Falling From It Again

Forty 4

TONY's POINT OF VIEW

The next morning:

I checked the watch on my wrist and noticed that it was 6:25 a.m. Cheryl and the kids were already downstairs and now, I was headed that way too. I knew that I would have to talk to Cai about what Cheryl and I read on her phone last night- I wasn't too excited about this but...it needed to be done.

I noticed that Cheryl had her wedding ring on the nightstand- off her finger again?

I put my suit jacket on and then walked over to pick it up. I looked at it and then put it in my pocket. Next, I went downstairs to join my family.

Once I made it downstairs, Cai and Ciyle were eating breakfast on the stools. They were mighty silent. I saw Cheryl standing there smiling down at her phone and slightly biting her lip.

"Morning." I said to everybody as I walked in.

"Hey, Dad." Ciyle said as he looked at me.

"Hi." Cai said. She didn't look up though.

Cheryl was still too busy looking into her phone. When can I ever get her attention?

"Good morning, Wife." I said as I walked up to her and placed my hands on her hips.

"Oh, uh...Good morning, baby." She said as she put her phone away and gave me a kiss on the cheek.

"Who you talkin' to, beautiful?" I asked her.

"Nobody really." She said as she looked up at the kids and then back at me.

"Oh, okay. Can I...uhm, talk to you for a moment." I asked her. She nodded her head and smiled at me. I grabbed her hand and led her towards the living room.

We stopped in front of each other and stood in the middle of the room.

"What's up?" She asked me. I reached in my pocket and pulled out the ring and showed it to her. She looked at it. "Oh....that-..." she said as she pointed at it.

"Yeah, babe." I said as I continued to look at her. "Cheryl, you don't usually do this. You should have this on at all times, baby. This ain't nothing new at all, wife. However, you're making it hard for me." I told her. "Give me your left hand." I told her as I put my hand out for her. She gave me her hand and I then slipped the ring on her finger.
"I was only hoping to do that one time throughout my entire life. Keep it on, please." I told her in a serious voice.

"My apologies. I-...I just forgot." She said as she looked at the ring on her finger.

"That's something too important to forget about." I told her as I put my hands in my pockets.

"It won't happen again." She said as she fixed my tie and smiled at me. She then patted my chest.

"Alright." I said as I went in for a kiss but she turned her head so that I could kiss her cheek.

"Why do you always do that? Just kiss me." I told her in an annoyed voice. "You don't like kissing me on the lips anymore too?" I questioned her. She looked away from me and sighed to herself.

I pulled her into me by her waist and looked into her eyes. "It's not that." She told me as she continued to look away from me.

"Then what is it?" I asked her as I scrunched up my eyebrows. She shook her head and shrugged her shoulders. "Alright. I won't take it to heart. You haven't kissed or touched me in a while, you know that? However, there is a fire inside of me. Once it comes out....I don't think that you'll be able to take it." I told her as I patted her side. "Let's go talk to Cai." I told her as I then removed my hands from her waist and walked away.