A Bride for 100 Days

fourteen: my husband is out with another woman

The next morning, the airport service came for Jeb early. He gave Levi a last kiss on the head and pulled his duffel over his shoulder. It was spitting rain outside so he jogged to the waiting car quickly. He never looked back. 

Even so, I waved goodbye. 

The thunderstorm set in and stuck over us the rest of the day so Levi and I just stayed home. It went well until Levi out of a sound sleep near midnight and it took more than two hours to get him back down. He woke back up again soon after. 

Maybe it was Jeb being gone but that child ran me ragged all night. 

Gayle arrived as scheduled at 8 the next morning and, I swear to God, I handed Levi to her before she'd even gotten all the way in the door and closed her umbrella. 

"You look like shit."

"Feel like shit. Good night," I waved heading to my room. 

"Sleep tight!" She called after me, slipping Levi on her hip. 

She nodded and left. The next two mornings were pretty much the same. Levi wasn't sleeping well at night.

On Thursday morning, the social worker finally made her appearance. I barely looked human and the visit lasted maybe 45 minutes - including time to make copies for her in Jeb's office and explaining the Nest/IFTTT system Jeb had used to install the security and stuff. 

"I heard on the Internet that it plays games," she said, holding her binder and umbrella and peering at the glowing speaker. 

"Yes," I nodded and taught her how. She was delighted when the computerized voice told her a knock-knock joke. 

After she left, I immediately called Jeb. 

"They just started drilling. We've got protesters. Protesters at a private home build!" He was aggrieved. 

"Do they have signs and stuff?"

"Yeah, actually. And there's a news van," I could almost hear him shaking his head in frustration. "We've got security patrolling the safety fence."

"I don't get it. Why?"

"The property borders a waterfall in the forest preserve. The neighborhood group is concerned that the construction will damage it and the habitats around it."

"Will it?"

"No. Absolutely not. And I don't think this is even about the waterfall. The front of the house will be on the top of the hill, really obvious and really modernist and that's upsetting their upscaled log-cabin, plaid-wearing, latte-drinking-in-a-deer-blind sensibilities."

"But tell me how you really feel."

"And maybe if Marco's last name was O'Reilly or Anderson..."

I inhaled. "You think?"

"I don't know," he sighed. "Personally? I wouldn't move here. Then again, I don't like snow all that much. But Marco and Maggie love this land and designed their dream house here so we'll make it happen. I'm already sick of it. Uh, tell me what happened with the social worker." 

"You were right, she didn't care. She wanted no details and barely glanced at the pictures. She just copied the papers and filled out a form."

"Yeah, that's how they roll. All right, see you tomorrow."

"Yeah, see you."

After we hung up, I texted Gayle to cover while we were in court. Then it was another sleepless night with Levi.