“Hey phone for you,” Kevin said handing me the phone and taking Tyler. I laughed to myself as I watched the ever reserved Kevin making faces and talking in baby talk to my son.
“Hello,” I said expecting to hear another one of my neighbors calling to see if they could bring anything over for us to eat.
“Hey girl!” I heard on the other end. It took me a moment to figure out who it was.
“Missy? Hey what's going on? I was beginning to think you were dead or something.”
“No, I'm not dead, I just heard about your baby and called to wish you all the best.”
“Oh well thank you,” I said.
“And besides I have great news for you.”
“What is it?” I asked wondering what could be better than my son actually coming home for the first time.
“JC and I are engaged again!”
“You're with JC?” My head started spinning. “I thought JC was with Amanda.”
“Oh they broke up awhile ago,” Missy answered not realizing the importance of what she was saying to me. “He's been with me for a couple of months now.”
“I'm happy for you,” I said trying to sound happy. Missy went on a while about the details of her upcoming wedding and after promising to call more often, hung up.
I tried to stop my thoughts from going in the direction that they were, but it was impossible. If JC and Amanda weren't together anymore that means she was single when she was in the bar with AJ that night.
“Hey babe, I got the ice,” AJ said walking over and putting the bag down on the table. I couldn't look at him in the face, I just walked over picked Tyler up out of Kevin's arms, grabbed Arrianna's hand and walked up the stairs.

“Can I come in?” Rhonda called out as she opened the door to the playroom. I just continued to sit on the floor and help Arrianna stack blocks. “Where's Tyler? Rhonda asked coming to sit down next to me. Arrianna went over to her and gave her some of the blocks.
“He's over there in his crib,” I said pointing to one of the cribs in the house.
“So…who was on the phone?” she asked trying to be nonchalant about it.
“Just Missy…” I said. I looked over at her, “Do you know why Nick and her broke up?” I asked.
“Well according to Nick it was because they didn't have the 'Rhonda and Howie' kinda love. But we can see how good that is,” she said with a small laugh.
“So you didn't know that Missy is with JC again?”
“Missy's with JC? But I thought he was with Amanda?”
“Yeah,” I said quietly. “That's what I thought too.”
“You don't think…” Rhonda stopped. “Look,” she said, “he's just been stressed out lately, you both have been. Just give it some time, don't rush yourself into a situation like Howie and me. Besides you have no evidence that anything is going on.”
I sighed knowing that Rhonda was right. “I just don't ever want to have to go through anything like your going through. I'm sorry, no offence.”
“That's alright, no offence taken,” she said as she gave me a big hug. “I wouldn't want you to go through what I'm going through. Now…” she said standing up and pulling me with her, “why don't you go take a bath and climb into bed. I'll make excuses for you downstairs.”
I remembered the early days when Arrianna was born and knew that this my be my last free chance to relax before the early morning feeding ritual started. “I'm gonna take you up on that,” I said as I handed a squirming Arrianna over to her and headed towards a now eagerly anticipated bubble bath.

I woke up later that night to the sound of Tyler's hungry cries. I sat up in bed and looked over to AJ's side. It hadn't been slept on. By the glowing red numbers on the clock on the nightstand I could make out that it was 3:00 in the morning. I wondered if he had fallen asleep downstairs.

I went into the nursery and picked Tyler up out of his crib. “Hey buddy. Are you hungry?” I asked yawning and walking with him downstairs to get him a bottle. As I passed by the living room I looked in to see if AJ was there. He wasn't. I headed to the kitchen and quickly fixed a bottle for the baby. I slowly walked through the house as I fed Tyler and looked for AJ. Before I even got to the last room of the house I knew he wasn't home.

I walked back to the living room and turned the tv on. I have no idea what I was watching I just kept looking at the door waiting for him to walk to walk in. By 4:00 the bottle was empty and he still wasn't home. I got up, laid the sleeping Tyler in his crib and went to bed.

“Babe…” I heard AJ whisper into my ear as his hands worked their way under my shirt. I could smell the alcohol on his breath. I glanced at the clock which now read 6:00, rolled over and moved to the other side of the bed out of his reach. He sighed and I felt him lay down. It wasn't long before I heard the even sound of his breathing.

I woke up to see AJ passed out on the other side of the bed. Just the sight of him made me even more pissed off. I couldn't believe that he had stayed out drinking till all hours of the night on our son's first day home from the hospital. I walked over to Arrianna's bedroom and woke her up to get her dressed for day care. After I got her up and dressed I went to get Tyler up and fed, since AJ was obviously not in the position to watch him while I drove Arrianna to daycare and I was going to have to take him with us.

I struggled to get Arrianna into her car seat with one hand as I held Tyler in the other one. I then headed over to the other side of the car and struggled to get him and his monitor in his seat. The more I had to fight with all the wires the more I wished slow torture on my husband.

I dropped her off and headed back home. I walked in to find AJ finally awake and digging through the kitchen for something for breakfast. “Hey…” he grumbled half asleep. I just turned away and didn't say anything to him. “What's wrong with you?” he asked pulling a box of cereal down from the shelf.

“Nothing,” I said not even wanting to talk to him right now.
“Fine,” he said turning back and looking in the fridge for the milk. I took Tyler up to the nursery and laid him in his crib. The day past with me and AJ saying as little as possible to each other, both of us stubbornly refusing to be the first to break the silence.