Driven to Distraction

Ketely laughed as her three-year-old daughter splashed her with water, despite the droplets wetting her face and clothes.

“I swear, I don’t know where you get this hair from, Annie,” she laughed, trying to work a handful of kid’s shampoo through her daughter’s thick, unruly locks. “Must be from someone on your father’s side,” she thought out loud.

Annie giggled and continued playing with the bubbles in the water, not paying her mother one bit of mind. Just as Ketely had finished rinsing the shampoo out, she heard the house phone ringing.

“Annie, stay right here and don’t move. Mommy will be right back,” she instructed as she stood up, eyeing her daughter. Quickly, she ran to the living room and sped right back to the bathroom, her breathing a bit heavy as she answered the call. “Hello?”

“Hi, is this Mrs. O’Callaghan?”

“Yes, it is,” Ketely smiled, making a face at her laughing daughter.

“Good afternoon, Mrs. O’Callaghan. This is Mrs. Roberts, John’s teacher,” the woman stated.

This instantly caused Ketely’s eyebrows to arch. “Did something happen to John?” she asked, worry lacing her voice.

“Oh, no, no, John’s fine!” Ketely breathed out a sigh of relief. “He just got himself into a bit of trouble today and I know that you pick him up from school. Would you mind stopping by to have a word with me today?”

“Of course not,” Ketely told her. “Should I just come to the classroom?” she asked, never having to be in this position before.

“That would be fine. I’ll see you at three-thirty, Mrs. O’Callaghan.”

“Three-thirty,” Ketely repeated before hanging up. “Crap,” she sighed, causing her daughter to tilt her head to the side.

“Wha’ happen, mommy?”

“Your brother got us in trouble, Annie,” she stated, grabbing the girl’s Dora the Explorer towel. “Let’s get you dressed now, baby girl.”

“Ut-oh. Johnny’s in twouble,” Annie giggled as she stood up.

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Ketely parked her car in the elementary’s large parking lot. She took the keys from the ignition and ran a hand through her hair. She had hated dealing with teachers when she was in school herself, and now she was having to repeat the process with her son.

She got out of the car before going to the backseat, unbuckling Annie from her car seat. Once she had the tiny blond on her left hip, she locked the car. “Got your game face on, Annie?”

The little girl gave her mother an odd look. “Wha'?”

Ketely laughed, shaking her head. “Nothing, love. Mommy’s being stupid.” Annie laughed as they entered the school building.

After checking in at the front office and getting a visitor’s pass, Ketely let her daughter walk beside her as they went in search of Mrs. Robert’s first grade classroom. Once they had found it, Ketely saw that all the children were stuffing their folders in their backpacks, ready for the school day to end.

“Mrs. O’Callaghan!” Mrs. Roberts smiled, standing up from her desk.

“Hi, Mrs. Roberts,” Ketely smiled, shaking the woman’s hands.

No sooner had the words left her mouth, the bell rang and almost all at once, the kids stood up.

“I have to walk them out to the buses, but I’ll be right back,” Mrs. Roberts told her.

Ketely nodded her head and Annie ran straight to her brother, giving him a hug. She laughed as her son made a face. Once it became just them in the classroom, Ketely walked over and took a seat in one of the small chairs.

“What did you do, my little troublemaker?” she teased, pushing back the fringe on her son’s forehead.

“I didn’t do anything!” John exclaimed, widening his eyes.

“Oh, really? So Mrs. Roberts was lying to me then?” she asked, narrowing her eyes.

The little boy sighed and bowed his head. “I was just mad at her.”

“Mad at who?”

“Hannah! She’s such a brat, mom!”

“John Cornelius O’Callaghan the sixth, you do not use that word!” Ketely scolded.

Annie giggled at her brother’s expense.

“Sorry,” he apologized.

Ketely nodded her head. “What did this Hannah do to make you mad?”

“She wouldn’t stop singing. She sings all day, mama! So I told her to shut up and then she started crying and told on me,” John told her.

Ketely almost couldn’t believe the story she was hearing. She began laughing and John gave her an odd look. “Oh, Johnny, you are so like daddy,” she laughed.

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Once they had gotten back home, Ketely had told John to get started right away on his homework, not allowing him to watch his cartoons. This, of course, angered the little boy but he knew better than to argue with his mother, and slapped his papers down on the kitchen table.

“You better watch that attitude, John Cornelius, or you won’t be watching any TV at all today,” Ketely told him, placing a hand on her hip.

“Sorry,” he mumbled, sitting down.

Ketely placed a coloring book and crayons down on the table, allowing Annie to color whilst John did his homework. She began getting to work on dinner, her eyes watching the clock all the while. John was due home at seven after being away for nearly two months on tour, and she was anxious. She missed her husband a great deal.

“When’s dad coming home?” Johnny asked, glancing up from his work to look at his mother.

“At seven,” she told him, draining a bowl of pasta.

“Is he gonna be mad?”

Ketely laughed. “Something tells me he won’t be too mad, honey.”

Once Ketely had dinner made, she checked over John’s homework before allowing him to watch TV, Annie following right behind him. She had to chuckle at how much her daughter loved her brother, always wanting to be just like him.

After checking the time, she quickly ran up to her and John’s room and changed into a pair of black shorts with a light blue Polo button up. She left a couple of the top buttons unfastened, glancing at herself in the mirror. She rolled her eyes, laughing as she remembered how John had made her buy a new wardrobe before he left for tour, claiming she needed more “mom-appropriate clothing”. After a few sprays of perfume, she walked back downstairs and saw that it was seven o’clock on the dot.

“Who wants to watch for daddy?” she asked, smiling at her children.

“Me!” both John and Annie shouted, jumping up from the couch.

“Come on then,” Ketely smiled, picking up Annie.

They walked out to the garage as Ketely opened the door. John immediately went for the small drum set that Pat had given to him last Christmas. Ketely had insisted it stay out in the garage, where it was less likely to drive her crazy. She danced goofily with Annie as John banged nosily on the drums.

She spun around and accidentally bumped into her daughter, causing her to trip over her feet. However, before she could hit the ground, a pair of strong arms wrapped around her waist, and Ketely smiled as she looked up at her savior.

“Well if it isn’t my handsome husband,” she laughed.

“Do you have an ugly husband?” he joked.

“Wouldn’t you like to know,” she winked before standing up straight.

“Daddy!” Annie and John yelled, running to jump into their father’s arms.

John nearly fell over from their attack, but laughed as he scooped both into his arms, dousing them with kisses. “How are my monsters?” he asked.

Annie giggled, grabbing his face. John pretended to eat her fingers, and she yanked them away. “Daddy!” she screamed.

He laughed and kissed her cheek. “How was school, Johnny?” he asked, looking to his son, who looked at his mother.

“Funny you should ask,” Ketely giggled.

John arched his brows. “What happened?”

“I’ll tell you once we get inside. The food’s getting cold,” she said.

“Who wants to race?” John asked, crouching down to his children’s height.

“Me!” Annie and John shouted, raising their hands.

He smirked. “Ready ... set ... go!” he yelled and all three of them shot off to get inside. He was stopped, though, as Ketely rested her hands on his chest. He smiled and grabbed her hands. “You made me lose.”

She grinned. “Did I? I’m so sorry.”

“You’ll be sorry tonight,” he told her before placing a kiss on her lips.

Ketely laughed and wrapped her arms around John’s neck. “I missed you.”

“I missed you more,” he stated, nuzzling his face in the crook of her neck.

They stood there for a moment, embracing each other, before the sounds of their children’s feet broke them apart.

“Tonight,” he winked before running off.

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“So when am I going to hear about what happened with Johnny in school?” John asked after everyone had eaten.

John VI looked nervous and Ketely laughed, clearing the dishes from the table.

“Tell your dad what happened, Johnny,” she told him before going to the kitchen.

She couldn’t have been out of the room for more than five minutes, but from the amused look on her husband’s face, her son had told him what happened.

“Are you mad at me, daddy?” their son asked, a worried look on his face.

“No, I’m not mad,” John stated, pushing back his chair as he placed Annie on his lap.

“You’re not?” the little boy questioned, clearly surprised.

He shook his head, smirking at Ketely, who was leaning against the wall with her arms crossed over her chest, smiling at him. “Who wants to hear a story?”

“I do!” both children shouted.

“Well, a long time ago-“

“Not that long ago,” Ketely interjected.

John laughed before continuing on with his story. “Your mommy and I were little kids, just like you and Johnny,” he said, tapping the end of Annie’s nose. “We went to school together and mommy’s best friend was Aunt Kelsi. Well, Aunt Kelsi was sick one day and couldn’t come to school. That made mommy sad.”

“Mama no be sad,” Annie cooed, looking at her mother. Ketely smiled and blew her a kiss.

“Mommy started crying and you know what I did?”

“What did you do, dad?” John asked, looking expectantly at his father.

“I called her a big cry baby,” he stated, looking at his wife who was sticking her tongue out at him. “And I got in trouble. Sort of like how you called Hannah a brat today and got in trouble with Mrs. Roberts.”

John bowed his head, fiddling with his fingers. “I didn’t mean it.”

“We know you didn’t, honey, but you still hurt Hannah’s feelings,” Ketely told him, coming to stand beside her husband.

“I’ll tell her I’m sorry,” he offered, his big, green eyes sparkling.

“That’s a good idea,” his mother smiled.

After watching an episode of Spongebob Squarepants, John put Annie and Johnny to bed, whilst Ketely finished washing the dishes and cleaning up the toys that Annie had left out on the living room floor. Once she was done, she went up to her bedroom and found John already laying on the king sized bed, still clad in his jeans and KISS t-shirt.

She couldn’t suppress her giggle. “It amazes that we’re both thirty-three and yet you don’t look a day over twenty. It’s not fair,” she said, laying beside him.

He smirked. “Well you’ve had to push out two kids,” he joked, turning onto his side to wrap an arm around her waist.

“Is that supposed to make me feel better?” she questioned, rolling her eyes.

He laughed and pulled her body closer to his, pressing his mouth near her ear. “You’re beautiful, Key.” He laid a kiss on her temple. “You drive me crazy.” He pressed a kiss to her cheek. “And I love you more than I’ve ever loved anyone else in my life.” He turned her face toward his, connecting their lips. “Feel better?”

She laughed. “Much better, actually.” He laughed and rested his head on her chest, her fingers running absentmindedly through his hair. “John?”

“Hmm?” he hummed, his eyes closed.

“Is our life going the way you planned?”

“Do you not know me at all, Ketely?” he asked playfully, lifting his head to look at his wife. She arched her brows, giving him a bemused look. “Nothing about our life has ever been planned or gone how we thought it would, but I couldn’t imagine doing this with anyone else. I love coming home to you, Annie and John. I love waking up and hearing them laugh at whatever cartoon’s playing, while you bitch about the chores I should be doing because you think I’m still asleep.”

Ketely gave a loud laugh, trying to hide the blush on her face. “That reminds me; the grass needs to be cut.”

John groaned dramatically and rested his forehead against the crook of her neck. “I’ll get on it tomorrow.”

“You better,” she smiled.

“But for now, I think I need to take care of something else,” he said in a low voice, trailing kisses up to Ketely’s jaw.

“Mmm, I’m not going to forget about the grass.”

He laughed. “Of course not,” he stated before pressing his lips against hers.