Fallen

My cheeks heated up as I had a flash-back to this morning before I left for work. Matt had a movie night with just Car and I last night since Val has the boys, and he decided to sleep over. I woke up this morning to his arms wrapped around my waist, and his eyes opening as my alarm went off. He followed me out of bed, made me scrambled eggs while I was in the shower and told me that he would drop Carson off at daycare later in the morning so that I had time to actually sit and eat. He even complimented me while I was wearing my work uniform, not a stick of make-up on my face and hair pulled up in a messy bun. He walked me out to my car in the morning and kissed me goodbye. It was like a dream come true this morning, and it had been that way since last week when he showed up at my house unannounced and took me out on another date. We hadn’t had sex again, but we kissed frequently and this was the second time he’s stayed with me since our last “date”.

I kicked off my work shoes and slipped on my flip-flops, then looked over to my coworker, Abby, who was at the computer next to me. She was fully engulfed in a conversation with someone from another zoo, talking about a possible animal transfer for our unit. We were possibly going to be doing a swap with some lions, sending out our cubs that are no-longer cubs, and bringing in a new female for our handsome male to breed with. Abby looked over at me with an eye-roll and smile. I sent her a toothy smile and waved before leaving my desk and heading out the door.

Tonight was another parent night at Carson’s daycare, and I had to go home and get changed before showing up. They were keeping the kids late and doing a pot-luck with the parents, wanting to talk about upcoming activities, field trips and of course, asking for funding. This is what I got for enrolling him into an “advanced” daycare that was more than just playing all day. Thank god we only had less than two years of this before he was in public school for the rest of his life.

I pulled into my driveway, noticing Matt’s truck in my usual spot. I laughed, shaking my head, and hopped out of the car. My front door was unlocked so I walked right in, seeing him in the kitchen with some tupper-ware filled with food on the counter. He smiled as I walked over to him, throwing my arms around him, “You live here now or something?”

“Or something,” he smiled and pressed his lips to mine lightly. “I packed everything up and it’s ready to go, so once you’re clean and changed we can head to the daycare.”

“You’re the best, you know that?” I smiled up at him then pulled myself from his embrace. “I’ll be ready in fifteen.”

I showered quickly, just needing to wash my face and body, then pulled on a pair of jeans and a black long-sleeved shirt. I slipped flip flops on my feet and grabbed my purse, heading toward the kitchen. I could just put a little bit of make-up on while Matt drove there, all I really needed to do was cover up one blemish and put on some mascara and chapstick. I helped Matt carry the tupper-ware out to his truck then climbed into the passenger seat. He started off toward the daycare and I pulled out my make-up bag.

Matt’s hand came over and rubbed my thigh lightly through my jeans, “You don’t need make-up.”

“Thanks, but I wear it for myself, not you,” I laughed and pulled the visor down, putting concealer on the bright red pimple on my forehead. “Plus, this thing is humungous.”

I watched from the corner of my eye as Matt rolled his eyes, “Well, now that you pointed it out to me, yeah it’s so big and ugly I can’t handle it.”

I turned my face to look at him, my jaw dropped slightly as he grinned widely and chuckled. “Asshole,” I hit him playfully in the arm. “I probably got it from the stress of having you around.”

“I can imagine it’s stressful to date someone as wonderful as I am,” he turned to look at me and wiggled his eyebrows. “I’m also a good stress reliever, just so you’re aware.”

“You’re sick,” I shook my head and looked back into the visor, applying the rest of my make-up.

When we got to the daycare we both hopped out of his truck, grabbing the food and heading toward the entrance. Val was already there waiting for us, a smile on her face when she realized we had come together. We walked in together and put the food down on the table where the rest of the parents were standing. I looked around the room, trying to find Carson, but had no luck. I furrowed my brows as Cash came running over, by himself, and clung to Matt’s leg saying hello. He then bounced over to his mother with a grin on his face, then grabbed onto my leg, hugging it tightly.

“Hey Cash, where’s Car?” I looked down at the little boy attached to my leg.

His green eyes looked up at me as he gnawed on his bottom lip, looking just like his father, “Talking to Ms. Ridley. He’s in trouble.”

“What?” I looked from Cash over to Matt and Val who both looked a little shocked. “Why?”

“He pushed Kenzie,” Cash shrugged and let go of me, heading back to Val.

I groaned and rubbed my forehead with my hand, probably rubbing all of the concealer off of that pimple. That pimple was going to turn into four since Car couldn’t seem to keep his hands to himself. Carson wasn’t a bad kid, maybe a little hyperactive at times, but he never got physical with other kids, especially a girl. Something must’ve really ticked him off, and I needed to speak with Ms. Ridley.

“I’ll be back. Let me go get my problem child,” I huffed looking at Matt and Val. Val gave me a concerned look but I brushed it off, slipping my wrist out of Matt’s hand and heading toward the back room.

I saw Carson sitting in a small chair, tears streaming down his face as Ms. Ridley stood in front of him, squatting down to be at his level. I frowned seeing him like this, it wasn’t his “I’m sorry” cry, it was more of the “there was a reason” cry.

“Hey, bud,” I said while crouching next to Ms. Ridley. She moved over so I could pull Carson in a hug. His body shook as he cried on my shoulder, I pulled him away from me and held him out at arms length, “Want to tell me what happened?”

He wiped his nose on his long sleeved shirt and looked at me with sad eyes, sniffling between every word he was speaking, “Kenzie threw a rock at me. I pushed her down and got in trouble. It wasn’t my fault, Momma! She called me ugly and threw a rock!”

“Excuse me?” I said, shocked, and grabbed Carson in my arms, now standing up with him. I held him close to my chest as he cried. I looked at Ms. Ridley with fire running through my eyes, through my veins, “She hit my son with a rock and he is the one being punished?”

Ms. Ridley sighed, standing up and looking at me with a frown, “The only one that saw the rock hit him was Cash, but we all saw him shove her to the ground, unfortunately.”

“So one witness to the incident isn’t enough for you to put her in time out instead of him? Are you serious right now?” I was getting heated, feeling Carson’s body shaking again. I kissed his temple, “Baby, you’re fine. You’re not in trouble. You did nothing wrong.” I eyed Ms. Ridley, “This is absolutely ridiculous.”

Ms. Ridley ran a hand through her red hair and looked toward the ground, “We made Kennedy aware of the situation, as well. She asked her daughter if she hit Carson and the answer was no.”

That’s when a switch completely flipped in my head, turning the lightbulb of hidden knowledge on. That was why Val was looking at me the way she was. I completely had forgotten that Kenzie was Kennedy’s daughter, and Kennedy wasn’t happy about the whole “me dating Matthew Sanders” situation. A growl nearly emitted from my throat, realizing that she may have told her snot nosed brat to do that to Carson. Why else would a little girl throw a rock at a boy and call him ugly. “Let something like this happen again and you’ll lose a student,” I sneered walking out of the room with Carson still in my arms.

I made it back out to the main area where everyone was, immediately seeing Kennedy staring at me with a death glare. Her small demon child was standing next to her, the same look on her face. I shook my head and walked toward Matt and Val, both looking at me with sad eyes.

“Hey, Car,” Matt said softly while grabbing Carson from my arms. Carson looked at Matt with a half smile, and Matt started singing, “Someone’s a cry baby. Someone’s a cry baby.”

Carson’s smile turned into a grin as he looked to Matt, “I am not a cry baby!”

“Atta boy,” he laughed and hugged Carson, then set him on the floor by Cash. I looked down to see that Cash offered Carson one of his gummy bears, and then they were back to three-year-old conversations like we weren’t even here. Matt grabbed my hand in his and eyed me, “Everything okay?”

“Not really,” I said with a nervous laugh. “Kenzie threw a rock at Car and called him ugly. Cash was the only one that saw the rock hit him. Everyone else saw Car shove her to the ground, so naturally, he gets punished.”

Val cleared her throat, and I turned to look at her, “Makes sense as to why Kennedy has been staring at you like she wants to jab your eyes out.”

“Actually she’s been looking at me like that ever since Matt first lied to her about me being his girlfriend,” I laughed and looked to Matt who was blushing. “But I will admit, this is especially jabby.”

The rest of the evening at the daycare went rather smoothly. Ms. Ridley had apologized to me about the situation, finally realizing that she was a tad bit out of line with only punishing Carson. She had pulled Kennedy aside and had a talk with her, which she told me she was going to, and told her that Kenzie was going to be sitting out on play time for the remainder of the week. Val had pulled me aside, asking me if I thought Kennedy was behind the whole thing, which I admitted that I sort of felt that way. She told me she did too, and to watch her closely. Val didn’t trust her as far as you could throw the plastic woman, from her past experiences with her and now this. Matt and I didn’t talk at all about he situation, as he still wasn’t aware that I even knew about their past sex-relationship.

Carson had cheered up throughout the night, all starting with Matt poking fun at him for crying. We said our goodbyes to Val and Cash, then hopped into Matt’s truck for the ride home. Carson wasn’t aware that Matt drove, so he was really excited to get to ride in the truck. When we got home, Matt followed us in and grabbed Carson and ice cream sandwich out of the freezer, immediately becoming his best friend.

“Are you staying the night again?” Carson asked looking up at Matt, a curious expression on his little face.

I nearly choked on my tea at the question, Matt looked over at me a little wide-eyed. I smiled at him after swallowing, “If he wants to.”

“I want him to,” Carson smiled at me and looked at Matt. “Can we have boy time?”

Matt grinned, leaning onto the counter, his dimples deep in his cheeks, “Only if your Momma is okay with it.”

My heart lightly fluttered when I noticed that Carson was really looking to Matt as a male figure in his life. Whether things worked out between Matt and I romantically, or just as friends, I was hoping their relationship would end up like this since Car and Cash were so damn close. “Absolutely,” I smiled at Carson. I leaned over and kissed Matt’s cheek, then Carson’s forehead. “I’ll be in my room if you two need me. Enjoy your boy time.”

Notes

I wonder what the future has in store...

Side note; Kennedy and her daughter are BITCHES