Monday couldn't have rolled around any faster than it had. The apartment was dead silent all week and I've been drowning in my own mind without anyone to physically talk to face to face.
As I enter the office coworkers and other employees greet me with hellos and good mornings and I return the cortile gestures. Before I enter Harry's office his receptionist whose name I can never remember flashes me a quick smirk and focuses back into the he computer in front of her. Okay.
I push the door open and see two curly headed children knelt on the floor playing what I believe to be is Candyland with Harry. All three heads turn my way and I'm greeted with two of the brightest smiles and one blank expression.
"Hi Mommy!" The kids spring up from their previous spots and leap into my arms. I can feel the life being recharged throughout my entire body and hug my children probably tighter than I ever had in their entire lives. "How was daddy's house?" Their little smiles fade just a little bit but perk back up as the turn to look at Harry. "We had fun with daddy, but his girlfriend wasn't really all that fun." Aaliyah looks down at the fuzzy slippers adorning her little feet and Preston gives her a knowing side eye.
I sit back and tuck my legs underneath myself and the kids fall to the ground and cross their legs. "Why wasn't she fun?" I try my hardest to hide the smile that's attempting to force its way onto my face but that has proven to be easier said than done. "She was trying to do baby things with us or stuff that we didn't like, daddy told us we had to be nice." Preston confesses and my eyes find Harry who instantly looks to another direction.
"You don't like her?" They instantly shake their heads no. These are my children.
"We told daddy we don't like her, we want you and daddy to live together with us, not Jenna." To say that I'm happy they feel this way about Harry's girlfriend would be an understatement but for the kids sake I keep a straight face and run my hands through their hair. "Okay my and daddy will have a talk."
"You're going to live with us?" Their innocent nature makes situations like this so much harder than they need to be and to see them so happy kills me to tell them no or something other than what they want to hear. "I'll talk to daddy." Is all I say and I send them off back to play their game. I rise from the floor and wipe the dust off my skirt and place my belongings at my own personal desk. "The daycare was closed for the day, the teacher was sick so I just brought them in."
"I appreciate it." With my back turned to him, I place my purse into the lower drawer and drape my coat the the back of the chair and I feel a hand on my waist. "Harry, no." I abruptly shove his hand away from my body and move to the opposite side of the desk. He looks to me with raised eyebrows like he's really surprised of my reaction. He takes a few steps closer just as I take a few steps back and my body is pressed to the wall. "Jayde," A hand is placed on one side of my head as he stares intently into my eyes. "You know I can't do this." Knowing what he's referring to I shake my head and turn my head towards the kids who have giddy smiles plastered onto their faces.
I put on a forced smile and keep my eyes on the kids. "The kids are watching, now move out the way." I place my hands on his broad chest and try and push him away but he doesn't budge. I dare to take a look at him and the look in his dark eyes already tell me where his mind is drifting to. "Do not give our children false hopes, you already know how they feel about us as a family and then seeing us like this isn't going to help the cause especially since what they want isn't going to happen."
A step closer and our bodies are practically pressed to one another. "Harry you need to stop now, the kids do not need to see us like this and they're not going to see me put my hands on you which is about to happen if you don't get the fuck off of me." With an eye roll his hand drops from the wall and he looks under hooded eyes. "We'll continue this and talk later." The door swings open but Harry doesn't dare to move until he hears whose voice it is. "What will continue?" Within seconds he's feet away from me, heading back to his desk.
"Nothing." The two of us say in unison. Harry reveals a sly smirk while I wear one of annoyance. Jenna knowingly looks between the two of us and purses her lips together. "Alright. Harry have your receptionist take the kids somewhere other than here."
"They're fine where they are." I voice up her eyes dart to mine and she cocks her head to the side. "They're ears are too sensitive for adult talk." Jenna nonchalantly speaks and takes a seat on the couch. "Well we won't have adult talk then, especially since we're at work in a professional environment. So this can wait for a more appropriate time." She looks to Harry as if he's supposed to grant her wishes but all he does is hold his hands up in defense. Although they're four, the kids are smart enough to pick up on when something isn't going good so when large eyes are on me I tilt my head and bend a finger for them to come over.
They spring up from the floor and wrap their arms around me while burrowing their heads into my stomach.
Harry
"Harry what the hell we talked about this!" I run a frustrated hand through my unruly hair and keep my eyes glued to the illuminated screen. "What did I say about staying away from her Harry. God damn it, you never listen to me ever yet when I flip out I'm the crazy one. I don't know how many times I need to tell you, stay the fuck away from her. If it's not concerning the kids or work there's no need to talk."
"Babe you realize that's easier said than done right?" She frustratingly kicks a water bottle off the coffee table and takes fist fulls of hair into her hands. "Well looks like your gonna need to find a way to make it easy because your not associating yourself with that hoe. You know I don't like her Harry and her being your assistant is already driving me to my edge, I don't care what you need to do, fire her if you need to but you're staying away from her." If it didn't look like Jenna was on the verge of strangling me I probably would have laughed in her face at her insecureness and pettiness but I just flash her a smug smirk.
"I'm not firing the mother of my children because whatever happens to her also effect those children, my children."
"Well take full custody of them, hell. We all know you can provide for them better than she ever could."
"Look you need to calm down and act like a fucking adult. I'm not firing her just because you feel like being petty so that's something you need to get over. And I'm just not going to cut all communication off with her either-"
"Well that's what she wanted and you listened to her for what a week or two yet I come in her and see you drooling all over her. Like come on Harry what the fuck was that about? If roles were switched you would be cussing me out and would've beat the dudes face in, yet when I get mad I'm just being irrational." I know she's right but I'll never admit that too her. It's wrong of me how I'm playing both women's feelings but what can I say, they both do things for me that the other can't and I need my needs met as fucked up as it sounds.
I know I'm hurting both of them wether they decide to actually show it or not but I'm really trying my hardest to keep both of them in my life and happy without them being upset or pissed at me, but that's proving to be much harder than I had originally planned.
The lock of the door click and two curly headed children come running in with happy meals in their hands and bright smiles on their face. Jayde lingers behind seeming to just be ending a phone call. "Yes mom I'll ask him and see, we haven't even spoke about it yet. The twins don't even know but we'll figure something out. Okay, love you too. Bye." She shoves her phone into her purse and takes a seat in the couch besides the twins, all the while Jenna is staring at her as if she were a mad woman.
"Harry whenever you're free we need to talk about the twins b-i-r-t-h- day." The kids suspiciously glance to their mother but turn back and begin to devour their nuggets. Jenna has since left the office in a fit of rage and I'm to the point where I could careless about her and her attitude. "I'm free now."
The kids put their headphones on and are tuned out from us and into some Disney movie on their iPads.
"Since it's so late I wasn't thinking anything too extravagant, just something at either of our places or a park and just family and some of the kids friends from daycare."
"We can have it at my house since there's room and it may rain this weekend. I also have a cake guy and caterer on speed dial." She nods and begins tapping away on her phone. "Okay, as far as the theme goes, I know Liyah is obsessed with Moana and Pres is into a wreck-it-Ralph right now so I was thinking a mix of those two." I nod in agreement.
An hour and a half, all the caterers and cake decorators are called with orders already in place for next Sunday. The kids had some input of what they wanted but most of it will remain a secret to them until the actual day of the party.
"How do we always do this?" Still tapping away on her phone, Jayden brows furrow into confusion but she doesn't look up to me. "Do what?"
"I was literally avoiding you for the past few weeks and now we're all chill." She locks her phone and sets it on the table. "This ain't about us Harry, this is about our children and their happiness right now. I won't let our arguments or fights impact the kids in a negative way, they don't deserve to feel down or go through things just cause we're having issues."
I sit on the carpeted floor glancing over at the glass woman the once had my heart and still does to this day. She catches wind of my actions and turns her focus somewhere else.