Chapter 10: Conflicting Thoughts

As she lays there, Kelly notices the sun start to come up and watches the shadows on the ceiling move slowly around her. However, she does not notice Carlos disappear into thin air. When she turns to look at him, he is not there. “Carlos, are you still here?” She says softly while whispering into the dark.

Because she does not know that she is still asleep, she sits there for several minutes with a puzzled look on her face before she suddenly wakes up.

“What is going on here? One minute we can touch each other, then the next it is as if he never was here. It seemed to be so real to be dreaming. In our conversation he seems to think that I am giving him strength. That’s ridiculous, then he told me that he didn’t kill himself. So, who did?” She says to an empty room as she scans the corners for any signs of life.

So many questions and no one to answer them. Feeling a headache coming on, she decides to get out of bed and get dressed. When she glances around the room, she notes that the bed is a mess again. After pulling the sheets off, she throws them into the laundry basket and then yawns.

Walking into the kitchen, she notices that everyone else is already up. Yawning, and stretching, she turns to Samantha and then Samantha asks her worriedly, “Did you not sleep well last night?”

“No, I didn’t sleep well at all.” Kelly replies quietly as she grabs a bowl and a box of cereal before she pours it and some milk. Sitting down for a few minutes, she makes it disappear in record time and then glances at Jaime and Lilly, who are waiting patiently for Kelly to get ready.

Once they are all in the car, she pulls out of the driveway to go to Grandma’s. As she does, she looks over at Grayson’s house quickly and notices that the lights are on. She sees him casually walking around in the kitchen and then he disappears behind the curtains. Jaime watches Kelly stare at his house before stating sarcastically, “Mom, why don’t you guys just have sex and get it over with. We all know that you want him.”

Snapping her head around, Kelly yells, “Jaime, what the hell? Seriously!” and then adds more calmly, “First of all, we have only had one real date.”

“Mom don’t lie to me. I see the way he looks at you all the time. He’s cool around everyone else but gets all awkward around you and you are always staring over there if he isn’t with you. We were taking bets if he would be making breakfast this morning.” Jaime says while laughing and then stops suddenly before looking like she is in trouble.

“No, he went home last night after a couple of movies.” Kelly replies while looking rudely at her.

“I bet that he wanted to stay though, didn’t he?” Samantha says jokingly and then Kelly hits her playfully on the lower arm.

“Of course. He is a guy, but he was the one who decided to go home at the time. He could have stayed longer.” She says admittedly as her smile gives everything away.

“So would you have let him stay the night?” Samantha asks curiously before winking at her.

“Maybe.” Kelly whispers under her breath as she raises an eyebrow.

She leans over and turns the radio on for the rest of the trip because she doesn’t want to continue this conversation if it means that the jokes are at her expense. Surprisingly enough, they have a genuinely nice day with their mom. They take her to dinner, then give her a big birthday party. However, at the end of the day, they all say goodbye one last time and then make the long trip home without another word of any of it.

When they get back, everyone is tired. The girls just want to go to bed, and it is time for Samantha to go to work. Kelly makes sure that everything is shut down and she goes to bed too. Wondering if she would see Carlos again, she goes to sleep and secretly hopes that he does.

As the clock strikes midnight, she startles and looks around quickly because she is scared. It seems awfully quiet, so she whispers “Carlos, are you there?” but there is no answer, so she falls back to sleep for the rest of the night.

When she wakes up in the morning, she feels well rested and then climbs out of bed to wake up the girls and get everything ready for the day. After she drives them to school, she goes to the store to get groceries quickly. While looking around, she sees a GQ magazine with a handsome man on it and thinks to herself, “He surely must be a model or actor because he looks awfully familiar.” Before she picks it up and puts it in her cart.

Thinking about what she is going to make for dinner, she goes over to the meat section and begins to browse the pork chops and the pork roasts first. However, when she happens to see her next-door neighbor picking out some hamburger, she glances over at her.

Mrs. Middleton is a 50 plus year old woman with beautiful white hair that hangs down to her shoulders. Walking over to her, she says sweetly, “Hi there neighbor, long time no see. I think I have only talked to you once.”

“We have been on vacation down in Florida for the last few weeks and now I’m trying to restock the food. I see that you are all settled in now, and I’m glad everything is working out for you.” Mrs. Middleton replies happily as she smiles at Kelly.

“We finally got home yesterday and spent most of the day unpacking. I have noticed that you and Grayson have become acquainted. He is quite a handsome young man. Matter of fact, Carrie used to have a thing with him for a while. We would always watch him coming and going at different times of the day.” She says before sighing while acting like she is remembering it fondly. She adds flatly, “He must have quite a libido, because sometimes he would leave and then come back in the evening again.” before she shakes her head and glances at Kelly.

Checking her watch quickly, she states sadly, “Well, I really must be going. I told my husband that I would be home to make lunch. See you later.”

Wondering what that was all about, Kelly raises her eyebrows and then frowns before going on as she finds herself wondering, “Why would she make sure to tell her all about Carrie and Grayson having an affair? It is not like she was married or anything. I mean good for her. He is worth it.

While she strolls through the rest of the store, she finds herself wondering exactly when they called it quits. The day she was there it did not seem like they were too interested in each other anymore. Oh well, it all worked out in the end either way. Now she has the house and Grayson, for however long their relationship lasts.

Just as she gets home, her stomach starts to growl loudly. So, after she puts the groceries away, she quickly makes herself an egg salad sandwich. Afterwards, she sits down on the couch and turns on the T.V. An afternoon movie is on, so she sits back and puts her feet up on the coffee table before eating her sandwich.

Suddenly, Samantha pops her head out of the bedroom to say hi. “Hey how are you today sis?” Samantha says as she walks over to the couch and touches Kelly’s shoulder gently.

“Oh, I am fine. My stomach was really growling, so I made a sandwich. There are still some leftovers if you want to make one. I whipped up some egg salad.” She says as she points it out to Samantha.

Samantha smiles and then says excitedly, “I think I will.” Before she walks into the kitchen to make some lunch.

The moment Kelly’s phone starts to ring, she pulls it out of her pocket and picks it up to find out that Lilly’s school is calling to notify her that she is sick. After the phone call, she tells Samantha that she has to pick up Lilly because she is sick and needs to come home before she quickly gets ready and makes her way to the vehicle.

As she puts her seat belt on and turns on the car, she has a funny thought. She smiles for a second, but then puts the car into gear and scans the driveway before backing up. When she looks across the road, she does not see Grayson pulling in his driveway, so she almost hits his car.

Honking at her sarcastically, he yells, “Hey watch where you’re going. You could have hit me and then you would have had to make it up to me.”

Shaking her head, she tells him she must pick up Lilly from school. Understanding, he waves goodbye before fleetingly wishing that he was going with her.