Healer of a Broken Heart

The entire drive home Tre kept trying to take his shirt off and hang out the window. I had to put the window lock on and force him to fasten his seat belt. We finally made it home, it felt longer than necessary, and I managed to drag him in the door and lay him in his room on the floor. When we made it I left him there and went to bed.

I woke up this morning still holding the grudge of last night and loathed his behavior. I made sure to make as much noise as possible because that's just how I am. When I woke up I made sure to jump on the floor when I 'jumped' out of bed and slammed my door coming out and heading to the bathroom. I slammed doors all morning. The only silence he got, or close to it, was when I was in the bathroom taking a shower. I pranced down the steps hitting them as hard as I could and screamed, "Morning, Tre!" when I reached the bottom.

He groaned and held his ears. "Why must you torture me so?"

"Because," I said with a childish smile while resting my elbows on the arm of the chair, hands clamped together.

"You're an evil little child, you know that? Leaving me in the floor like that and now you're trying to crack my skull with all this noise," he said pinching the bridge of his nose.

"M hm," I agreed. "Serves you right." I skipped to the kitchen and slammed cabinet doors getting some breakfast ready for me. That was about the sum of the morning until the telephone rang.

"AAHHH!!" Tre screamed in agony. I heard a thud shortly after.

I poked my head in the living room and couldn't see him, only hear him. He fell on the floor. I grinned and waited until the fourth ring to answer.

"Hello?" I said.

"Hey, it's Adrienne,"

"Hey"

"Joey was wondering if you wanted to come over today." she said.

"Sure, if I'm not doing anything. We may go to the park if he wants. Tre has a major migraine and I'm having the time of my life slamming doors and stomping around." I said with a grin.

"Bitch!" I heard Tre call from the living room.

"I know!" I called back. "Tell him I'll be there around 2 and we'll go to the park."

"Okay, I'll tell him," she said.

"Alright, see you later," I said.

"Okay, bye."

"Bye," I said and hung up the phone.

I walked into the living room and stepped over Tre and sat down in the armchair he was in before the phone rang. I crossed my legs and put each arm on the arms of the chair. If I had big rings and a giant cigar I could have passed as a mob boss. I smiled down at him and said, "Do you want me to fetch you some Tylenol?"

He looked up at me with squinted eyes. "If you would, and quietly, please. Advil works better."

I nodded and walked into the kitchen. I found the medicine cabinet above the stove and pulled out some Advil and poured a glass of water. I took it back to Tre who had made his way back up to the couch and stretched out. I shoved the Advil and glass of water in his face. He threw the pills in his mouth and gulped the water.

"Thanks," he said.

"Yeah," I replied.

I looked at the clock on the wall and decided that I would go and put on some make up before picking up Joey. I walked upstairs leaving Tre to moan on the couch and walked into my room. I pulled out the lotion and spread it on my face and followed it with foundation, then blush. I put them back in the make up bag and pulled out the case of eyeliner. I stared at the colors and chose the salmon pink. I smeared it on my eyelids, put the brush back in the case, closed the lid, and put it back in the bag. I pulled out eyeliner and put it around my eyes and placed it back in the bag. The clock on my dresser said 1:19. I had a little time before I had to be there, but I'll leave anyway and take him somewhere to get a milkshake or something. Little kids like McDonald's, right? I grabbed my wallet and made sure I had my license and money and shoved it in my purse.

I walked downstairs and said, "I'm going to Billie's to take Joey out for a while. I'll be back later."

He was laying on the couch with his arm across his face to shield the light from his eyes. "Whatever."

I grabbed my keys off the spoke and made sure I slammed the door when I left.

"BITCH!" I heard Tre scream when I stopped behind the door. I chuckled and continued to the car.

I started the car and backed out of the driveway. I ran through my mind place marks I could remember so I could get to their house. It's not that far from Tre's, just about half a mile, but their driveway was a little hard to see because of the bushes. I slowed down when I felt I was nearing their driveway and found it. I pulled in and parked the car. I got out and started to walk toward the door to knock when I heard Joey on the other side.

"Se's here, se's here!" He sounded pretty excited. This is only our second meeting. I must have made quite an impact on the little fella.

I knocked once and opened the door to have my knees tackled by a little two year old.

"Welcome back," Adrienne greeted as I picked Joey up and set him on my hip.

"Thank you," I smiled. "So, what time should I have him back?" I asked.

"Well, around 5 so we can have dinner would be nice," she replied.

"5 it is then," I said. "Thanks for letting me take him out for a while today, Adrienne. I'm sure we'll have fun." I poked his stomach and he giggled. It was so cute. I love this kid already.

"I'm sure," she replied.

I let him down so I could carry his car seat out to the car so I could strap it in. We walked out the door and over to the car. I opened the door behind the driver's side and strapped in Joey's car seat. I turned around and picked him up and set him in the seat and strapped him in.

"So, where do you want to go first?" I asked bending over and putting my hands on my knees so I was eye level with him.

"Um," he pondered for a moment. "the pock."

This kid is great. "Okay, the park it is." I got in the front and started up the car, started to back out of the drive way, and realized, I didn't know where the park was.

"Just a minute Joey," I said getting out of the car.

I ran up to the front door and knocked again. Seconds later Billie answered the door. He looked pretty rough.

"Um, where is the park at?" I asked.

"When you back out, turn left and drive half a mile and on the right there is a sign that says 'Oaklawn Road'. Turn there and it's on that road. Can't miss it," he replied. "Oh, and you might need this." He handed me the diaper bag.

"Of course," I said taking the bag and slinging the strap over my shoulder. "See you guys later."

I returned to the car and put the bag in the passenger seat. I followed Billie's directions and made it to the park. I parked the car in the parking lot across from the park, shut off the car, grabbed the diaper bag, and got Joey out of the car. I put him on my hip and had the bag on the opposite shoulder. We crossed the street and I put him down so he could play. He grabbed my finger and lead me over to the bouncy pony. "Bouncy, bouncy!" he said.

I walked over with him to the pony and sat down on the bench. I set the bag beside me and watched him bounce on the horse making cowboy noises and act out a gun fight. I chuckled.

"Pew, pew!" he would say and stick his index finger and thumb out in the shape of a gun. "Cint Eafwood wins again!"

I nearly laughed my butt off at that one. I'm surprised he knew who Clint Eastwood was. We stayed and played at the park for nearly two hours. It was about 3:30 when he came up to me saying, "Jayen, I hungry."

"Well, do you want to go to McDonald's?" I asked.

He shook his head, "Can we go home an eat there?"

"Sure, whatever you want," I said picking him up and placing the diaper bag back on my shoulder. We crossed the street and went back to the car. I strapped him back in the car seat and put the bag in the passenger's seat. I walked over to my side, climbed in, started the car, and headed back to the Armstrong's. we pulled into their driveway and we walked inside.

"We're back!" I hollered.

"Already?" I heard Adrienne reply back.

"Yeah, he got hungry and wanted to eat here," I reply.

She appeared from a room across from the kitchen and said, "Oh, well, dinner will be ready in about an hour." She bent down to Joey and asked, "Do you want some apple slices?"

"Yes!" he exclaimed and hobbled to the kitchen.

"Such a cute kid," I said.

"Thanks," she replied.

We walked into the kitchen and talked while Joey munched on apple slices and she fixed supper.

"Will you be joining us?" she asked.

"Maybe, I may go back and check on Tre," I replied.

"Okay, we'll have plenty if you decide to say," she replied with a smile.

"Actually, I better get back to Tre's and tend to him. His brain has probably sauteed by now," I chuckled.

"Okay, well, thanks for taking Joey out today. See you around?" she asked.

I nodded. "Of course." I ruffled Joey's hair, "See you around, little man."

"Bye," he said with a mouth full of apple.

"Joey, don't eat with your mouth full," Adrienne said as I was leaving the kitchen.

"Tell Billie I said 'Hey' for me," I called.

"Will do," Adrienne said as I shut the door.

'Adrienne didn't seem as angry today as she was yesterday. I hope they made up.' I thought to myself. I got back in the car and drove back to Tre's. I might as well call that place home by now.