Hearts Afar

...13... Clay's POV

...13...

Clay’s POV

I know Claire was getting upset when Duncan and Brent were going back and forth. She started clenching her fists and the stone look on her face, said it all. I wasn’t sure if her change in mood was because of her boyfriend or Brent. When Claire stormed away, Brent did not take his eyes off of the kid that stood in front of him.

    “Dude, unless you want me to go and comfort your girlfriend, you better go after her. Unless you want her to know what kind of man you really are,” Brent said. As soon as he said that, Duncan went after her.

    “I don’t like him,” Mikey sid.

    “Of course not because you think you can claim some kind of stake on her,” I laughed.

    “Do not,” he argued.

    “Come on, kid. Let

s go watch some baseball,” I said, ruffling his hair.

After the game, Brent went back home and Mikey and I went home. Hannah and mom were sitting and watching a movie. Mikey ran upstairs and I sat down wiht mom. Hannah was curled up on the end with a bowl of popcorn and watching the newest Disney princess movie. I took a seat in the middle and rested mom’s feet on my lap.

    “Did you all enjoy  the game?” she asked. I looked over at her and noticed that today was one of her better days. Ever since she was diagnosed with leukemia two years ago, it’s been an up and down battle. It’s harder when I’m overseas and can’t be here to take care of her. I really needed to look into having some help come in while I’m not here.

    “Yeah, it was fun to spend some guy time with Mike,” I answered and started rubbing her feet.

    “Did Brent behave himself?” she asked.

    “He almost had an altercation.”

    “With who?” she asked.

    “Claire’s boyfriend,” I answered.

    “Oh, that’s right. He’s in for a little while, right?”

    “Yeah, they were at the game. Brent saw Claire and walked up to her. We were just standing there and Duncan came by and was being kind of rude. It upset Claire and she ran off.”

    “Poor girl. She deserves a man who will treat her like a lady,” mom said.

We sat there and finished watching the movie. By time it went off, Hannah wanted to watch it again. Mom was asleep so I carried her upstairs. While mom was resting, I threw a couple of frozen pizzas in the oven and cleaned the kitchen up. After I pulled the pizzas out, I called the kids to eat and checked on mom again, who was  sleeping peacefully. Just as I was walking back downstairs, my phone started ringing.

    “Hello,” I answered.

    “Haylee’s coming over to watch the kids and make sure your mom is okay. Why don’t you go out and do something productive. Go for a run or something,” Brent said.

    “Aww Brent, you do love me,” I laughed.

    “Dude, no,” he said.

    “Thanks man,” I said, hanging up the phone.

I was actually thankful that someone was coming over. Mom has had a rough couple of days and now that she was doing good today, I didn’t want to leave her alone in case something happened. I trusted Haylee with the kids and I knew they would listen to her.