"Mother" of the Year

“Jack?”

I sat on the couch for the most part of the day.

Lacey was with Mr. and Mrs. Bergstrom – I couldn’t let her see me like this.
I couldn’t even talk to her through the phone without breaking down into tears.

“Jack? Hello. Earth to Jackie.”

My hands wouldn’t stop shaking.
Honestly, they haven’t stopped since—

“Hey! You can at least try to acknowledge me, you fuckin’ basket case!”
Dimitri’s voice tore me from my thoughts.

I clenched my fists.

Inhale. Exhale.

The tears started to fall.

“Hey, hey…Come on. Don’t do that, Jackie. I’m sorry for yelling at you.”

He sat down next to me and wrapped an arm around me, causing me to tense up in a second.

“Don’t touch me don’t touch me please don’t touch me please I-I can’t—”
“Shh. Calm down, okay? I’m just comforting you.”

He pulled me close so that my head was resting against his chest as he gently petted my hair.

He couldn’t understand.
No one could understand that I didn’t want any form of physical contact from anyone right now.

But I couldn’t say anything.

All I could do was remain tense in Dimitri’s arms as I sobbed into his chest.

“Let it out. He was a prick for doing that, I know.”
“E-Everything went to black a-and he was b-bleeding from his neck a-and—”

“Shh. He’s not dead, and he’s not going to come after you. He was too drunk off his ass to press any charges, and he deserved what he got.”

I wiped my tears away, only to have more fall.

“Okay. Jordan’s going to be too busy working tonight to notice anything. I’ll clean up the house, and we’ll pick up Lace and take her to the trampoline park that just opened up, yeah?”

I bit down on my lip.

“I-I don’t—”
“It’s been six days, Jack. Lacey needs to see her father. My papa went through some serious shit too, but instead of recovering and deciding to be with his family, he never came back home. You’re not going to do that to her. Not while I have something to say about it.”

I wiped the last bit of tears away and moved away from him.

“You’re right…Just…Just give me some time to pull myself together, okay?”
“You have four hours, because – sadly – that’s how much time it’s going to me to clean this place.”

He stands up, ruffling my hair a little before he walks off.

I lay down on the couch and pull my knees to my chest.

Inhale. Exhale.
Inhale. Exhale.

I closed my eyes, feeling the exhaustion take over.

| x | x | x |

“Jack? Hey. Jackie…Wake up.”

I opened my eyes to see Dimitri tapping my knee with his hand to wake me up.

“You ready to go?”

I hesitated for a moment, but nodded.

We got into his car and drove until we reached the familiar house.

I stepped out of the car and walked to the front door, gently knocking.

The door flung open and two arms wrapped around me in seconds.

“Ay dios mío! Estás bien?! You wouldn’t answer your phone and you just left Lacey here without an explanation. Que pasó?”

Before Mrs. Bergstrom could ask any further, there was the sound of small footsteps rushing towards us.

Lacey didn’t hesitate to jump onto my legs, gripping them tightly.

“Daddy! Where were you?! I missed you!”
She looked up at me, pouting with tears in her eyes.

I picked her up and hugged her in my arms before she could start crying.

“Shh. It’s okay, Lace. Daddy is sorry. He is really, really sorry.”
“It’s okay…Just don’t go away for so long…!”

Mrs. Bergstrom still had a worried look on her face.

“I’m going to be okay, tía.”
“Are you sure?”

I nodded.

“Daddy. I see Mitri!”
“Yeah, we’re taking you to the trampoline park that just opened up.”

Her eyes were just as bright as her smile, and I couldn’t help but smile back.

“Jack, you know if you ever need to talk to me about anything. I’m just a phone call away.”
“I know…Thank you, so much.”

She gave me a small smile and I returned it.

“Alright, Lace. Let’s go, shall we?”
She nodded eagerly.

“Bye-bye, tía!”

We said our goodbyes and walked towards the car.

“Daddy?”
“Yes?”

A small giggle.

“I love you~”

I smiled again and kissed her forehead.

“I love you too, Lacey.”