A Lullaby I Wrote For You

The following morning I rolled over, the incessant shrill of my alarm clock ringing so high only dogs could hear. Grumbling to myself I switched the annoying device off and lay back on my bed, my head buried in the soft crease of my pillow. After laying there for five or so minutes I sighed and pushed myself up into a sitting position, the flannel tank top and PJ pants encasing me in a shield of warmth.

I blinked the sleep from my eyes and groped for my phone, pulling it towards me to see three new messages. In my sleepy state I hit the 'open' button to read the first message.

Charlie.
Everything ok now, S?

I hit a reply back into the phone and sent it quickly, not wanting him to worry. The second message was from my Aunt Melanie who lived in Jacksonville, Florida. She wanted to know what my Dad wanted for his birthday next week. I text back quickly and opened the third message.

(1) New Text Message
Sender: Unknown
Message: Morning. Sleep well?

Stepping out of bed my feet hit the cool carpet and I made fists with my toes, feeling the nice material with the pads of my feet. I dithered on texting the stranger back. What was his name? Jon?

To: Unknown
Message: Like a log.

A minute later, as I was staring at my reflection in the mirror, a text sounded.

(1) New Text Message
Sender: Unknown
Message: What you're not going to ask how I slept?

To: Unknown
Message: I already know. You don't sleep. You stay up to stalk people.

I grabbed the hairbrush from my vanity and prepared to drag it through the tangles that I called my hair when Dad's voice shouted up the stairs. "Sam! C'mon! Breakfast is getting cold!" It was eight in the morning and I still felt drowsy. I hadn't slept all that well. I'd tossed and turned for most of the night, lost in my own little world.

I wasn't ready for Dad to move on, that much was obvious. He was my Dad afterall. I was a Daddy's girl through and through. I wasn't ready to share him with someone. I mean, have you seen those films? Like the Parent Trap for example. New Step Mom comes in and, excuse my... French, but she's a bitch! And all Step Moms are wicked, evil, disastrous people. Surely Dad knew that - my entire childhood had been brought up on Disney.

Besides - Dad wasn't that attractive. He was tall, slim, sort of fit and active I guess. But he told the worst jokes. And his shirts always had bits of grease on them from where he worked on the car in the afternoons. And he slurped his soup and...and...

"SAM!" Dad shouted again. I siged and set the brush down, staring at the mess of hair on top of my head. Leaving my room and walking along the landing and down the stairs, I walked into our country-style kitchen to see Dad and four strangers staring back at me.

Instantly my eyes widened. Dad was standing at the kitchen island next to a woman was... beautiful. A warm, amused smile was pulled across her lips and her eyes twinkled. To their left stood three teenage boys, each one ridiculously attractive in their own little ways. The first had long, shaggy length hair and bright eyes. The second was smaller than the first, a mop of curls, much like the womans. And the third of the boys was taller, his hair slightly tousled and his smile never wavered.

"Sam," Dad said gently. My eyes snapped to him. "This is Denise and her boys. That's Joe, Nick and Kevin."

The four pairs of eyes never left my rigid face.

I clenched my teeth. I wasn't bothered that I looked like I'd fallen out of bed, because in reality I had, no, I was bothered that the portrait of my Mom and Dad hung in the kitchen window and yet, in present day, Dad and his new Wife-to-Be stood there unable to see the problem this caused.

"Hi," one of the boys spoke. I didn't know who it was, I didn't bother to look in their direction. Instead, I pulled on the waist of the flannel bottoms and shook my head as Dad gestured for me to introduce myself.

Dad stared at me. I stared back. "I'm going to Charlie's for breakfast."

And I turned to walk away when Dad called me back. I shook my head, knowing he could see, and raced to my room and grabbed my car keys. I walked down the stairs, back into the kitchen where Dad watched me leave, a crestfallen look on his face and as I left I heard one of the boys say,

"Is she okay?"