Sadie
I glanced at the clock one more time before putting in my other earring. It was 5:45, I had to leave in 15 minutes and Kent still wasn't home from work. I could hear Emery in her room singing to her Barbies, ready to leave whenever I was. I had called Kent three times already but he hadn't answered every time and I could feel my anger rising.
I finally stopped fiddling with my hair and grabbed my purse and phone off of the counter in the bathroom, walking out of my room and poking my head into Emery's.
"You ready love?" I asked her while he head snapped up to look at me, obviously startled by my sudden appearance.
"Sure mommy," She said dropping her dolls and rushing to hug my legs. I couldn't help but smile, my daughter was my life.
"Alright, put your Barbies away and we'll get going,"
"Okay!" Emery turned away from me and started throwing her dolls into her bucket while I walked into the kitchen to grab my keys off of the counter.
Emery was by my side in less than two minutes and we were heading towards the door when the front door suddenly swung open and Kent strutted through, looking pleased with himself.
"And where have you been?" I asked crossing my arms. Kent smiled at me but when he realized I wasn't happy the smile quickly faded away.
"I got stuck at the office babe, come on you have got to stop giving me so much crap for coming home late," Kent groaned while bending down and kissing our daughter on the cheek. "I'm right on time it looks like so let's go. We'll take my car,"
With that being said he turned on his heels and walked out of the house, Emery following quickly behind him. I rolled my eyes, dropped my keys on the little table next to the door and locked the door on my way out. Kent was buckling Emery into her car seat, even though she could do it herself but her daddy loved to spoil her, and then jumped in the front seat.
"Why don't we just skip this thing and go out to dinner and a movie or something?" Kent asked, one hand on the steering wheel one hand grasping mine. In a way I felt like I should say yes and ditch the fundraiser but I knew I couldn'd do that.
"We can't, I already told them I'd be there to help," I said with a sigh. Kent squeezed my hand and looked over at me quickly.
"Don't worry about it, it'll be fun,"
The rest of the ride to the school was filled with Emery informing us about how she did NOT like this boy named Joseph in her class and how he tried to wipe his booger on her one day and she had hit him for it then had to sit on time-out. Our daughter rambled on and on about school and how annoying the boys were and how she was never going to grow up, she was going to live with us forever. When we pulled up to the school Emery jumped out and lead us to the gym where there were all sorts of booths set up everywhere, food booths and game booths. Emery instantly disappeared with one of her friends so Kent and I were left alone to find the face painting booth. We found it in less than five minutes, Justin was there showing a little girl pictures of what she could get painted on her face when we walked up.
"Ah Sadie! So good to see you," Justin said with a huge smile lighting up his face while he embraced me in a tight hug. I could feel Kent tense up next to me while Justin did that. Then he pulled away and looked at Kent. "This must be your husband,"
"Oh, yes! Sorry, Justin this is my husband Kent, Kent this is Justin," I introduced the two while they shook hands briefly.
"Pleasure," Kent said smiling, but it was a completely fake smile I could tell. Justin smiled back.
"Oh the pleasure is all mine," I saw a glint of something in Justin's eyes that I didn't like. He was mysterious and sneaky.. "Okay well Sadie you can sit right here so we can open up two face painting stations and Kent if you wouldn't mind manning the cash that would be a lot of help. I have to run and get more paint so if you need anything I will be right back,"
Justin disappeared into the crowd before either of us could say a word.
"I don't like him," Kent muttered to me while we took our seats where we were supposed to. "Something just isn't right about that guy Sadie,"
I rolled my eyes and looked over at Kent. "Trust me Kent, he is completely harmless. I think he is just lonely. Maybe he's divorced or something, I've never seen his wife and he's never talked about her to me before,"
"I don't care if he is lonely or not. He's a weirdo," Kent whispered glaring in the direction that Justin had ran off in.
"Kent, just focus on your job," I said giggling. Kent smiled towards me and winked before our first costumer approached. A little girl wanted a butterfly on her right cheek and handed Kent two dollars. Surprisingly enough it wasn't a complete disaster, I guess that art class that I took sophomore year in college paid off finally.
Within ten minutes I had already painted on five little kids' faces and was on my sixth when Justin had finally returned.
"Kent I'll take over, you can go roam around, I'm pretty sure I saw Emery running around her just a minute ago," Justin said grabbing the metal box full of money from Kent and pointing in another direction.
"Oh okay, thanks man," Kent got up, leaned down and kissed me then walked off, making sure that Justin had seen the kiss.
"He seems like a nice man," Justin said smiling at me and taking Kent's previous seat.
"He really is," I said taking a break from painting kids faces.
"He seems very happy with you," Justin began not looking at me. "But you know something?"
I looked over at Justin who was now looking at me with a serious expression.
"You just don't seem happy with him," My mouth dropped when Justin said that and I could feel my face burning with anger. "Am I right?"
"You are far from right! You are so wrong Justin, I am very happy with Kent," I got up from where I was sitting and walked into the back of the booth that was blocked from most peoples views, I had run out of white paint so I needed to get another bottle. Justin had followed me and was blocking the way out.
"I know I'm right Sadie, just admit it," Justin muttered, not being so loud so people couldn't hear us. "Is it the sex? He's not that good in bed is he?"
"You are over stepping your boundaries big time now Justin! That is absolutely none of your damn business," I muttered. "Now move,"
"Sadie," Justin whispered taking a step closer to me. "I know what you want. You want a stable man who will be there for you no matter what. Who will take care of you the. . . way you need to be taken care of,"
He took another step closer to me and I ended up backing against the wall.
"I can do that for you. Just give me one night, I'll show you exactly what you're missing and baby you won't regret it one bit," Justin leaned forward so he was inches away from my face. "I know you want me,"
"I don't want you! I have Kent and he is all I'll ever need, now move before I make you!" I nearly yelled before pushing against Justin's chest. Justin grabbed my wrist and held it tightly, pushing it against the wall above my head.
"I like my women sassy Sadie," He whispered leaning in and kissing the base of my neck. I shook my head and hurridly tried to unscrew the cap to the paint bottle that was in my other hand. "You have something that I want Sadie, and when I want something, I get it,"
I turned my head when Justin's lips touched my cheek. Slowly but surely the cap was loosening up but not fast enough.
"Just give me what I want and I'll leave you alone baby," Justin whispered before trailing his lips closer and closer to mine.
"Take your hands off of me," I muttered, still unscrewing the cap frantically with one hand while trying to free my other hand.
"Never," Justin whispered, his lips just inches from mine. Before he had time to kiss me I had the cap unscrewed, dropping to the floor and the goopy white paint was pouring down Justin's face, soaking his hair and clothes. Justin gasped and took a step away from me.
"If you ever touch me again I will make sure you are locked up somewhere do you understand you son of a bitch!" I said, not waiting for Justin to respond before I walked out from behind the booth and into the open area.
Kent was walking back to the booth just in time and I walked to meet him.
"Let's go," I said grabbing his hand and walking the opposite direction of the booth. "We're going home,"
"What? Wait, why?" Kent asked looking back at the booth but I kept my eyes forward.
"Because our shift is over," I replied.
"But no one else is there Sadie?"
"Yes they are, they're just in the back getting more paint," I responded, continuing my brisk pace through the booths trying to find Emery.
"Sadie what happened?" Kent asked but I ignored him until he pulled my hand towards him and made me face him. "Don't ignore me Sadie. What happened?"
"Nothing Kent, it was just really boring over there and we already helped out, plus other people were there to take over so there were too many people there anyway. Let's just go home please," I lied.
Kent looked at me for a couple more seconds then looked down at the ground.
"Alright, if you say so," Kent said grabbing my hand again and looking around for Emery. We didn't say anything else to each other and we found Emery a couple minutes later. Soon enough we were pulling into our driveway and Kent was carrying Emery to her bed, tucking her in and then joining me in the living room.
"Sadie," Kent whispered, sitting down next to me on the couch.
"Yes?"
"Are you happy?" His question startled me. I looked over at him with wide eyes but he wasn't looking at me.
"Are you kidding me Kent? We've been together for 11 years and you're asking if I am happy with you? Of course I am!"
"You don't want anyone else?" Kent asked, finally looking at me.
"Do you think I'd be with you if I wanted someone else Kent? Why are you even asking me this? What's going on?"
Kent sighed but then shook his head. "Just doubts I guess, maybe its all the time we've spent apart lately, I don't know. . . Don't worry about it babe,"
I reached over and grabbed Kent's hand, squeezing gently. "I love you Kent, I always will,"
"I love you too," Kent whispered back, leaning over and kissing me gently.
Something didn't feel right. Something was off. The way he talked, the question he asked, when he kissed me . . . it wasn't right. Where were the butterflies that I always got? I didn't want to but my mind drifted to Justin, I hadn't felt any butterflies with him . . . had I? No I hadn't. Justin was a creep, he was totally off his rocker!
Wait. Had Kent seen Justin and I in the back of the booth? Had he thought something was happening back there? I didn't want to ask him just in case he hadn't, then I'd have to explain the whole situation and beg Kent not to go kill Justin. But what if he had and he was waiting for me to fess up to him? But nothing had happened so why was I so scared to tell Kent? I hadn't let Justin kiss me so why would he be mad at me? Unless. . .I secretly wanted Justin to kiss me. No I didn't . . . but what if I did?