Life After Love: Part 5

SERENA

Another night spent at Daniel's farmhouse and I woke up again to the sounds of the early morning birds and farm animals. Daniel wasn't snoring beside me, which let me know he was probably out running errands, or getting our old farmhouse ready for us to move in again. Either way, today was the last day I was going to spend here.

After a long and soothing shower, I got dressed and headed towards my office to catch up on some paperwork and emails. Three hours passed by before I noticed I hadn't gotten a single phone call or text from Daniel. I knew he could take care of himself, but I still worried enough to get in my car and head over to his new garage. When I saw his truck parked out front, I parked right behind it and killed the engine. The place looked amazing. The awning was the only thing he was missing and I wondered what was taking them so long with the logo.

When I heard the laughter coming from the inside, curiosity got the best of me and I headed towards the side entrance of the shop, opening the door. I looked around at what was done to the interior first, the designer in me briefly taking over as I nodded in approval. It looked like a standard mechanic shop, only it had a huge common area in the back, with a huge television screen in the middle of the dark gray stucco wall and a couple of sofa's and chairs as well. It was currently turned on, in low volume as a car racing game played in the background. Once I turned the corner towards the common area, I saw Jesse sitting up with a controller in her hand, and headsets over her ears while Daniel slept soundly on her lap, another controller in his hand.

The old me would've thrown a tantrum, taken a baseball bat to that television screen, and dragged Jesse by the hair until she had none. After ten years of dealing with this kind of behavior, I wasn't supposed to feel anything. I was supposed to be used to being upset and angry and stressed. In a way, feeling numb was worse. But only because you never stayed void of emotions. You felt them in the middle of a hot summer night, when your head finally hits the cool side of the pillow and your tears begin to soak the fabric.

"It's not what it looks like. He just fell asleep and I didn't want to wake him." Jesse's panicked voice stopped me from continuing my way out of the shop, and I took a deep breath as I turned to face her. Her hand was on his chest, as if it belonged there and it made me angry enough for the tears to burn my eyes.

"Eleven years. I spent eleven years in hell with that man. If you're not willing to go through that with him, I suggest you take that hand off his chest," I declared, holding my head up high as the tears began to stream down my face when I turned on my heels and began to walk away.

"I spent some of those years putting him back together. Doesn't that count?" Jesse countered and while my hands wanted to wrap around her throat, I took a breath and reminded myself my body didn't belong to me anymore. There were two other lives that were affected by every action I took, so I took the high road this time, and kept walking until I reached my car. I cleaned up my face before I turned on my car and fixed my rear-view mirror. Hitting the gas, I turned the volume up on my radio and ignored a shouting Daniel, pleading for me to come back in the background.

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After I woke up from my evening nap at the old farmhouse, I cursed when I saw the rest of the boxes I needed to unpack. Most of my stuff had been put away but I still needed to reorganize the guest bathroom and guest bedroom on the main floor. My phone had been turned off while I was napping, and when I finally turned it on as I made a grocery list of what I was going to need to subdue these cravings for the week, I sighed when I saw all the missed calls I got from Marley and Freddy, Daniel, and even Michael. They were all probably going nuts, trying to find out where I was. I followed up and sent everyone a mass text, telling them to chill out, that I was fine.

Knowing the phone calls were about to pour in, I turned my phone off again and continued to write down what I wanted to stock the pantry with. After the fifth flip of paper, I heard my stomach grumbling and smirked as I looked down at my bump, knowing this was their doing. I already knew they were going to have Daniel's insatiable appetite, which meant this pantry was going to be out of stock most of the time when they got older.

"Next time you decide to ignore the world, please give me a heads up. I've been driving around all day looking for you." Daniel's sharp tone only made my hands fist in anger, but I didn't give him the satisfaction of seeing me upset. I simply brushed passed him on my way out of the pantry and when he tried to take my hand, I snatched it right back.

"Please let me go. I can't even look at you right now," I explained, in the calmest way I could as my pulse began to race out of rage.

"You're doing it again," he mentioned in annoyance as he blocked my path and stood before me, holding my hips steady, keeping me in his line of vision.

"Doing what? Avoiding an argument? Isn't that what the stupid therapist said we should do?"

"I don't give a shit what the therapist said. Those rules don't work for you and me. We're on a different level of fucked up than everyone else," he countered and I laughed, with no ounce of humor inside me.

"Yeah, no shit."

"I fell asleep, Serena. That's all," he tried to explain and I shook my head as the image of them being together so comfortably on that sofa only ticked me off even more.

"There's a line I haven't heard before," I fired back sarcastically and he finally took the hint that I needed some breathing room, stepping back as he sighed deeply.

"You were no angel either," Daniel reminded me, and I looked away, not exactly proud I stepped out on him more than once with the one person he hated throughout his adolescence, Aaron Cartegena. They've been enemies since they came out of their mother's wombs and I had taken advantage of that, using it to hurt him just as much as he hurt me. My pulse began to slow down as I realized it wasn't fair to only point out what he's done to me. We've destroyed each other and put each other back together so many times, I lost count.

"If you're going to sleep on anyone's fucking lap, it better be mine from now on," I declared and he raised an eyebrow at me, as if me claiming him was such a big surprise.

"We're doing this? For real?" Daniel asked with a hint of hope in his eyes. I remembered all the times I had crushed that light inside of him and vise versa, and knew this time had to be different. It wasn't about just us anymore. We created tiny people and we needed to show them we could get along, that not everyone was this dysfunctional.

"I'd get down on one knee and propose but I don't think I'll be able to get back up. All your fault by the way," I informed him and he chuckled as he stepped closer to me and took my face in his hands, pressing his lips onto mine, resting his forehead against mine.

"I love you so much," he said, breathing me in before he got on his knees, lifting my shirt up to reveal my bump. "And I love you guys more," he added playfully and I frowned as his grin only grew.

"Yeah, yeah. Get to cooking. We're starving over here."