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It takesus two hours to get the kids out the door, and Oliver is now having a meltdown over being late to his first game. He points to the parking lot where an SUV is parked. “Connor’s parents made it on time. Why can’t you?”
“Because Conner probably doesn’t have three siblings,” I mumble, turning the car off and staring at the school’s Welcome sign on the side of the building. I didn’t like school when I was in it, let alone going back to them for kids’ sports. I don’t even enjoy watching basketball on TV.
Kelly stares at me like I’ve lost my mind. And I know why she’s staring at me. It’s because I said three siblings. Not four. You may not have caught onto it, but she did, and the glare I get is lethal. It also sets the mood for the next few hours. Don’t believe me, just wait.
Once inside the gym, Oliver takes off, because he hates us, or he has a game to play. I’m going to go ahead and go with him hating us. I can’t say I blame him. Parents are lame.
We sit down, the best we can with Sevi crying about a fucking collar, Hazel bouncing off the walls, and Fin glaring at me like she’d rather have any dad but me. Sadly, I’ve never bonded with Finley. You know how some parents say they have that unconditional bond with their kids? I don’t think Fin and I have that. She just hates me. Won’t even let me hold her half the time. It could have something to do with the fact that Fin was born exactly three days after Mara died.
Heavy, huh?
We weren’t in any condition to be bringing another baby into the world, but sometimes life just doesn’t work out that way. It happens and you’re forced to deal with it. Kelly cried through her entire delivery and I was the stoic husband in the corner turning off all emotions. I didn’t know how to handle the death of our daughter, let alone bring another baby into a world I was questioning. Maybe that’s why Fin hates me.
Next to me, Kelly looks stressed out. It’s written all over her face from the near tears that Sevi is barking again and Hazel won’t sit still. I reach for Hazel and make her sit on my lap, but it does nothing to stop her treating my legs like they’re springboards.
“Stop it,” I growl when she keeps it up. “I’m gonna make you sit in the car if you don’t knock it off.”
“I don’t want to be here,” Hazel whines, wiggling around. “Can we go?”
“No. Watch your brother,” I snap.
Any time I raise my voice at her, she breaks down in tears. Like now. Full-blown tears and her whining that Daddy is so mean.
Awesome.
Kelly sighs like this is the last thing she needs now. “Just give her to me.”
Hazel immediately jumps up and nails me in the chin with the top of her head. Now I’m pissed. I think I chipped a tooth. Not only that, she’s treating my broken hand like it’s some kind of drum set. I have a hard splint, but I can still feel all of that.
In between Kelly needing to feed Fin, because she just can’t wait to be topped off, a mother glares back at her when she’s accidentally kicked by a squirming Fin. I’ll pause here because it’s not that she was kicked. She’s glaring at my wife for breastfeeding and adds quietly while shielding her teenage son from the view, “There’s a bathroom for that.”
I don’t like the fact that her son is staring at my wife’s tits, but I also don’t agree with mothers being judged for breastfeeding in public.
I glare at the mom, and the kid and apparently, I’ve perfected it so well, they get up and leave.
And, on top of that, in case you need any other convincing that we shouldn’t be in public today, all the women, and I do mean all of them, are staring at me like I’m a monster. Can you take a wild guess as to why? It’s not because of the breastfeeding glare.
Kelly’s fucking black eye and my hand in a splint. Do you know where it’s heading? I’m going to go ahead and take a shot in the dark here and throw out the idea that they think I hit my wife. My theory is confirmed when an older lady stops in front of us, cuts a vicious glare to me and then says to Kelly, “You should leave him.”
“And you should mind your own fucking business.” Yeah, I said that.
Kelly jams her fist in my side. “Noah!”
This follows with Hazel saying, “Yeah, mind ya bizness, Lady B.”
I have no idea what Lady B stands for. Bitch maybe?
And then Fin spits breast milk on her.
Needless to say, my face is red with anger, blood pressure is through the roof, and all of us want to leave, and it’s only the second quarter. That’s when Bonner sits next to me. Yes, Bonner, our neighbor.
I groan. “What are you doing here?”
Watching the lady with Kelly’s breast milk on her shirt walk away, Bonner smiles, and then takes a drink from a water bottle I’m positive is not water. “Oliver asked me to come,” he says, winking at Kelly when she smiles at him. Then he leans in. “What happened to your wife’s face?”
“You,” I whisper with a sharp edge. I hope he senses the annoyance in my tone, but this is Bonner. I’m not sure he does. “You and your dumb ideas.”