NANNY FOR MENDES.

Eighty-one

Thirty minutes later, the door bell rings. Shawn takes my hand in his and walk us to the door. He wants me to open the door for her with me. I love it.

A crying Christina is revealed after he opens the door. There's mascara smeared on her face; she looks awful.

"Umm. Are you okay?" Shawn asks her, taken off-guard by her look.

"No." She sobs and throws herself in his arms. I turn my head quickly; I just can't see this.

"Hug me back." That bitch! Wait, what? I turn my head in their direction. Shawn's arms aren't around her, thank God.

"No, Christina."

"What?" She lifts her head off his chest.

"No, I can't hug you."

"Why?"

"Because I have a girlfriend who is standing right next to me. If I have the least bit of respect for her, I won't hug you. Hell, we shouldn't even be in this position. This is inappropriate."

"Oh." She pulls back.

I love this man more than I've ever loved anyone. He's a gentleman. He respects and loves me and just proved it.

Shawn grabs me by the waist and pulls me close to him. Good. This bitch should know her place.

"Can we talk?"

"Sure." He starts walking towards the living room.

"I mean there." She points at the direction of our bedroom. Fuck no. I was about to tell her off, when Shawn says, "definitely not."

"But...we always talk there."

"We used to talk there, Christina. That was before I had a girlfriend, who I love so much. It is my and Soph's room now, so no."

Those words and what they do to me. The look of hurt and betrayal on Christina's face, though....

"Can we talk alone, at least?"

"You can talk in front of Soph."

She looks hurt.....

"What happened to you? Since when do you treat me this way?"

"Since I had a girlfriend." He says flatly.

We step into the living room.

"Mommy!" Raul runs toward his mother.

She doesn't even budge when he hugs her waist. He looks up at her with disappointment.

That's when I intervene.

"Raul, baby, come here." I sit on my knees and open my arms for him. He walks over to me, looking at the floor.

He stands in between my arms, and I tell him, "can you go to your room for a few minutes, baby? We have some adult-talking to do. Okay?"

He nods. I kiss his cheek, pat his back and he goes to his room. When I glance at Christina, she's looking at me with raging eyes.

"You stole my husband and now my son, too?"

"I didn't steal your husband, to start with. You simply left him, and over a year later, we started dating. And about your son, you should've seen the way you treated him or the way he was disappointed when his own mother who he hasn't seen in a while didn't budge when he ran over to her, excited.

"You need to treat your son better. And you should take care of his needs. He hates coming to your house because of Adam. Yet, you didn't do anything, did you?"