Chapter 29
A Few Days Later
Tiffany's View
I came down the stairs in a pair of tight blue Jean pants, a light green sweater on and my hair half up and curled. I just got up a while ago and I was about to go make breakfast for the kids. I think Brian is asleep still, I'm not really sure since he didn't come to bed once again.
I walked into the kitchen and went to the refrigerator. I pulled out some eggs and bacon and then went over and turned the stove on. I set the eggs and bacon down and then went over to the door that leads out to the back yard. Molly then came running in. I let her out before I took a shower. After her came my puppy Maggie. She's a basset hound and cute as can be. She's only a month old. Basset Hounds are my favorite dogs and Brian went out and bought her for me for a surprise. She's just the chubbiest thing.
I closed the door behind them and then picked up Maggie. Molly looked up at me and then ran out of the kitchen toward the living room. I walked after her and found her laying on the couch with the TV on. She had a talent at turning the TV on. She loved watching morning cartoons. It was quite funny to watch her.
I then noticed that Brian wasn't in here. He usually falls asleep on the couch or in one of the chairs but the living room was free of crumpled up pieces of paper. I walked over to the door that led downstairs to the game room and studio. I turned the staircase lights on and walked down them quietly. If he was asleep I didn't want to wake him up. I walked to the studio and found it completely dark except light from a lamp. Brian was sitting in his chair with his head resting on the desk.
I put Maggie down and she scrambled off somewhere. I walked over to Brian and looked down on the desk. Many pieces of paper were found all over the place with scribbles and songs written on them. His arms were laying on top of the desk and he had a pencil in his right hand. I gently took it and set it aside. I then bent down and kissed his cheek. I turned off the lamp and then stepped out of the room and went back upstairs.
Brian has been working his butt off this past week and it has made him so tired. I have barely seen him. I literally only saw him once yesterday. He was cooped up in the studio the entire day trying to finish his songs. I didn't think it was healthy how he was working himself like this. I'll be happy once the album was released.
I walked into the kitchen and then started cooking the eggs and bacon. Soon after Courtney came into the room and sat on one of the stools in front of the island in the middle of the kitchen.
"Hey pumpkin," I said looking at her and smiling.
"Hi Moma! What's for breakfast?" she asked.
"Eggs, bacon, sausage and if you want you can make a breakfast sandwich," I replied.
"OK Mommy, I want a sandwich."
"All right baby."
"Mommy? What are we doing today?"
"Darlene and I planned to go to the park, how does that sound?"
"The park? Yay! I can't wait! I love the park!"
I laughed lightly and put some strips of bacon on a plate.
"Where's daddy?"
"He's downstairs honey."
"Why?"
"He's been working on some songs."
"But he was doing that yesterday," she said a little confused.
"I know but he's very busy."
"Can he come with us Mommy? Please! Daddy is funny at the park. He plays hide and go seek with me!"
"Why don't you go ask him when he wakes up? I'm sure he'll come along. I know he loves playing with you," I smiled at her. Her face brightened up and she smiled widely.
"Hey Mom," Christian yawned rubbing his head coming into the kitchen and taking a seat next to Courtney.
"Hey Sweetie."
"Hey dork," Christian said ruffling Courtney's hair.
"I'm not a dork! You are just stupid!"
"Nice come back," he laughed.
"Leave your sister alone."
"OK OK, where's dad? I checked to see if he was in your guys' room but he wasn't. I thought he was down here. I wanted to see if he could come shoot hoops with me later since he hasn't been able to the last couple days," he said leaning forward and grabbing an apple from a bowl in front of him.
"No! Daddy is going to the park with me today!"
"He always does that! You can go to the park alone, dad doesn't always have to go with you," Christian said taking a bite of his apple.
"Daddy likes me better, he plays hide and go seek with me! He doesn't with you!"
"You are so..."
"Stop it," I warned him. He shut his mouth and took another bite of his apple. I finished cooking breakfast and soon after Jason and Michelle came in. The babies were still asleep. They sleep forever!
Later On That Day
"Come on twerp! You're going too slow, You don't need to take your doll with you," Jason told Courtney.
"Leave her alone Jas," I told him as I grabbed a coat for Courtney. I gave it to her to put on. We were all just about to leave to go to the park. We were meeting Darlene and her kids there. Christian was going to shoot some hoops and Jason wanted to come play with him. Courtney wanted to play on the playground and Michelle just decided to go over to her friend Katie's house.
"All right, everyone got everything?" I asked.
"Yes," they all said.
"Christian put Brianna and Brian in the stroller OK?" I said. He nodded his head and then took Brian out of my arms, Jason took Brianna.
"Mommy! I forgot to ask daddy!" Courtney said tugging on my arm.
"Well, go ask him sweetie," I said. She smiled at me and then hurried off. I followed after her to hear what was going to be said. I was hoping Brian would say yes to her. She ran into the room where Brian was awake and working on another song. I stood outside of the door to the side so he wouldn't see me.
"Hey daddy!" Courtney said running up to him.
"Hey my little Angel! What are you up to?" he asked setting his pencil down and picking her up. He set her down in his lap and kissed her cheek.
"Mommy is taking me to the park! We're gonna see Aunt Darlene! Christian and Jason and Brian and Brianna are coming too! Wanna come? It'll be lots of fun daddy! We can play hide and go seek! I found a good hiding place last time daddy! You couldn't find me for a long long time huh? Remember daddy?" she said happily. He smiled weakly but I could tell he was upset. I knew he was going to say no.
"As much as I want to Angel I can't. I'm very busy and I need to get these things done OK?"
"OK," Courtney said disappointed. I frowned at his answer. He could at least take 2 hours out of his day to play with his daughter.
"I'm sorry but I promise we'll play later OK?" he said smiling at her. She smiled a little and then kissed his cheek.
"Thanks Daddy!"
"You're welcome, now go have some fun," he said setting her down. She ran out of the room and past me. I guess she didn't see me. I looked at Brian and saw him frowning. He looked like he wanted to cry. I frowned, looked at him once more and then made my way upstairs.
I found Courtney over by the door waiting for me.
"You ready pumpkin?" I asked. She nodded her head and then stepped out the door. I grabbed my coat and stepped out of the house walking toward the car.
At The Park
"Hey Darlene!" I exclaimed running up to her and giving her a hug.
"Hey girlie, how are you doing?" she asked.
I pulled away from her and said, "I'm doing good I guess. How are you doin'?"
"I'm doing pretty good. How's the family?" she asked walking over to a bench. I followed and sat next to her pulling the stroller up next to me. Brianna was sleeping but Brian was chewing on his blanket.
"I guess we're doing good. How about yours?"
"We're great! Tiff, is something wrong?" she asked. I looked over at Courtney and Hannah playing on the playground and then glanced at Christian, Jason and Ryan who were over on the basketball court shooting baskets and nodded my head.
"Are you and Brian fighting?" she asked.
"No," I shook my head.
"Then what is it?"
"It's that damn record he's working on," I said. "He's so busy doing it, it's like he doesn't think of anything else besides getting it done."
"Oh, it's the record? Nick's working on it pretty hard too."
"Really?"
"Yes really, he's been working on it for a while now. He's been really busy."
"At least I'm not the only wife going through it. I mean Brian hasn't even slept in our room for 4 nights. He's always downstairs in the living room or cooped up in that studio. He always told me that he'd always make time for his family no matter what but it's like he totally forgot about it. I have barely seen him for the past week. All he's doing is writing songs, nothing else. I've barely even talked to him and he's my husband for crying out loud. Courtney even asked him to come with us today but he refused saying he had too much work to do. Why can't he just take 2 hours out of his day to play with his daughter? I just don't get what has gotten into him," I frowned starting to get upset.
"Brian's doing that? I had no idea it was that bad..."
"You mean Nick isn't doing that?" I asked.
"No," she shook her head. "He's been busy but nothing like that..."
"Gosh Darlene I don't know what to do!"
"Talk to him, that's the best thing to do. More things will be solved if you talk to him then don't talk at all and just let this keep bugging you," she said.
"It's just that...gosh I don't know. It's just so frustrating. You should have seen how upset Courtney was when Brian told her he wasn't coming. It's like he thinks his work is more important than us," I said softly.
"Tiffany you know for a fact that that isn't true. You know Brian loves you and the kids more than anything and he'd do anything for any of you. You really do know that so don't ever tell yourself that he puts his work before you guys because that definitely isn't true."
"I know but what else am I supposed to think?"
"Tiff, they'll all be done with writing their songs in about a week, and after that things will be fine. It's just a hectic and busy time for all of them."
"I know but I feel so selfish all at the same time. I mean it sounds like I want Brian to quit singing and that isn't true at all! I want him to keep singing it's just that I don't want him to forget his family you know?"
Darlene looked at me and frowned a little bit, "You really are upset about this aren't you?"
"Of course I am," I said quietly. She opened her arms and wrapped me and in a big hug.
"Try not to worry about it OK?" she said softly in my ear. "You're my bestfriend and I don't like seeing you like this."
"Thanks Dar," I said quietly. She pulled away from me and smiled.
"Now be happy! Things will turn out fine...they always do," she said. I smiled at her slightly and thought about what she said. She was right, things always turned out fine and that fact made me worry a little bit less
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