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It was dark.
Lucy was asleep next to me, but she wasn’t what woke me. I was sure I had heard something downstairs. I knew I locked the door, but something had been loud enough to wake me.
My heart raced. I couldn’t remember for sure where Jordan was supposed to be, and it wouldn’t come as any surprise to me if she had come back to the house. Was she even out of jail? Would she be bold enough to ignore the protective order?
On the other hand, it wasn’t a secret Alex was rich. Was there some burglar who had broken in when they saw his car was gone all day?
I didn’t know, but I wasn’t going to lay there like some scared rabbit waiting for the fox to find me. I would go on the offensive. I had to take care of Lucy, after all – and the baby that was in my belly.
I quickly scanned the room for anything I could use as a weapon. It wasn’t like there were a lot of options for a three-year-old girl to have in her room. But I found a small pink baseball bat. It wasn’t very heavy, but I figured with the right amount of force, I could turn it into a functioning weapon.
While I hadn’t heard anything else downstairs, that didn’t stop me from heading into the hallway and closing Lucy’s door behind me. Even if I had been mistaken and was just hearing things, I wouldn’t be satisfied until I checked to ensure there wasn’t anyone else in the house and that both the front and back doors were still locked.
I crept down the stairs, every inch of me on high alert. If it was Jordan, would she be armed? I knew I technically was armed myself, but what if she brought a real weapon with her? Or ifit was a burglar, what would they have possibly brought with them?
I needed to talk to Alex about getting a dog for when he was gone. At least then, I wouldn’t be worried about facing off with some intruder with nothing more than a pink baseball bat in my hand. And not a very heavy one at that.
I reached the main level of the house. I was tempted to flick on the light, but I worried if the person was armed, what if I were to then present myself as a target before I was able to address them? If they had a gun or something, they could easily get the upper hand, and there would be nothing I could do about it.
Holding my breath, I headed for the kitchen. I was sure I could hear the person in there. It didn’t make any sense to me why they would be spending any time in the kitchen of all the rooms. There wasn’t anything of value in there. But then, what if they were just mapping out the plan of how they were going to ransack the house?
Or suppose they knew I was there with Lucy, and they were trying to work out a plan of how they were going to attack us? I would suppose that would be the sort of thing to work out before one got into the house, but then, I had never attempted such a thing myself, so I had no idea what was going on.
All I knew was that I had to use the element of surprise. That was the only way I felt I was going to have any real chance at keeping myself and the kids safe.
I had all but decided I was going to step into the kitchen swinging the bat and yelling that the cops were on the way when suddenly, the person I had heard in the kitchen stepped into the living room. I was right next to the doorway, and I didn’t have time to think. I didn’t have time to even aim properly with how I swung the bat.
All I could think was to protect myself and Lucy, and I braced myself as I wielded my weapon.
“Ouch! Jesus Christ, what the fuck?” a familiar voice cried out right after the bat made contact with his face.
“Oh my God, Alex!” I sobbed. “I had no idea it was you! Why are you standing around in the kitchen in the dark?”
“I was hoping I wouldn’t wake you if you were on the couch for some reason,” he said. He’d taken a step back into the kitchen and fumbled with the light, flicking it on with the other hand clamped over his eye. “Clearly, you were awake, and what a swing! No burglar is going to get past you.”
Embarrassed, I set the bat down.
“I fell asleep in Lucy’s room with her,” I explained. “And I had no idea you were coming home tonight. When I heard someone down here, I didn’t know what to do, so I just grabbed the bat and went into action.”
“I see that. Feel it, too,” he said. He was rummaging through the freezer, but I stepped in.
“Sit down at the table, and let me get you something to put on that. God, I’m sorry. I really didn’t know it was you,” I said. “I thought it could be Jordan, then I thought I might be dealing with some burglar who knew you were out of town, and I just went into action.”
“No harm done,” he said. “I’m glad to know I can trust you to take action in the event you were put into a situation like that.”
“Here,” I said as I pulled out a bag of frozen peas. “Put this on your eye. I haven’t ever planned on being in that kind of situation, so I just did what I thought was the right thing to do in the moment. Are you sure you’re okay?”
“Baby, I’m fine,” he said. “Really. I might get a black eye from it, but hey, it’s not like I didn’t deserve one anyway for the way I treated you earlier.”
“Don’t say that,” I told him. “You didn’t do anything wrong. I’m sorry for the way I’ve been acting. I know I’ve been crazy the past few days, and I really don’t have a good excuse for it.”
“Don’t worry about it,” he told me. “Arguments happen, and it was just a matter of time before you and I had our first. The important thing is that we are able to talk it out and move on. Of all of the things that my relationship with Jordan lacked, I feel the biggest one was communication. I was being a jerk to you, and I’m sorry for that.”
I gave him a small smile. “I was being a bit of a crazy girlfriend, and I’m sorry, too. That’s not how I want to be, and the past two days, I’ve felt really bad about it.”
“Let’s just forgive each other and move on, can we?” Alex asked. “Water under the bridge?”
“Deal,” I said. I sat down at the table next to him and took his hand in mine. “I’m really glad you’re back. I might not have shown it with the way I welcomed you, but really, I’m so, so glad you’re here.”
