Hendrix - Kelsey Clayton Page 0,27
everything go from so perfect to such a shit-show in a matter of five minutes? Things with Colby and Brenna were great. Their relationship was on the right track, and he wasn't impossible to be around. And yet, when I picked her up yesterday morning, he went and ruined everything.
I walk around the kitchen, grabbing the things to bake chocolate chip cookies and slamming every drawer and cabinet I open. Most of them end up bouncing back with the momentum and it only pisses me off more. Needless to say, I haven't calmed down a bit since I left Colby's.
“As amusing as it is when you rage bake, you need a chill pill,” Maddie tells me, but I'm not in the mood for her shit either.
“No one said you have to be here to watch.”
She puts her feet up on the other bar stool and smirks. “And miss this show? No, thanks.”
I roll my eyes and grab an egg to crack it. Instead, the whole thing crumbles in my hand and shells fall right into the bowl. I let out a groan, but my so-called best friend only chuckles.
“That's the thing about eggs,” she says. “They don't do very well with hostility.”
Her sarcasm strikes a nerve. “You know, if you had just watched Brenna on Friday night like you said you would, none of this would have happened.”
My words are meant to hurt, or at least cause her to leave, but she just smiles at me. “Oh, so I'm to blame right now? Okay.”
Maddie has known me long enough to know that when I'm in a mood like this, things will fly out of my mouth that I don't necessarily mean. However, it also makes it so she doesn't leave when she's clearly not welcomed right now. I don't know if that's good or bad.
I ignore her always so carefree attitude and do my best to salvage the cookie dough. Thankfully, the recipe only calls for one egg.
Baking is always what I've done when I'm upset or angry about something. Not that it calms me down, but it distracts me enough to keep me from doing things I may regret in the future—like calling Colby and telling him to stay the hell away from Brenna and me for the rest of our lives.
“Oh, cookies!” Brenna says excitedly and reaches her hand up to take some dough from the bowl.
“Brenna, don't touch that.”
She doesn't listen, and while trying to grab some, she knocks the bowl right off the counter. The whole thing shatters on the floor and ceramic goes everywhere. I whip around at the noise and glare at my daughter.
“Now look what you did!” I shout. “Don't you listen? I said not to touch it!”
Her eyes instantly start to water, and she quickly runs away. I can faintly hear the sound of her sobs as she rushes up the stairs. I run my fingers through my hair and pull before realizing I have cookie dough all over my hands. Great, just another thing going wrong today.
“Okay, enough being a bitch,” Maddie tells me.
I narrow my eyes on her. “What did you just call me?”
“You heard me. A bitch,” she says like it's the godforsaken truth. “You're pissed but you're taking it out on the wrong people.”
A dry laugh emits from my mouth. “So, what? I should go scream at Colby instead?”
“No, because he's not in the wrong either.”
In all the time that I've known my best friend, I've never wanted to slap her so much. “Oh, really?”
She shrugs. “You're angry at yourself. You realized you did something wrong and something that hurt Brenna by not telling him about her when you were pregnant.”
“He changed his phone number!”
“Oh, please. There were ways for you to get in touch with him if you really wanted to and you know it.” She stands up and comes over to help me clean up the broken bowl off the floor. “I didn't push you to do it because I figured you were doing the right thing, or you were afraid he would ask you to get an abortion. But now? The only thing that matters is Brenna and her happiness. If that's Colby, that's just something you're going to have to deal with.”
Deep down, I know she's right. And still, I'm terrified. “I don't want him to hurt her. Right now, he's just Mom's friend, but once he's her dad, he has the ability to cause irreparable damage.”
Maddie wraps her arms around me and pulls