Living On A Prayer

Brian held in his sigh as he pulled to the curb in front of the United Airways terminal. He glanced over to see his girlfriend gazing out the window. Actually letting out the sigh this time, Brian emerged from the car and opened the trunk to retrieve his luggage. He heard the car door open and close as he closed the lid of the trunk.

Eloise wrapped her arms around Brian’s waist as his arms engulfed her. She still couldn’t believe how fast the time went by for Brian to leave for tour. Now here they were, standing outside of LAX saying their goodbyes.

“You have a safe flight and be careful while on the road.” Eloise told him, her chin rested on his chest as she looked up at him. Brian nodded as he dipped his head down capturing her lips.

“I will, and you be careful driving home.” Brian told her before he kissed again. He pulled away from her and opened the back passenger door of her car. A smile made its way onto his face as he gazed at the sleeping baby boy. He swiped his finger softy along the James’ chubby cheek then kissed his forehead.

Brian turned back to look at Eloise as he closed the car door. The urge to not get on the flight over took him, he knew if it had been four weeks ago he would’ve been the first to jump on the plane to tour. But now, he just wanted to go home, sit on the couch with James on his lap and watch the little kid shows or spend the day on the floor playing with him. Then help make dinner as Eloise came over after she graded papers.

“Take a lot of pictures of the little guy and send them to me?” Brian requested as he looked at Eloise. She gave him a nod before placing a small kiss on his lips. “I’ll call you whenever I can . . .”

“Brian,” Eloise breathed out knowing how he was feeling at this moment. “This month will go by fast.”

“I know but, we have shows in Europe after this, then festivals in different states. We’ll probably end up touring Asia and Australia—”

“And when you get home, we’ll be here.” Eloise reassured him, running her hand through his hair and giving him a comforting smile. “As long as you’re home for James’ first birthday on July first.”

Brian smiled bringing Eloise closer to his body, nestling his face in her neck. “I wouldn’t miss it for the world,” He mumbled kissing her neck. Brian pulled away to see a smile spread across her face. Looking around, Brian spotted Arin making his way over to them. “Hey Arin.”

“Hey Bri, hello Eloise.” Arin greeted with a mega watt smile.

“Good morning Arin, excited?” Eloise asked as she noticed Arin had a slight bounce to his step.

“For it only being three thirty in the morning, yes I am.” Arin answered earning a chuckle from Brian.

“Alright you boys better go check in so you don’t miss your flight. Knowing Matt, he’s already at the terminal.” Eloise told them. She gave Arin a hug and a kiss on the cheek before she turned to Brian.

Brian ran his hand through her hair then gripped it pulling her into a lustful goodbye kiss. Eloise rested her hands on his chest as Brian brought his tongue into play. She sighed into the kiss as Brian nipped at her bottom lip before pulling away slightly panting.

“I’ll miss you,” He murmured before giving her one last lingering kiss. Eloise waved as she watched the boys walk into the terminal. Climbing into her car, she ran her hand through her hair and let out a sigh. She couldn’t remember the last time she had ever been kissed like that. Even when Wyatt would get deployed or come home from overseas they never kissed each other like that.

Getting home just a little before five thirty, Eloise placed her sleeping son in her bed and snuggled up next to him knowing she’d only get about two more hours of sleep before he woke up. Just like she thought, seven thirty on the dot she felt James pat her stomach. Rubbing her eyes, Eloise smiled lightly at the little face staring at her. Sitting up she picked up her baby boy and headed into his room to change his diaper before feeding him.

Yawning as she fed James his mashed fruit, Eloise went through the list of things she needed to go to the store for. Since she took the day off, giving her a three day weekend she knew she could beat the weekend crowd at Costco.

Go through her normal morning routine of dressing James, then putting him in his walker and setting him in her bathroom so she could take a shower and get ready for the day. When she finished getting ready she glanced at the clock making sure it was ten o’clock and the warehouse would be opened.

Deciding to stop at the Costco gas station to fill up before she headed inside to deal with the crowds. After filling up she parked and took James out of his car seat, grabbing the diaper bag that doubled as her purse and his seat cushion for the shopping cart. She gave a smile to an older couple that pulled a cart out for her.

“There you go sweetie, oh he is adorable.” The older lady gushed.

“Thank you ma’am,” Setting James in the cart and setting the diaper bag next to him. She fished out her Costco card and entered the warehouse. “Okay diapers, you are running low on diapers kid.” James babbled in response as he played with his plush monkey. Grabbing the bulk box of Huggies diapers and set it in the cart; she made her way over to where the clothes were. Picking up a little plaid over shirt, Eloise glanced at the price and sighed before setting it back down. “Not this time bub, I’ll call your aunt Sarah to see if she has more clothes of your cousins.”

“Maybe you could get Brian to buy it.” Eloise heard someone say. Turning around she was surprised to see Val’s sister, her boyfriends soon to be ex wife standing in front of her. “He does that right? Pays for all of his toys and clothes?”

“What? No of course not. If Brian buys something it’s because he wants to. I can provide for my son.” Eloise defended not understanding why Michelle was attacking her. She knew Michelle obviously because of Val but was never friends but they weren’t mean to each other.

“Right, I saw that video Zacky posted.” Michelle told her, jaw set, arms crossed over her chest.

Eloise glanced around her seeing people staring at them. Ducking her head she looked over at Michelle. “What video did Zack post?”

“Oh you know! Val showed it to me.” Still confused, Eloise thought back then it dawned on her what video she was talking about.

“Oh, well what about it? All Matt did was change my son’s diaper, or attempt to.”

“I saw how Brian acted with you and James.” Eloise just nodded still not understanding why Michelle was acting this way. The last time she checked, Michelle had a boyfriend. “You know it doesn’t matter, all he’s trying to do is make up for what he lost.” With that Eloise watch Michelle walk away over to where a man was looking at the books.

Still confused, Eloise finished up her shopping, sticking to her list and checked out. The drive home Eloise kept thinking about what happened at the store and why Michelle had acted that way towards her. Unloading everything into the house, Eloise placed James in his play pen while he took his nap. Hearing her phone start ringing, Eloise sighed as she grabbed it from the bag.

“Hello,”

“Hey babe, I wanted to let you know we landed and are on our way to the hotel.”

“Okay, thank you for letting me know.” Eloise said as she quickly made her way to the mail box two houses down.

“So how was your day?”

“Uh . . .” Eloise stalled, deciding not to tell him about her run in with his ex. She began going through her mail once she got into her house. “It’s uh, its fine . . .” She mumbled as she opened the letter from her bank.

“How’s the little guy?”

“Taking his nap,” Eloise answered as she read through the letter. “So um . . . Brian I need to go, I’ll call you later, or you can call me before you go to bed?”

“Um sure babe, is everything okay? You sound off.”

“Everything’s okay Brian, I just need to make a really important phone call. Sorry . . .”

“Hey it’s alright, just tell me if you need help or something, okay?”

“I will Bri, thank you. And I miss you,” She told him, getting the same response she hung up with him then dialed her banks number and let out a sigh. “Hi this is Eloise Kent, I’m calling about a foreclosure letter I received.” She took a seat at her kitchen counter knowing that the day couldn’t get any worse.