“Don’t do this again,” he said, when I still hadn’t answered him after a few moments. He moved to leave the kitchen, and I snapped.
“You fucking asshole,” I seethed, tears filling my eyes. “He had the chance to get up. All he had to do was talk to me.”
“What?”
“I can’t believe you.” I shook my head, closing my laptop and sliding it under my arm. “Keller was still there because he was being stubborn as hell. All he had to do was say one word about why his teacher sent a note home from school saying that Keller was being a bully.”
“What the hell?” Shane asked, his head jerking back.
“Yeah, that was my thought,” I replied. I set my laptop in a cupboard above the counter where the kids couldn’t reach it and grabbed my keys. “I’m going to the store. I just fed Iris, so she should be fine for a while.”
“Kate,” Shane called, but I didn’t pause as I moved through the living room, telling the kids good-bye as I went. I was so livid that I had to get out of there before I said something I didn’t mean.
* * *
I took my time at the grocery store. I took a long-ass time at the grocery store.
By the time I got home, it was after the kids’ bedtime, and I was sure that Shane had had to heat up some breast milk I’d stored for Iris in the fridge. I’d been gone for hours.
My anger had turned to frustration, which had then turned to hurt. I wanted to say that I couldn’t believe Shane had immediately acted like I was being a heartless bitch for disciplining Keller but I couldn’t. He’d made his views clear on that a long time ago, and because we’d never had another run-in, I’d let myself forget about it.
It was a hard fall back to reality.
I backed my SUV into the driveway and popped the hatch before getting out. The thought of carrying in all the groceries I bought made my shoulders slump, but I grabbed a huge package of toilet paper and two gallons of milk on my way inside anyway.
I hated grocery shopping with the kids, but I couldn’t deny how much easier it was when they helped me unload the car.
“Hey,” Shane called out, shutting off the television as I passed through the living room.
“Hey,” I answered, setting the milk on the counter and the toilet paper on the floor before turning right back around. “There’s a ton of groceries in the car.”
He nodded and followed me outside, grabbing half the contents of my trunk in one go. We moved silently around each other, putting things away. I was too tired to even converse with him in any type of normal manner.
After we finished putting everything away in their proper places, I turned and walked up to my room without a word. For the first time ever, I locked the door behind me. If the kids needed something in the night, Shane could take care of it.
I stripped to my T-shirt and underwear before checking on Iris, who was sleeping peacefully. Then I crawled between the sheets.
I was just…melancholy. That was the best word for it. We’d been functioning so well for so long that I’d grown complacent with the way things were. I hadn’t even thought twice when I’d sat Keller on that chair. I had hated it, but shit—all he’d had to do was speak up. My stomach sank as I thought about how he’d been acting at school. Was there something going on with him? He’d seemed fine up until I’d asked him about the note from his teacher. Had I missed something? What was I doing wrong?
The doorknob rattled, and I glanced that way before closing my eyes and pulling the comforter higher on my shoulders. I just wanted to go to sleep and start fresh in the morning. Everything looked better in the morning.
Within minutes, I heard another sound at the door, and I watched in disbelief as it swung open, the light from the hallway outlining Shane’s bare torso.
“You don’t get to do that,” he said quietly, walking forward and closing the door until only a crack of light remained. “You sleep with me—even when you’re pissed.”
“I didn’t want to sleep with you,” I replied flatly, lying unmoving beneath the blankets. If he thought I was going to just ignore the shit he’d done that evening, he was sadly mistaken.
“When you’re pissed, you don’t get to walk away anymore.” He circled the bed and lay down behind me, a few inches separating our bodies.
I snorted.
“I thought you were in this with me, Kate,” he said quietly, frustration lacing every word.
“Yeah, well, so did I.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” He rolled to his side and leaned up on one elbow to see my face.