Starting Over

Chapter 5- Everything's Too Late

It’s Monday and Thanksgiving is in just a few days. Bridget has been running around like a mad-woman for days. She thinks she has to clean the house from top to bottom for everyone this weekend. But on top of all the craziness, she has been acting a little weird for the past few days too. I’ve got to figure out what that is all about. I guess I’m just nosey when it comes to her. Speaking of Bridget, I haven’t seen her since the kids left for school. She took today and tomorrow off so she could prepare for everyone’s arrival tomorrow night and Wednesday morning, so she should be around her somewhere. I guess I will just have to investigate. I slowly and quietly walk down the hallway to the stairs. I creep down the stairs, knowing that one step always creaks. Hopefully I can remember which one it is. That’s it the 4th down. I reach the bottom and hear her cell phone ring. I stop dead in my tracks and listen.

“Shit,” Bridget said as she ran into the house from the back deck. “I’ll call Megan back in a minute,” she told herself as she ran back out of the house.

What the hell is she doing outside? It is freezing outside. There’s got to be a reason she’s there. She’s hiding something. Just what it is, I don’t know. I quietly went out the front door and around the side of the house to the back deck. The moment I peeked around the corner I couldn’t keep quiet any longer.

“Bridget! What are you doing?” I yelled in shock, “Put that shit out!”

“I’m a grown adult, Luke! If I want to smoke I will. I’m not doing it in your house, so why is it such a big issue?” Bridget said as she took a big drawl off the Marlboro she had just lit.

“Bridget, it took you forever to quit. You don’t want to start again. Please don’t start again,” I begged her.

“It’s too late, Luke. It’s just too late. Everything is too late,” Bridget answered with tears in her eyes.

With no clue what she is talking about I responded, “Bridge, it’s never too late.”

I slowly walked closer to her. I stopped at the edge of the deck and just looked at her. There was fear in her tear stained blue eyes. The same fear I saw the night I destroyed the living room. Was she scared of me? I started across the deck and she looked at me again. She took another drag off her cigarette and turned her back towards me. I walked up to her, reached around her, and grabbed the cigarette out of her hand. I dropped it down in a Pepsi bottle she had sitting on the table next to us. At that moment she flew around and was inches from me.

“What the hell did you do that for?” Bridget asked as tears continued to stream down her face.

“Because you don’t need to start that again. Why are you crying? What’s wrong?” I questioned.

“It’s my fucking choice! Not yours!” Bridget screamed as she reached into her pocket for the pack and a lighter.

I took them away from her as soon as she got them out and held them above my head, way out of her reach. This would be much more entertaining if the situation was different. She was jumping for them, but couldn’t reach them. Bridget stormed into the house and up the stairs. I went in and sat down in the kitchen. I sat the pack of Marlboro’s I took from her in the center of the kitchen table and waited for her to come back. I heard her coming back down the stairs and turned to see her as she came back into the kitchen. Only she didn’t, she walked right past the kitchen and out the front door. I knew what she was doing. She was going to buy more. I immediately got up and ran to the security panel in the laundry room. I quickly put the system into lockdown mode to prevent her from leaving. I went back and sat at the kitchen table and sat. I knew she would come back in eventually. At this point I am willing to do anything to prevent her from smoking just like she asked.