Hidden Burdens (working title)

Chapter Six

The alarm clock buzzed loudly at six o'clock the next morning. But not as loud as Claudia's alarm clock, that could be heard from a mile away. Her room was down the hall with her door shut. How was she able to sleep through that?

Ben reached over to shut theirs off before rolling onto his back. "We need to do something about that while Kimmy's here," he said, his eyes shut once more.

"I haven't thought about that 'till just now, myself," he heard from beside him. Kayla sat up first, pushing away the comforter while Ben rubbed his hands along his face as if it would wipe away the sleepiness.

The most annoying of all alarm clocks was finally shut off.

"Thank the Lord," Ben said, sitting up and pushed back the comforter on his side.

"Ben," Kayla scolded while heading for their bathroom to splash water on her face.

"What?" He spat back, confused why she was scolding him. "I'm just saying. I'm glad it's off."

"Could you not say it by using the Lord's name in vain?" She asked.

"I wasn't," Ben said, shrugging. "I was just thanking Him the alarm clock was finally turned off. Isn't that what you're supposed to do?"

"Yes, but usually when people say it like that, it's not actually to thank Him."

Ben ran his hand along his light brown hair. "Well, that wasn't my intention and I sincerely apologize to both of you." And he meant that, too. He swore it sometimes felt like walking on eggshells with this whole Christian thing.

It was because of Kayla who got him curious with church and all the stuff that came with it. Ben knew about God growing up and heard His name, but his parents never went to church. Easter and Christmas were just family holidays where he got a basket or stocking of treats and gifts from a rabbit and a jolly old fat guy. It was his dad, whom he learned the phase whenever something good happened, and Ben just picked it up by default.

-- & --

Ben took a shower and got dressed while Kayla made the rounds, making sure the kids were getting up for school.

To save time, the kids just had cereal and yogurt for breakfast and Kayla took the kids to school while Ben made sure the spare side of Claudia's room was clean and made up for Kimmy's arrival, including putting spare sheets on the bed until they could take a trip to Target.

Ben also vacuumed the entire room, tossing what Claudia had left on the floor on her bed, and wiped down what would be Kimmy's dresser, as well. He filled a utility caddy with a new toothbrush, toothpaste, hairbrush, a new sealed bag of floss picks, and a bottle of children's shampoo and body wash and set the caddy on top of the dresser.

Kayla had returned while he was cleaning and cleaned the kitchen up. She had set up the kitchen table with her laptop and paperwork when he came down the stairs. Since Ben heard Kayla talking to someone, he figured the meeting had started and quietly grabbed a cup from the cupboard to get a drink of water from the machine in front of the fridge, which alerted Samson from his resting spot on the kitchen floor. Ben pressed the ice machine switch long enough to get an ice cube for the dog, tossing it to him.

Discreetly, Kayla let him know his phone rang earlier.

He quietly thanked her and grabbed his phone from the kitchen counter where he left it earlier that morning, unlocking it to see who called. Ben figured it was Leonard and was correct. He stepped outside on the back patio to call the man back.