Page 24 of Blinded By Forever
When Lilah comes over they’ll probably play outside or video games inside.
Lilah is about the same age as Junior since Natalia and I were pregnant around the same time which was right after I left Arizona to move back in with my mom for a little bit.
It’s the second day without Hayden and I hate how much I miss him.
I make breakfast sandwiches for the kids. For River I just make her eggs and bacon since she makes a huge mess whenever she eats a sandwich, but at the same time, she makes a mess with everything.
I clean up after breakfast and the kids go back to the living room to play games.
As I’m just finishing cleaning up, the doorbell rings.
I place the rag on the counter and go to the door, opening it.
I smile when I see Natalia’s bright smile with Lilah standing next to her.
After all these years, Natalia still looks like she could pass as a college student. Her bright and wide smile, light eyes, and blonde hair, make her look so full of life and young.
“Natalia!” I wrap my arms around her and she wraps hers around me.
“Ohhh, Jaclyn! I’ve missed you so much, you have no clue, it’s been so long,” she squeals when she hugs me back.
She walks inside the house with Lilah. “How are you doing, pretty girl?” I ask Lilah.
She looks just like Natalia with her long, bright, blonde hair. But she is a combination of Chris and Natalia and as she gets older she is for sure going to be having all of the boys after her. Chris better watch out for her.
She shrugs. “Good, just have school going on,” she says, not with excitement though.
“The boys and River are in the living room,” I tell her and she walks away leaving Natalia and I in the foyer.
“You have so many things to tell me.” Natalia wraps her arm around my shoulder as we walk towards the dining table so we can sit and talk.
I pour a glass of wine for Natalia and I since we always drink wine together whenever we are catching up.
It’s been a couple of months since I last saw Natalia. She usually visits once or twice a year. Or during the summer we travel to California, Utah, or New York to visit family, including Natalia.
I would say she is still one of my closest, if not, my only friend.
I do still talk to Max and Kayden from time to time.
Or if Hayden has fights throughout the year, depending on where the fight is, we’ll go with him so we can see family and friends from college.
“How have you been?”
“Good, nothing much has been going on. Chris has been busy with practice and Lilah is at school all the time. So I haven’t been doing much.” She shrugs. “Now you have to tell me about you. You always have something going on, whether it has to do with Hayden, you’re insane mom, or the three kids you have under your roof.” I take a sip of my wine. “Tell me what’s going on,” she insists, looking more worried than happy now.
“It’s just starting again,” I whisper. “The late nights, the blood, the lies. I thought we were past this but he keeps goingback to Killian. He keeps choosing that world over me and I feel like I’m not enough anymore.”
Natalia’s face softens. “You think he’s choosing that over you?”
I shrug. “I don’t know. It just feels like we fight and make up and then it happens again. Like I’m waiting for the next late night or lie. The next time he comes home looking like he just came from war.”
“And the flowers?” she asks, looking around at the flowers that are in every corner of the house.
I smile, looking at all of them. “A peace offering. A beautiful, dramatic, expensive apology.”
Natalia smirks. “Classic, Hayden. Always doing the most.”
I laugh and shake my head. “Yea but it’s not enough. I need more than a grand gesture. I need consistency. I need him, not the version of him that shows up after the damage is done.”
