Charlie's Angel

3

 Paris was still sleeping when I woke up the next morning. My head ached from sleeping on a flat pillow on the ground, but that's what I did three or four nights outta the week. Aaron always had friends over and they would pass out all around the living room, but I couldn't do anything to stop it so Paris and I dealt with it.

I turned on her TV and stared blankly at Spongebob for a few hours until her eyes peeked over the side of her bed. "Hi, Mommy." She sat up and yawned.

I put on a smile for her, although I was aggravated. It was nearing noon and it sounded like Aaron's friends were still here. Either that, or the TV was turned up a little louder than usual.

"Good morning, sweetie. Stay put." I hopped up from the floor, brushed off my pants and unlocked her bedroom door. My eyes scanned the hallway and the catwalk for any signs of Aaron or his friends, but both places assured me that I was in the clear. I could only hear talking coming from downstairs.

Aaron was sitting at the kitchen table when I turned the corner into the kitchen. He was talking on the phone, smirking at whoever he was talking to. My head throbbed at the thought of it being some girl.

We didn't speak to each other.

I proceeded to make me and my daughter some breakfast. A large bowl of cereal for me, and a tiny bowl for her. She eats like a bird—her stomach is so tiny.

Aaron continued to sit at the table and kept obnoxiously laughing and talking to whoever it was on his phone. I tapped my spoon on the table, glared at him. Paris looked back and forth between the two of us.

"Excuse me," I spoke up to him.

He looked at me, rolled his eyes, ignored me.

"Aaron," I said a little bit louder.

"What? Damn," he muttered. He scooted back from the table and walked out the front door.

And that was the end of that.

I nudged Paris into the living room for her dose of cartoons while I cleaned the kitchen. A chore that I hated more than anything. It wasn't the chore itself that I hated. It was the fact that I was the only one who cleaned up around the whole damn house. I was more of Aaron's maid than his wife, and it had been that way since we got married. He made me clean up when his friends came over. He left dishes for me to wash. All while he sat around on his ass all day.

***

"Hey Sam," I said as I walked through her front door. She greeted me and Paris with tight hugs and led us deeper into her house. I was on my way to work, so I couldn't stay long. Sam watched Paris for me everyday while I was working. I'd be a damn fool to leave her with Aaron and it wasn't like I had the money to afford a babysitter.

Sam was the opposite of me. I was a little more quiet and reserved, caramel colored skin, wild curly brown hair that I was trying to grow out. Not to sound cocky, but my eyes were kinda pretty. They were a soft gray with a hint of brown. Or was it a soft brown with a hint of gray?

She was all over the place, pale with long blond hair and the prettiest green eyes. She had a nice set of boobs, too, that her dad paid for. She was a spoiled brat and a huge daddy's girl. Her dad was in the medicine business. Something about distributing medication to hospitals all around the country. When she wanted something, all she had to do was bat her long eyelashes and he would drop whatever he was doing to cater to her needs.

I wasn't jealous. I just missed my dad more than anything in the world.

Oh, and her mom wasn't in the picture. Overcompensation at its finest.