I woke to a creepy Jackson watching me sleep.
I grinned and put my hand in his face.
"Don't watch me sleep that's creepy." I said playfully.
He smiled.
"I agree it's creepy but you're so beautiful." He said caressing me cheek.
I rolled my eyes and smiled at him.
"Yea okay." I said before kisisng him.
Just then Isa started crying. The doorbell rang as well so I went to go get Isa while Jackson went downstairs to get the door.
"Hey pretty girl. How's my baby?" I said to her smiling at her.
"Mama." He said smiling with her two bottom teeth growing in.
I picked her up and left kisses all over her face.
She giggled.
I heard Jackson speaking to someone at the door.
And then he called my name.
"Yes?" I yelled back walking downstairs with Isa in my arms.
"Can you come here for a sec? Our new neighbor that just moved in needs the name of a plumber ASAP because he's having trouble with his toilets." Jackson said. I walked to the door and handed him Isa as they greeted each other like it's been forever. I finally got a good look at the neighbor and my friendly smile dropped. I couldn't believe my eyes.
"Hey, I'm really sorry to interrupt but my toilet is backed up and I'm having trouble with my whole sewer system now." He said. After almost 2 years and he still looks the same. His amazing hazel eyes and the long dark eyelashes. It's the one and only Sammuel Wilkinson. I cleared my
throat and nodded.
"Uhm, it's fine. Although you should have gotten our to go guy's number on the sheet you get when you move in to the community." I said trying to act normal.
"I'm so stupid, I accidentally threw it out." He said.
"I'm Sammy by the way." He said smiling and extending his hand out like i've never met him before.
I took it and shook it.
"Theresa. Give me a second to get my phone and I'll give you his number." I said.
"You can come in." I said getting out of the way. He stepped in and looked around.
"Nice place." He said sitting down on the couch.
"Thanks." I said awkardly as I ran up the stairs quickly. Jackson started talking to him.
I'm so confused, why doesn't he recognize me? Did he move back here alone? Where has he been all this time?
So many questions just ran through my head. I quickly grabbed my phone and ran back downstairs.
I found Sammy and Jackson chuckling. Isa crawled up to me.
"Mama!" She said extending her arms out at me. I smiled at her as I picked her up and put her on my hip. I gave Sammy the number. He thanked me.
"She's so cute, what's her name?" Sammy asked referring to Isa.
"Isabella." I said.
Sammy smiled and nodded.
"Well I'm going to get going and call him." He said waving his phone up.
"Bye, thank you both for everything." He said and then left.
Jackson got a page and had to leave shortly after, which I was kind of grateful for. I don't know how I'm going to tell him that, that was Sammy. I need to talk to Sammy. I need to know why he's treating me like a complete stranger and like nothing happened. I gave Isa some breakfast and set her down for a nap.
It's now or never. I took Isa's baby monitor and walked out of the house and to Sammy's.
I rang his doorbell and seconds later he opened it.
I smiled awkwardly.
"Hi." I said waving my hand.
"Oh hey, you want to come in?" He said.
"I can't actually" I said holding up the baby monitor.
"But I need to talk to you." I said.
"Me too actually." Sammy said scratching the back of his head.
"Can I go first though?" Sammy said.
I nodded.
"Okay, about a year ago, I had a really bad accident. I had a brain injury and they needed to do surgery. But there was a risk of memory loss. As you can see, I'm fine. But the last memories I have is from when I was 14. It's like the last 8 years of my life are blank. I went to live with my parents in Nebraska again. I found pictures of me and friends and you were in one of them. I didn't really plan on moving in right next door to you, but I came back to find my friends again." He explained. Suddenly everything made sense. Not only did I feel guilty for building up all this anger against him, but I feel sorry for him.
"I'm sorry, I didn't know." I said running my hands through my hair.
He shrugged his shoulders.
"Maybe we could hang out sometime, you know us and the others." He said. I gave him a small smile.
"Yea maybe. I gotta go, see you around." I said waving before walking back to my house. I decided it's best for me not to tell him anything that happened between us. I went back home and showered. I kept thinking of ways on how I'm going to tell Jackson that the man that broke my heart and Isa's biological father was in our house this morning.
I put some clothes on and had some food as the day slowly went on and I waited for Jackson to come home.
It was getting late and Jackson finally came home.
"Hey babe." Jackson said as he walked into the bedroom.
"Hey." I said as he gave me a quick peck on the lips.
He took his shirt off and put some pajama pants on.
"We need to talk, well...I need to tell you something." I said. He raised an eyebrow at me as he licked his lips.
"Okay.." He said waiting for me to continue.
"Remeber how our new neighbor Sammy came over?" I said.
He nodded.
"Well, that's Sammy Wilkinson, as in my ex." I said gulping. His eyes widened and then he furrowed his eyebrows.
"Wait, then why did he act like he's never met you before?" He said with his hands on his head.
"I asked myself the same question. I went to talk to him, and it turns out he had an accident. He had to get surgery on his bran and as a result he had memory loss. The last memories he has was when he was fourteen. He said he came back because he found pictures of me and the group with him. He wanted to come find us. He just never planned to move in next door to me."
Jackson stayed quiet.
"Please say something." I said getting up and walking to him. He sat on the bed.
"I don't know what to say. Are you going to tell him about you guys, or about Is-"
I quickly interrupted him.
"No, ofcourse not. Isa is our daughter and that's it." I said putting my hand on face.
He sighed and nodded.
"Okay.... I just don't want to loose either of you."
"And you won't. Because I'm not going anywhere, and I'm sure as hell that Isa isn't." I said making him crack a smile.
"I love you Theresa Maine. And I swear I'm going to make you an Avery one day." He said as he pulled me into bed with him.
I smiled and kissed him.
"I love you too baby."
*SAMUEL IS BACKKKK!!!!* 🤔🤔
