I observe Emily, who is sitting in front of me, eating pizza. If her dinner was pizza, it's something I love.
She thinks I don't notice her glancing at the door and checking the time every few minutes, so I curiously ask her, "Do you have to leave?" She tries to hide her eagerness upon hearing my question.
"No, it's just that I find it strange that Mason hasn't arrived. Does he often come home late?" she asks, picking up her phone.
"No, not at all. It never happens, except for this time when he had something to take care of," I nervously reply. "I'm going to call him to make sure everything is okay," I tell her, reaching for my phone.
"Let's wait and see if he arrives. It might be that he's driving or close to home," she says, checking the time.
I notice her nervousness, so discreetly, I quickly type a message on my phone, "Your mom is here, waiting to see you." I put my phone aside and look at Emily, who currently has Simba on her lap. Every time she comes home, my baby jumps onto her. He loves being cuddled, and Emily is always petting him.
Time passes, and when I glance at the clock, I'm surprised to see that it's already 9:30, which is late for Emily. She usually goes back to her house before nine. I'm about to call Mason when he appears at the door. What's worse is that he's been drinking, which is unusual for him. I think it's the first time I've seen him so intoxicated. Ethan is the one who brings him home since my husband is in no condition to drive, let alone walk.
"Hello, I'm sorry for barging in like this, but I wasn't in a state to drive, so I brought him," an embarrassed Ethan says.
"Don't worry, thank you for bringing him. It's the first time something like this has happened," I say, looking at a surprised Emily.
"I can take him to his room, so you don't have to worry," Ethan says, feeling uncomfortable.
"Sure, I would really appreciate that," I say without thinking.
He proceeds to go upstairs, struggling a bit. When he's halfway up, I remember that he'll be taking Mason to my room. I quickly rush up the stairs, apologizing to Emily.
"I'll go to lay Mason down, I'll be right back," I say nervously.
"Don't worry, I think I should be leaving. I'll wait for Ethan to ask him for a ride home. We live close by, it's on his way," she replies, grabbing her bag.
"I understand. Let me know when you get home," I say, just as she does when I come over to her place without Mason.
"Don't worry, I will," she says, smiling.
I go up the stairs, and as I predicted, Ethan has brought Mason to my room. I don't say anything, I just enter and see him lifting his feet onto the bed.
"I'll help him change his clothes. Emily wants to see if you can take her home," I tell Ethan as I take one of my husband's feet and remove his shoe.
"I have no problem with that," he says, feeling a little nervous.
"Thank you. I told her to let me know when she arrives, and the same goes for you, or else I'll have to call Sarah," I say, smiling.
What I find strange is that he gives me back a nervous, almost fake smile. I don't think Mason would say anything to her when he was drunk, in which case we'd be in serious trouble.
I don't think he'd be such an idiot to tell him everything after only a year left on his contract. My mind imagines everything he could have said to Ethan to make him look at me that way, I saw a bit of guilt and anger in his look. Tomorrow, I have to ask Mason what he said.
I take off his clothes, at least his pants and since I don't want to sleep next to him, I go to the room he occupies, it's the only one with freshly changed sheets, the others I have without putting them together. It is a waste to fix them because no one comes to sleep and when it is like that, I change the bed linen the same day.
As I enter the room he occupies, the scent of his perfume hits me, the whole room smells of him, damn its scent is delicious. I shake my head and focus on what I have come to do. I go to the bathroom and change my pajamas, which I brought from my room. Then I brush my teeth and finally go to bed, the bed smells like him and everything in this room.
I force my eyes closed and force myself to sleep. Tomorrow, I have to go to work, and I need to know what happened with Mason and Ethan, I don't want to go to work not knowing what happened. I didn't like the look on Ethan's face at all and working with him, it's not something I want to see when he sees me. I prefer the one from before, the one as friends, last night was weird.
Without realizing it from so much thinking about the possible options I fall asleep. I wake up for my baby who has come in looking for his daddy to go for a walk like every morning. Seeing that he is not there he comes out and goes back to his bed which is on the first level of the house.
I wake up and see that it's six in the morning, I have time to sleep a little more, however, I'd better wake Mason up now so we can talk about what happened. I feel like there is something they are not telling me and if there is one thing, I hear it is being kept in the dark.
I go straight to my room and see him asleep; it bothers me that he is sleeping peacefully, and I am not, I walk over to the bed and jump down next to Mason and kneel next to him. My husband is startled awake by the movement of the bed.
"What happened?" he asks, looking around and then holding his head.
"That's what I want to know," I say, annoyed, crossing my arms.
"Ugh, my head," he complains, placing both hands on his forehead.
"That's what happens when you drink too much," I respond, shrugging it off.
"How amusing," he says, lying back down.
"Well, believe me, I'm not joking. I'm serious. What the hell happened last night? What did you say to Ethan? And don't you dare say 'nothing.' The look he had when he brought you here says otherwise," I angrily demand.
"I don't understand what you're saying," he says, wincing from the headache.
"You get up, take a shower, and then we sit down to talk about this. No one is going to work until you tell me what happened with Ethan," I say, getting up and heading towards the bathroom. "I hope that when I come out of the shower, you're dressed and cleaned up," I shout as I enter the bathroom.
I don't hear if he responds to anything. I just start showering to find out what he said.