Who Said Three is a Crowd?

Chapter Four

Antonio turned in his sleep again, he tried to stay asleep for more than half an hour this time, but with no luck. His mind was racing a mile per minute, and above all nights for his insomnia to kick in, it decided that tonight was the perfect opportunity to torture him. With a groan, he decided he was done trying and needed a run. He quietly got up, put on a pair of basketball shorts then head over to the garage where he kept his treadmill. Checking his watch, he saw that it was one forty-five AM. He gave himself an hour to run and maybe lift some weights. Antonio released the majority of his pent-up frustration, as he ran and the remainder, he pushed out of his system by lifting weights. When it was around three-thirty AM, he was sore and in need of a cold shower. He went back inside, locked up and went to the bathroom downstairs to avoid waking Elizabeth. He found a clean boxer in the laundry and decided to use it after his shower. He wondered how he was going to get through his day, especially as he was so tired and worn out. With a sigh, he went to the kitchen and got started on breakfast. 

Liz groaned as her alarm blared, alerting her that it was 5:30 am. Just when she felt that she was getting comfortable, it was already time to wake up. She wiped her eyes and mentally gave herself her motivational speech for the morning. Three reasons why she has to leave the comfort of her bed to go to work; she needs the money so she can take care of herself; she needs the money to take care of her family, and most of all she needs the money for bills and her surprise vacation she been planning. With that in mind, she sat up and carefully swung her legs over the side of her bed being cautious of the cold tiles. She peeked over to find her bedside slipper on her fuzzy mat, with a small sigh she got up and stretched. It had not come to her attention earlier that Antonio was nowhere to be seen in the room. She realized that something was missing when she turned to fix her side of the bed. For a split second, she pondered on where he could have been then decided to go downstairs to get breakfast and lunch started.  This would have to wait.

On her way downstairs, she heard the clanking of cutlery and pans. As she neared the kitchen, she could smell the tantalizing smell of her drug also known to man as coffee, and her favorite stewed turkey ham. She spotted Antonio bustling over the kitchen counter while he platted what looked like toast, scrambled eggs, stewed turkey ham, and veggies.  
"Mhmm" Liz groaned, "Something smells so good." She paused to take in the sight of Antonio in his boxer briefs and apron. She instinctively licked her lips. "Morning love, I didn't expect you up as yet, why were you up so early? Not that I'm complaining." 

Like a true addict she gravitated towards the coffee maker, reached in the cupboard for her favorite mug Antonio had gotten her for Mother's Day two years ago, and poured herself some coffee and a bit of creamer. She took a large sip, then looked at Antonio, who seemed to have been ignoring her. 

"Antonio? Are you okay?" She heard the concern in her voice, hoping that he would hear it too. 

"Yeah. I couldn't sleep. I've been up for hours so I decided to start on breakfast, started a lentils soup for lunch, you can take over from there. Kailey and Kaiden's snacks are already prepared." He responded drained.

He barely made eye contact with her, Liz saw the defeat emitting from her husband and she hated that she was the cause of it. Without another word, Antonio left the kitchen then went upstairs for a thirty minutes nap to get ready for work for eight AM. 

Liz felt guilty once again, she did not know what to expect so she decided that her husband needed space, and it would be in the best interest for her children that things appeared normal. That was her final thought in the matter as she went about continuing where Antonio left off in the kitchen and when it was time to wake the kids, she went to their rooms to have them up to say their prayers and get ready for the school day.