3|Neglected

841 34 2
                                    

"Bre what kind of cereal do you want?"

Thinking for a second, "Frosted Flakes, please! Did dad call last night? I miss him."

"I'm sorry honey he didn't," Janet says pulling the cereal from the pantry. "And before you ask there's no time to try him this morning, Theo will be here to drop you off in a little while."

She sighs, "Okay but if he calls tell him we're going horseback riding with Peter, Tyler, and Josie?"

"Of course I'll tell him so cheer up. It's Friday and you get out at 12, maybe we'll go somewhere after I pick you up."

"Where?!" She questions brimming with excitement.

"I said maybe and that means maybe its definitely a surprise. Go brush your teeth if you're done Theo's going to be here in five minutes."

"Yes ma'am!" standing up to leave.

"Make sure to brush the ones in the back!"

"Okay." she leaves the room.

Janet clears the table and washes the dishes she and Breaunna used. Its been three days since Jermaine went to New York and she's only talked to him twice. Every time she calls him it goes to voicemail. She sent him a text message once and he still hasn't called her yet. She's worried something happened but at the same time, she was upset with him.

As Breaunna comes down the stairs, she sees Janet going toward the door, "Mommy I'm done!"

"Good 'cause Theo is here."

"Bye mommy I love you!" Takes her bag and starts off to the car.

Janet stood waving in the door," I love you more Bumble Bee."

Janet watches Breaunna and Theo drive off and goes back inside. She has a ton of things to get done before she has to get Breaunna from school at 12. She makes a few calls before she heads out to go to Publix. Praying that nobody recognizes who she is Janet goes to the store and picks up everything she needed. Thankfully, nobody but the lady at the checkout line realized who she was and she was very nonchalant. While she was there she decided where she would take Breaunna after school. When she got home she put away the things she bought and check her email. The first thing she sees is what seems like 50 emails from Jermaine. It turns out his phone fell in water and he's been worried about his girls since she hasn't written back. She watches the videos he sent her and writes back after. She tells him about the past three days and their plans to go horseback riding with Breaunnas new friends. By the time she's done, it's 11:30 and she needs to call Gil.

"Hello?" Gil answered after three rings.

"Hey, Gil how are you?"

"I'm pretty good How are you?"

"I'm really good, I was actually wondering if I could take London to the zoo this afternoon...That's if he's done with his work." She puts on her shoes.

"Girl he's done right now. We're definitely putting his butt in school next year cause he finishes way too fast. What time will you be here?" Janet chuckles at his statement.

"I'm about to walk out the door to get Bre so I guess at 1:00, 1:15 or so. And don't tell him about the zoo it's supposed to be a surprise." She warns him.

"No problem Jan see you then."

"Okay bye." she clocks the front door before hanging up.

Janet drives over to Breaunna's school and sees her playing tag with her friends so she parks the car and walks over to them. She realized a few people are staring at her and she knew they recognized her. Some people came up to her for autographs and pictures and that's when Breaunna noticed her standing there. She waved to her and waited for the people to leave before she and her friends came over.

"Hi, mommy!"

"Hey, you guys."She greets the kids.

The answer at the same time, "Hi Miss Jackson."

"Breaunna, we have to leave now so we're not late for that surprise..."

Josie whispers to Breaunna, "You still don't know where you're going?"

"Nope." She shakes her head for emphasis. "See you guys tomorrow!" she says waving goodbye.

"Bye kids."

They walk hand in hand to the car and drive home. Breaunna was going to be on cloud nine when she sees the video from Jermaine. When they get home Breaunna is really excited and drops her bag on the floor just as she gets inside and runs up the stairs to change. Janet knows it's going to take her a while so she puts Breaunna's bag in the hall chair and goes to the kitchen where she left her computer. Twenty minutes later Breaunna comes down the stairs ready to go.

"Mommy where are you?!"

"I'm in the kitchen baby, I've got something to show you. Come here," Breaunna does as she's told, "sit in that chair and click the attachment that has your name on it."

As soon as Breaunna opened the video her face lit up as if it was Christmas morning. When the video ended Janet turned the computer off and they left. Breaunna was too busy playing with the iPad she got for her birthday a few weeks ago to notice that she was going over to Gil and Marcus' house. When they arrived Breaunna was puzzled and Janet wasn't going to say anything unless she tried to figure out where they were going again.

They got out and Gil opened the door before they even knocked, London was ready to go so they didn't stay long. Neither Breaunna or London knew where they were going but since they were together they didn't care, the two of them were like brother and sister.

"Janet? Where are we going?" London looks out the window.

"It's a surprise and we're almost there and you guys are going to love it..." praying he doesn't push the issue any further.

Shrugging he looks at her, "Okay. Is there a zoo in Atlanta? 'Cause I love the Zoo."

"There sure is a zoo honey. Maybe we can all go when you guys are completely settled in a few weeks." She lied not giving away the surprise.

"What about Chuck E. Cheese?" he sure was a persistent child.

Breaunna intervenes slightly annoyed at his questions when she had already been unsuccessful. "London, she won't tell you where we're going so it makes no sense trying. I've tried EVERYTHING, she's just too smart! It's your turn anyway." passing him the iPad.

"Okay." he starts his turn on the game.

Two minutes later they arrive and the kids are ecstatic.

"Mom? How come we didn't bring Joey?"

London agreed with Breaunna, clearly nervous about the situation. "Yeah, don't we kinda need him? There's lots of people in there..."

"No we don't need Joey and I know there's a lot of people but we're going to be fine, nobody is going to bother us. And you two need not wander off, if there's something you want to do we'll get to do it so don't leave anyone behind. Got it?" She reassures them both, giving orders in the same breath.

"Yes, ma'am," London answers first.

"I've got it," Breaunna stated.

"Good, now let's go to the zoo!"

Janet and the kids spend nearly three hours at the zoo and she got a text from Gil about her and Breaunna staying over for pizza when she brought London home. She didn't tell them until they were on the way home. When they got to Gil and Marcus' the pizza was there and the kids told the guys EVERYTHING and showed them all the pictures they took. By eight o'clock Janet told Breaunna they had to leave because they were going riding with her friends from school. They said goodbye and went home.

Breaunna was insistent that she wasn't tired and wanted to stay up until Jermaine skyped them at 9:30 but was asleep long before they got home. Being careful not to wake her, Janet took Breaunna out of the car, into the house and up the stairs to her room.

Breaunna rolls over saying "I love you." as sleep took over her body once more.

"I love you more, sleep well princess" Janet kisses her forehead and turns out the light.

New LifeWhere stories live. Discover now