Chapter 19

That evening, Kelly prepares dinner for herself, Sammy, Silver, Naomi, and Annie. Kelly tries her best to stay alert and active throughout the entire evening. Sammy is having fun getting a lot of attention from Silver, Naomi, and Annie, but also he shows he is mad at Kelly by not listening very well to her and giving her very minimal contact by barely speaking to her all evening. When it's time for Sammy to go to bed at eight he delayed in doing anything for as long as he could. Until Kelly got tired of continually telling him to get ready for bed, she told him that he couldn't call Brandon unless if he was in bed in five minutes. After about seven minutes Kelly found him in bed, with the lights off, and already found her phone to call Brandon without asking for her permission.

She stands outside of the door, without him seeing her, so she can only hear his side of the conversation. "Yeah, Aunt Silver and her friends played with me tonight, but I wish you were here to tuck me in Daddy." …. "I don't want Mommy to tuck me in tonight."…. "Mommy has been mean." …. "No, but she is always laughing and tickling me and wanting to play. And she had her mean voice all night" …. "Are you going to make her better?" …. "I hope you do because I don't like her when she has her mean voice."…. "No, do you think she will be madder? I just wanted to talk to you Daddy."…. "I'll try, goodnight, I love you Daddy."

Sammy sets the phone on the nightstand, hugs his stuffed animal really tight, and trying to force himself to sleep before his mom would come in to tuck him in. Kelly, still outside of the door, slowly sits down leaning against the wall, not knowing what she should do. This is the first time, her son hasn't wanted her to tuck him into bed, and it's hitting her like a ton of brinks. She wants to go into his room to make him feel better, but she doesn't want to upset him even more. She's thinking she should wait until the morning to talk to him, although she doesn't like that her phone is sitting on his nightstand, she's afraid if it will ring in the middle of the night and scare him. After about ten minutes, the house phone starts to ring, so Kelly finally gets up to go answer it in her bedroom.

"Hello," Kelly says tiredly as she sits down on her bed.

"Hey Kel, it's me," Brandon says then continues slowly, "Hey, are you doing okay this evening?"

"Yeah, things are fine, Silver and her friends had a great time evening," Kelly said trying to sound like she really did enjoy the evening.

"I just finished saying goodnight to Sammy about ten minutes ago; he didn't sound like himself, Kel. Was this evening, really just fine?" Brandon asked again.

"Well if you really want to know, for starters, he wouldn't listen to anything that I asked him to do after this afternoon. He wouldn't respond when I called him several times, he complained about putting away his toys, he wouldn't wash his hands, he didn't help unload the dishwasher as he is suppose to everyday, he wouldn't eat his dinner which was one of his favorites, he was rude to Naomi and Annie at dinner, didn't put his dishes in the sink, wouldn't turn off the TV when I asked him to so he could put his dishes in the sink, he didn't have permission to turn on the TV, and he refused to get ready for bed until I told him that he couldn't call you at all if he wasn't in bed in five minutes. Oh and then to top it off, he went into my purse without my permission to take my phone. So to end, he was completely disrespectful and spent most of the evening in the corner!" Kelly finally finishes all rallied up.

"Oh, wow," is all Brandon can respond with.

And then Kelly continues, "So now if you were wondering why Sammy said that I had my mean voice all evening that is why!"

"You heard that, huh?" Brandon asks.

Kelly takes a deep breathe finally, "Yeah, I heard most of it. I was standing outside of the door. He didn't notice though," Kelly says not as angry.

"Did you go talk to him?" Brandon asks.

"No, I thought about it, but he just needs to sleep, it's impossible to try to reason with a child when they are tired, Brandon," Kelly tells him.

"I'll try to remember that, thanks," Brandon says and then continues, "Would it be easier for you, if I came to pick him up in the morning, so you don't have to drop him off before going to work?"

"Yeah, that would be easier thank you. You two could stay here for the day if you want," Kelly offers.

"Ok, thanks. What if Sammy and I came by for your lunch break, would you have time? I can pack sandwiches, it'll be like a picnic," Brandon adds.

Kelly gets ready to respond with, "I…I don't," but then stops and pauses to think more, "No, actually… that would be a very lovely lunch. I'm looking forward to it, Brandon."

"Good, so are you feeling a little bit better now?" Brandon asks.

"Yeah a little bit, thank you," Kelly honestly responds.

"You're welcome," Brandon says, "Hey, with everything going on, I haven't been able to you tell you about my meeting this morning with your old boss."

"Did it go well?" Kelly asks.

"Yeah it did, it went really well."

Kelly butts in before he could go on any further, "that's really great Brandon, I'm really proud of you. I want to hear all of the details, but I'm still completely exhausted. Can you tell me another night?" Kelly finishes with a yawn.

"Yeah, that's fine," Brandon says with an understanding voice, "you go ahead a get a good night's rest okay."

"I'll try, thanks for calling. I love you," Kelly tells him.

"I love you too, good night Kelly," Brandon says before hanging up.

After Kelly hangs up the phone, she is feeling much more relax then she was 15 minutes ago, so she rises from the bed to go check on Sammy and to retrieve her phone. When she pops her head through the door, she starts hear his snores. As she walks over to pick up her phone, she leans down to kiss his forehead first and whispers quietly, "I love you sweetie, even if I didn't show it tonight."