sara was finding inappropriately familiar.

"Let go of me," Sara said in a deadly whisper.

"Not until you listen to me."

"Are we going to do this in front of Charlotte again?" Sara asked, her voice returning to its heated rage again.

"Not if you make this easy," Jeff said with a fake smile.

"Mommy?" Charlotte asked in that terrified voice Sara never wanted to hear again. She looked down at her daughter and gave her a smile.

"Sweetie, why don't you go into the kitchen and wait for me to come down?"

"No," Charlotte said, running toward the stairs but only going up to the landing. "I…I want to stay with you."

"No, Charlotte, go back downstairs." Sara tried to reason with her daughter. She looked back at Jeff. "Can you please let go of me?" she asked.

She heard Charlotte running up the steps so she turned, trying to get out of Jeff's grip. He had loosened, getting distracted by Charlotte, but when Sara turned he nearly lost her. She was almost out of his grip but Jeff leaned forward and tried to grab at Sara's arm. He took it and Sara was spun around. Unfortunately, she already had her foot out, ready to go down the steps for Charlotte. She was knocked off balance and her body weight going off balance caused him to let go. Sara headed, back first, down the stairs. She made a grab for the banister but she only hit her hand on the wooden rail. Charlotte let out a scream as Sara started her airborne flight down the stairs.