Sister Wife

The First Wife

"Don't go yet!" Hope pleads as I get my bag. Almost 6 months have passed since our weird trip to Utah. Some pretty big things have happened since then. Justin finished his album. I moved into my own house. Hope agreed to let Justin get her some help - but only because he found a therapist who would come to the house.

"I have to, Hope, but I'll be back tomorrow," I promise. She sighs and gives me a little smile.

"We can finish decorating tomorrow, right?" she asks. I agree and give her a hug before I hurry out to my car.

It seems like therapy is helping Hope a lot. But there's still one thing that she struggles with more than everything else and I actually find myself having trouble with it too. There's a lot of time to fill every day without anything else to do. Since I didn't sign up for school and don't have a baby to take care of my time is really completely my own.

Sure, it was a lot of fun at first. I spent all day every day on my laptop, watching TV, and talking to my sister Sarah. But I ran out of things to do really fast and can never figure out how to fill the rest of my time. Justin is around as much as he can be, but he still has to work and see Hope. So I've started spending more time with Hope and Isaiah while I figure out what I want to do.

I'm also a little freaked out by having a whole house to myself. It's really cool to be able to decorate the whole thing exactly how I want to. But I grew up with a house full of people and now I don't have that. It's the weirdest feeling to know that there's no one else in the house with me. My mind starts playing tricks on me. Every little sound makes me wonder if there's someone there.

Which is why I don't think anything of it when I get home and hear some little noises upstairs. I just tell myself it's the heater coming on because it's gotten too chilly out to be happy without it. December in LA is nothing like December in Utah and it's kind of nice - but it doesn't feel much like Christmas.

I'm trying to think of what Justin might want for dinner when I hear actual footsteps upstairs. At first I'm too scared to move. Then I tell myself it has to be Justin because who else could be in my house? I run upstairs to see if maybe he's come home early.

But as soon as I push open the door to my room my heart starts pounding again. It looks like someone has taken all of my clothes out of my closet and piled them on the bed. There's a quick movement to my left and I spin to see what it is.

"Oh, hey," Selena's got an armload of clothes with her and she's hanging them up.

"What are you doing?" I try to get my heartrate back to normal. "When did you get here? I didn't even see your car outside."

"Did you know you have a guest parking area?" Selena laughs. I did know that, but I'd forgotten because the only people who ever come to see me just park in the driveway. "I'm parked over there. I just wanted to bring you some more clothes I picked up for you."

"Uh, thank you?" I don't know what to think of this. "You know we haven't seen you in 6 months," I remind her.

"Yeah, I know," Selena sighs. She turns to the massive collection of shopping bags she's got with her. I can't imagine how long she's been working. "I'm sorry, I kept meaning to come by but then it was hard to make myself come," she shrugs. "But I've been buying this stuff for you so I thought it was time to bring it by."