Little Do You Know

Chapter 34

1996

"Come here," Dani groaned, grabbing onto Jett's arm, "just let me..." She ran a baby wipe over his ice cream covered little face as he struggled against her, wriggling and pulling, whipping his head back and forth. "Let me clean you." She wiped him quickly, missing some but getting most of it and deciding it had to be good enough. Sighing, she released him. "Alright, just go."

He darted off, chasing after Lyric, following her up the rungs of the ladder and onto the jungle gym. Lyric sat down at the top of the slide and shot down to the bottom, instantly turning around, arms out, ready to catch her brother. Dani smiled as Jett's feet hit the ground and he took off across the playground, Lyric hot on his heels, both of her children giggling.

It was the first warm and dry day of the year and Dani had decided to celebrate by taking the kids for ice cream and to the park after school. She desperately needed to get out of the house, to get some fresh air, to get away from her own thoughts. She'd called Robin who met them, the two of them now sitting on a park bench while her kids burned off some energy.

"Alright," Robin announced, leaning forward, one eyebrow raised, "so what's going on?"

Dani's face scrunched, "What are you talking about?"

Robin snorted, "Oh please. You call me out of the blue to go get ice cream and come to the park with you and the kids."

"What's so strange about that? I invite you along with us all the time."

"Nothing, if that's all it was, but it's not. You've been weird for a few days now, Dani. I called you the other night and you couldn't get off the phone quick enough. I popped into the bookshop yesterday and you could hardly make eye contact with me, all your answers stilted, short. I know you far too well, my friend. Something's up with you. So, what is it? You and Eddie fighting again?"

Dani blew out a long breath, laughing harshly, "Again? When are we ever not fighting these days?"

It was, unfortunately, the truth. Her and Eddie had gone from fighting occasionally to fighting constantly. If it wasn't about his job then it was about his mood or it was about how Dani nagged too much or about how he never helped around the house or how she was too tired for sex or she was upset because they hadn't done anything together in weeks and he would remind her how much he worked. It was exhausting, a never ending cycle of bickering and yelling.

"I'm sorry," Robin empathized, her hand coming to rest on Dani's arm. "I'm sure it's just a temporary thing. It's hard with money troubles and young kids and him working so much. It will pass."

"It is hard, but I don't know. We used to fight every now and again. I'd get fed up with him not helping enough and go off about it or he'd come home in a bad mood from work and wind up yelling. But we always moved on from it. You know? We'd go back to being Dani and Eddie for a while. But now, it feels like it's almost every day and even when we don't fight, we...I don't even know if he enjoys being around me anymore."

"Dani, that can't be true. You're Eddie's favorite person in the world."

"I used to think so but that's not how it feels anymore." She cleared her throat, refusing to cry. She couldn't let the kids see. "He used to plan these date nights once a month for us but he hasn't done that the last couple months. And we haven't been to the cabin the last two years. It was supposed to be our thing, our tradition for our anniversary but he's been working and...I don't know, Robin. And now..."

She buried her face in her hands, leaning forward, breathing in sharply as she used every ounce of self-control within herself to keep the tears at bay. Dani felt like everything was crumbling around her and now the worst news ever, the worst timing, the absolute last thing that she needed.