Autumn's head laid on the table with cushion from her left arm while she used her right hand to color in a drawing of Princess Tiana in a coloring book. She'd found the book of solely black cartoon characters in Marshall's about a week ago and had been coloring in it nonstop ever since.
It had only been a few days of having the 150 page book and she was already halfway done with it. She frequently used it to pass time and to get her mind off of being alone for most of the day; from seven in the morning until four in the afternoon, to be specific.
She knew it was selfish to say but she honestly couldn't wait until they moved to Houston because Dayvon wouldn't be working for a while. She was so tired of being by herself all day.
Even her mother had friends to do things with almost every day, and although Hazel had invited her out with them plenty of times, Autumn would prefer to be around women her own age. She wanted friends so badly.
It was hard to make them, though. She didn't drive at all due to being traumatized from the incident with her father and sister, so it wasn't like she could just randomly go to the mall and introduce herself to other women; and whenever she went out with Dayvon, she was focused entirely on him and August.
Being lonely had really begun to take a toll on her mental health. She wanted her own friend(s) to go places with, shop with, do each other's hair and makeup, and talk about their boyfriends/families together. It was much easier to make friends back when she was a teenager than it is now.
She felt like especially now that she was pregnant, it hurt her feelings more than ever to spend the day by herself. Her hormones were constantly changing so she cried almost everyday because of it.
"Mommy! I'm homeeee!" August announced as he walked in the house, causing Autumn to quickly wipe her face as best as she could.
"Hi stinky! I missed you sooo much." She returned the same energy after picking him up for a hug, feeling his arms wrap around her neck.
"I missed you too Princess. What you doing?" He asked, and the nickname coming from him made her smile. He'd been calling her that for almost a month now, of course picking it up after hearing his father say it so often.
"I'm just drawing and eating some fruit. You want some?" She tilted her bowl down so that he could choose something from the assortment, and he picked up a small strawberry.
"You can make me lunch while I take a bath mommy? Daddy said I have to 'cause I fell in the mud at recess today." He pointed to the dried up mud on the front of his jeans, and she nodded her head before placing him down on his feet.
"Yeah, I can send the down payment tomorrow morning." Dayvon walked in the house with three Walmart bags and his phone between his left shoulder and ear.
He greeted Autumn with a brief kiss on her lips once he sat the bags down on the counter, then he held up his finger to tell her he'd be back. He gestured with his head for August to follow him to the bathroom, and he did so after getting another strawberry.
Autumn picked up her dark green color pencil again, continuing her previous task of shading in the outline of Tiana's dress. She listened to August's bath water being ran by his dad for a few moments, but tuned it out soon after.
She was sitting there for a little less than ten minutes when Dayvon entered the dining room area again, walking to stand next to her. He was now off of the phone and she finally noticed he was wearing black joggers with a black round neck tee shirt instead of his uniform.
"You did drills today?" She could smell his body wash on him, meaning he'd taken a shower before he left work. He hated coming home dirty, especially after a day of outside drills.
"All day. We had to sprint ten miles to the community center then back to the precinct 'cause some goofy wouldn't come forward about who ate the chief's lunch. He say we just made his retirement a month early." He shook his head as he moved a chair to be directly beside her.
"You getting real slim from all that running. You look good baby." She rubbed over his chiseled abs through his shirt, putting a smile on his face.
"'Preciate that ma. Let me see my babies." He turned her chair in the opposite direction to face him, not waiting on her to make a move. He pulled her shirt up, then squatted down in front of her.
Autumn was now officially fourteen weeks, which meant that she'd just entered her second trimester of pregnancy with her triplets. Her belly had grown over the last month and a half so now there was an obvious bump being displayed and that dark line had returned to the middle of her stomach as well.
Today happened to be the day she'd be having her second appointment with her obstetrician and neither of them could wait. They'd been looking forward to finding out the gender of the three babies since the first appointment.
"You ate something other than fruit today?" He kept his hands on her stomach as he met her lips for another kiss.
"No but I ate the whole watermelon so it balances out. I hope you didn't want any." She folded her legs crisscrossed in the chair again, going back to her drawing.
"The whole thing? Autumn that watermelon was big as hell." He frowned, and she only shrugged in response. She hadn't even meant to but it was the sweetest watermelon she'd had in a while. It was gone before she realized.
"You gon' cook something for lunch or you want me to go get you some Chic Fil A?" He asked, wanting to get some real food in her system.
"I'm okay with my fruit bowl." She placed a diced cantaloupe in her mouth after picking up a light green pencil.
"I want you to eat some real food ma. You basically just eating water." He turned her head to face him, finally getting a good look at her eyes.
"You been crying?" He immediately frowned, seeing how red they were.
"Why you ain't call me? What's wrong?" Like clockwork he became concerned, keeping her face in the palm of his hand.
"I feel like I'm being dramatic so I don't really want to say it." Autumn sighed under her breath, feeling herself get emotional all over again.
"What you was crying for?" He repeated more sternly this time, his frown softening at the sight of her eyes glossing over.
"I just-I be so sad at home by myself. I just want a friend or something. I don't have anybody to talk to or nothing to do while you and my baby gone all day. And it made me sad. It's nothing serious." She wiped her face with a sniff, trying not to get too worked up.
"That is serious ma. Anything that makes you sad is serious. Why you ain't tell me? I can't help if I don't know Autumn."
"I didn't want you to worry about me 'cause there's really nothing you could do to fix it. I was just waiting on us to move so that you could stay home with me." She mumbled, rubbing her index finger with her thumb.