Everything & More (Book 1 in the E.C.N Series)

Chapter 66-Martha

Six Months Ago...

Working over 26 hour shifts at the hospital and I somehow still managed to keep my eyes open on the drive home. Sure we have a break room but those are 15-30 min power naps to get us ready for the grueling start to the next part of the day. With how weak my legs and lower back feel I should be on the floor. Yet I still find the strength to trudge out of my car and up the stairs into the house. My mother texted me that Paige was at daycare and Jonathan confirmed he would pick her up on the way home from work.

I don't take over-night shifts often but when they do come around, Jonathan and I try to have a system. He would get Paige ready and my mother would come and take her to daycare. They would also alternate on who would pick her up.

All I wanted to do was plop onto the couch and let my body relax. Though I wasn't so lucky when I walked through the door. It looked like a damn tornado hit the house.

The kitchen was a mess like he had a fight with the blender and it won. Dishes overflowing in the sink. I didn't even want to know what upstairs looked like.

I sighed as I pulled out my phone.

He picked up on the third ring.

"H-Hello" I heard rustling on the other side. I knew Jonathan was working but I was beyond confused and needed answers.

"Jonathan, I just got home. What happened here?"

"W-what do you mean?"

I was pacing in the living room as I recounted what I just walked into. "What do I mean? The house is a mess, like someone ransacked the place. The kitchen is disgusting, I don't even want to know what upstairs looks like."

"F-fuck" It didn't sound like it was towards the mess I just listed, something just happened over there.

"What's wrong?"

"Huh oh nothing I was looking over some papers and the company got something wrong." His voice sounded off but I chalked it up to him trying to multitask between working and me berating him.

"Anyways, I'm just trying to figure out what happened. I'm gone for like a da-"

He cut me off telling me that I was better at the house stuff than he was and that Paige can be a handful.

A handful? Since when?

"Look baby I got a lot of paperwork to get through, I'm sorry about the mess. If you could take care of it, I would really appreciate it."

"Jonathan I just got off of a 26 hour shift. I'm exhausted."

He groaned and I heard him slam the desk, "Shit, Uh Martha I really got to go. We'll talk later."

All I heard at the end was the dial tone. He hung up

Taking a deep breath I move on from the conversation. I don't have the bandwidth for it. I already know if I tried to call back he wasn't going to answer. Not bothering to take my work clothes off, I start clearing the living room. I grab the toy bin and pile all of Paige's toys inside, putting it in front of the staircase to take up with me. Then I pick up all her clothes that are thrown haphazardly around dissecting which are dirty and which are from him not knowing what she should wear for daycare. I grabbed the vacuum and cleaned the rug, turned it into a hand vacuum and cleaned the couch of the crumbs.

After reorganizing the pillows I took the toy bin and clothes upstairs to Paige's room. It wasn't terrible, just looked like she had been playing so I left it alone and went back downstairs to start on the atrocity that is the kitchen.