16

Chapter One

"Oh Cody," I said while looking into his beautiful eyes.

"Annabelle, I want to be with you forev-*brrrring brrrrring*

I open my eyes, groaning.

"Another day, you can do it Annie," I whisper to myself.

I hear my five year old, Abe, wobbling up the stairs as he shouts, "Mommy! Daddy made us breakfast!"

I sleepily rub my eyes and tell him I'll be down in a few minutes. I pick out my coziest robe and head down stairs. The smell of gingerbread fills my nose and my mouth starts to water.

As I sit down, my daughter Abbi, Abe's twin sister, comes running towards me and gives me a big hug.

"Daddy's making gingerbread pancakes, mommy! Your favorite!" She grabbed my hand and started pulling me toward the kitchen.

I laughed and responded, "That's awesome! How about you come and sit down with me and Abe until daddy brings breakfast out to us."

"Okay mommy!!" She sat and twiddled her thumbs, while her brother started whining about how hungry he was. I groaned and my husband, Ron, finally arrived with gingerbread pancakes, my favorite.

We all ate very quickly, Christmas music blasting in the air. Christmas is in a week, and Christmas Day also happens to be my birthday. My 40th birthday to be exact.

After we finished, Ron left for work. He is a chef, as was I five years ago before I became a stay at home mom. I remember the days where I'd spend hours upon hours just mixing ingredients to make the best dish possible. I miss those days tremendously, but not as much as I miss my teenage years. My teenage years could've been the best years of my life, but I ruined it all by messing up my relationship with the perfect boy. I mean, Ron is great, but he is nothing compared to Cody. Cody was my first love and the only guy I've ever felt that intensely about. Me and Ron never really found a spark between us, but decided to get married after we found out that I was pregnant. We play along for the kids, but all we really are are really good friends. We are thinking of getting a divorce in the near future.

I hardly ever get to see Ron, and when I do he just wants to sleep. He doesn't interact with the kids, either. The kids just brush it off, but it really bugs me. I wish he would at least talk to them every once in a while. When he has weekends off, he spends his time out at the "bar," as he tells me, but I know he's at the strip club. I know someone that works at the place he goes to regularly. They say he's a premium member. How great.

I laid down upstairs in my bed after putting the kids down for a nap and looked at the clock. It was 11:11. I closed my eyes and made a wish, I wish that I could go back in time, to this day 24 years ago when I was 15 going on 16.

After that, I fell into a deep, deep sleep.