The next morning I woke up with Kody laying next to me watching cartoons.
He smiled and ambushed me with kisses saying morning inbetween them.
Ok ok ok! I'm up, I yelled making him laugh.
Yaaaaaayy!, he screamed as he stood up to jump in the bed.
After he got all of that out of the way, we got dressed. Once we did that and packed the rest of our things we headed towards the door when I saw a note hanging from the doorknob.
Morning gorgeous..
It's 4 am and I'm about to head out... I just wanted to thank you for these few days. They meant a lot to me and I cherished every second of it. I'll text you when we make it to Texas.
P.s. Here is Jon's number
553-6534
You're going to kill him about what happened at the Zoo!!
I looked at Kody and looked at note and it hit me...... Kody saw a Monkey at the Zoo yesterday and that's why he was beating up on them.
Hey Short man, I said to Kody.
Hmm?, he said while eating a leftover piece of pancake.
Did you have fun seeing all the animals yesterday?, I asked .
Yes!, he yelled.
You did! Alllrrriigghht!, I cooed. Well what did you see baby?, I asked.
He tried to say all the names but he ended up mimicking their sounds... typical Kody 101. But he knew how to say monkey like a pro due to a trip to the zoo that scared him for a month.
He didn't like anything monkey related that whole month and barely liked the color yellow. That was another reason why he stuck under me. I knew I should've mentioned his dislike for monkies but I couldn't think of much with a big Samoan making me give in to these feelings.
I saw monkey mama, Kody snapping me out of my thoughts.
Did you cry?, I asked.
Yes, he said in a pout.
I'm so sorry baby... mommy didn't tell them you didn't like monkies, I confessed earning a frown from him.
Why?, Kody asked.
Mommy was trying to say no about you going but everybody wanted you to go... mommy got a little frustrated that's all, I said apologizing to him.
Kody hugged my leg and returned to holding my hand. I knew he was mad that I brought it up and that I didn't mention it but that hug was a truce amongst us.
You two ready to get back home?, my dad said as we met up in the parking lot.
Yes we are, I said as we loaded up and went to the airport.
5 hours later we made it back to Florida and Kody became fussy so I held him until we landed. Once we made it to the airport, we ubered home and got back into bed. Kody was very jet lagged so I brought juice and animal crackers in my room while he slept.
I tried to sleep but nothing worked but Kody on the other hand... Out cold! So I got up and started looking through the boxes my dad left waaaay before we left for Japan. It was old high school stuff and some college things. I found Joe's Varsity jacket and it brought a lot of memories back. I found a few shot glasses that John and I use to use when things got tough during his parent's divorce.... We would climb on top of his roof and talk for hours. Lastly amongst it all, I found the apology letter that Colby wrote me about the prank that brought us together. As I read it... all the memories came back. It's like I could see images of us play out in every corner of my room. I could see prom night just as clear as day as I put Joe's jacket on and I could feel my heart flutter.
Mommy! Mommy!, I heard Kody yell.
I ran to him as he sat up with tears in his eyes.
I'm here baby! Mommy's here, I said so suttle as he cried crawling over to me. What's wrong honey?, I asked but his tears presisted as if he'd had a bad dream.
I walked around with him, trying to calm him down but I couldn't start to see an end to it. So I sat him down and wrapped Joe's jacket around him. He cried still so I went to make him some cheesy rice and returned to my room to see him curled up in the jacket. I grabbed my phone and took a picture of the moment and sent it to Joe's phone.
~buzz buzz buzz ~
I unlocked my phone and opened the text from him.
Joe 🤔: 😭😭😢😢☹
Me: 🙂
Joe 🤔: Wait.. he's been crying?
Me: Yes... 20 minutes ago he woke up yelling and crying out of his sleep.. I tried everything until I looked at your jacket and put it around him.... Still crying at that point until I stepped out to fix him something to eat and BOOM! I come back in to him like this... 😔
Joe 🤔: Kawaii... I promise I won't hurt him nor you again. I love you ☹
Me: Joe... idk about this...
Joe 🤔: Ok... ☹
Me: 😔 I have Kody depending on me now so I don't want to put him in harm's way..
Joe 🤔: 😔
Me: Joe...
Joe 🤔: Baby girl..... Please let me show ..
Joe 🤔: Please?
Me: hkehduskdkeoehdydudndvdbdnbzbzvzvzvhssnnsnsns😊😊😊🙃
Me: Sorry bout that Kody sent that.... We all need to sit down and talk about this.
Joe 🤔: Done! We'll be free in two weeks for a weekend so we'll visit then.
Me: Ok..
I put my phone down and looked at my son laying there wrapped in Joe's jacket.... Did I want to do it again? There were things that I never wanted Kody to know about... And there were also people that I never wanted him to meet and they were 3 of the 4 people along side of his Dad. I knew I couldn't deny him certain things in life and they've become the biggest valuable thing to him in a matter of months..... And if I rip him away from them then he'd hate me for a long time and my parents would sneak behind my back so that he could keep in touch with them....
Kody baby wake up, I said softly.
He wiggled as I tried to wake him up but played sleeping. So I pulled out my phone and played Colby's theme song and he popped up and caught the Burn It Down part just in time. I got him and went to the kitchen to eat dinner and we went back to bed for the rest of the day. I had 2 weeks to get myself ready for this talk I planned with them all and I know I had to keep my attitude at bay when it came to certain topics I planned on addressing.
Suddenly my phone buzzed again with a text message.
~buzz buzz buzz ~
(686)-553-6534: 👀
Me: 👀... The deed is done... blood got on me but I did it
(686)-553-6534: Dude what! Lol this is Jon Kawaii... I know Joe gave you my number
Me: Booooooo 😒..... What did you do to Kody at the Zoo that had him fighting you?
Jon 😬: Well...... I didn't know he'd freak out the way he did to be honest.
Me: How close to the Monkey pits?
Jon 😬: A smidge... like.... wait how'd you know?
Me: He's scared of monkies and I forgot to tell you guys but Joe and my parents were so gunhoe about him leaving with you guys that I lost my train of thought and trust me I caught all the backlash of it from Kody about it. 😑
Jon 😬: I'm so sorry because he kept saying no and avoiding the lizards and them that I wasn't paying attention 😔. We weren't trying to give him nightmares Kawaii.. I swear 😢
Me: It's ok Jon.. he hasn't had that many as of now but he's been sleep all day and has woken up once crying.... huge difference where as it's him not sleeping at all and crying just blinking his eyes.
Jon 😬: Oh god dude we're so sorry 😢
Me: It's ok Jon... he's sleep now so he's fine.
Jon 😬: I know but still... We're sorry. But how bad was his first experience that made him that way?..
Me: Well.... my cousin wanted to take him to the zoo when he was 11 months while I was a state over heading home from a funeral of close army friend.... From what my Mom had told me, my cousin had him standing near the glass when a nice ape walked over and made him laugh.... but the Alpha ape came over and charged the glass as he was looking right at him. Scared Kody so bad it took him 2 weeks to have control of his bowels. He screamed constantly and cried. That was the roughest thing to experience with him and until this day he's been that way.
Jon 😬: Now I feel like I betrayed him. Oh my god!!! 😔😢 How can we make it up to him? I don't want to be on his shit list one bit... seeing what he said to Joe back at the arena... I had to walk off because he knew what was going on and it shocked me. Meeting him was the best thing to happen to us Kawaii and I'll do anything to stay in his good graces as well as in yours.
Me: Kody is a simple kid... He liked you guys as wrestlers and now my son loves you guys as people... I can't rip that away from him. He's been about wrestling ever since he was born and a lot of things about him has changed (social wise) since he's met you guys in person. So you don't have to buy him, he's already yours... it's me he's pushing towards you guys.
Jon 😬: Trust me Colby has pointed that out a lot but in 2 weeks... we'll put it all on the table amongst the 4 of us... Ok?
Me: Ok
That little bit of conversation made me a bit more nervous than ever but I had to let him know. It was going to be hard to do but for the sake of Kody. I'd do anything just to see him smile but I had to resolve all my anger problems between me and those 3 first.