Hollywood Journey

The Texts

"Nol where's daddy?" I walk into the house from work just in time for Brad's phone to start blowing up from texts "Can you get him for me?"

"Daddy sleeping?"

"What do you mean daddy's sleeping? Are Willow or Marie home?"

"No."

He runs off into his playroom before I get the chance to ask anymore questions since he knows they're coming up. I walk over to Brad's phone to make sure there isn't anything bad happening since it's going crazy.

"Hey, it's Caila!"

"Thought maybe we could talk later!"

"Thanks again for giving me your number. I can't wait to catch up!"

Just as I finish reading the messages, I hear Zane crying on the baby monitor. I quickly put the phone down and run upstairs to grab him before the crying wakes Brad since I have no idea what to do about this whole thing right now.

"Shhh, mommy has you," I gently calm Zane down as I sit in the rocker to feed him "Go back to sleep, baby."

I continue to think of everything as he eats. Brad and I haven't exactly been on the best terms lately between the kids, filming and the production company, but would he really cheat on me? Could it be something else? Could he be that upset after a month of no sex and be desperate?

"Mommy!! Willow home!" Nolan yells up the stairs, keeping Zane from falling asleep and waking Brad up "She make food!"

I walk out of Zane's room after hearing our door open to see Brad sleepily walking to the steps. He doesn't even look at me because he knows he's in trouble for sleeping while Nolan runs around the house at free will doing God only knows what.

"How was your nap?"

"You weren't supposed to be home already." He mumbles, taking Zane from me so I can fix my shirt "You said you were working late. Again."

"Just because I wasn't supposed to be home doesn't mean you sleep instead of watching your children! You can't be that irresponsible!"

We make it downstairs, and Willow seeing that things are about to escalate grabs the boys to take them outside so they don't have to deal with it.

I follow Brad into the kitchen where he pours himself a drink, standing at the counter across from him.

"What if Nolan got hurt? What if he decided to go outside by himself? He's three, Brad! You can't just go to sleep when you want!"

"You know what? I really appreciate you taking the time to think of all the possible reasons I could be sleeping! Did you ever stop to think that maybe I had him in bed and he snuck out? How many times has he done that to us before?"

"So you're saying he snuck out of bed, opened the gates, climbed down the steps he always says he's scared of, and got into the playroom by himself? Something doesn't add up there! You cannot possibly be this much of an idiot!"

"I'm sorry I'm not you and the freaking perfect parent! I don't know what was going on in his little brain, but I do know that I did not plan on him getting out of bed! Maybe I'm just that tired that I didn't hear! I've been working as much as you, you should understand since this is the most we've talked to each other all week!"

"DO NOT try to blame this on me! I've been trying to talk but you just want to sleep! I get it! We're both tired but that doesn't mean you can let stuff like this happen! Did you forget to shut the door? Or the gate?"

"I don't know, Jen! I don't know! I do know that I did not expect to wake up to a furious wife because of something that ended up being okay!"

"You're ridiculous!"

I back away, knowing that my emotions are about to take over and I'll regret anything I say. Him texting another woman is one thing, but putting our children in possible danger because of careless choices is completely unacceptable.

"Oh, and by the way Caila texted you. She wanted to know if you can talk later."

I surprise myself for opening my mouth at all, since I'm not one to normally make things worse. Especially when we're having enough issues already.

His face drops as I mention her name. He either wants to hide her from me, or there's something going on that he doesn't want me to find out.

"Why were you looking at my phone?" I can tell I pissed him off. He never questions me looking unless he's trying to keep something from me "Why are you going through MY stuff?"

"Because you left it on the counter! It was going off like crazy so I wanted to make sure there wasn't anything wrong! I didn't even plan on reading the texts unless they were from your parents, but she just kept sending them."

He doesn't say anything for a while, doesn't even flinch or move a muscle. He never freezes up like this unless he knows he's in trouble or is pissed, and right now it's both. He's on very thin ice and he knows it.

"Caila is just a friend," He finally speaks up as the silence eats away at his nerves, "We went to school together."

"If she's 'just a friend' then why are you getting so clammy and defensive? If she's just a friend why did you feel the need to hide her from me? I am your WIFE! I'm not someone you can just push aside to talk to other women whenever you want. That's not how marriage works! At least not this one..."

"Then maybe you should start acting like my wife instead of just acting like some stranger that just sleeps next to me every night! When's the last time you were actually interested in anything at all about me?"

"Don't make me out to be the bad guy here! We're both busy, we both have jobs, you could be trying harder too! You don't even look at me anymore! I could climb into bed naked and all you would care about is your freaking script!"

"What exactly are you trying to imply right now, Jen? That I don't love you?"

"Are you or are you not sleeping with her?"

"What the fuck! Of course I'm not sleeping with her! Do you really think I would want to have sex with anyone but you? What is wrong with you?"

"What's wrong with me? I'm not the one hiding anything! What's wrong with you?"

"I miss you, okay? I miss us! I miss laying in bed for hours, endless sex, dating through marriage... none of that is here anymore and I miss it."

"Brad I do too, but it's still there. We just have to try harder. You can't just go and talk to other women just because you're missing something in our relationship, though."

"I'm not 'talking' to her. Honestly I'm not doing anything. We saw each other and she begged for my number. I never planned on answering her."

I can tell right away he's telling the truth, but it still hurts. It still leaves me feeling betrayed.

"Block the number."

"Okay."