Sunday, May 1, 2022

Blockbuster Teaser

 Edward ended up sleeping for several hours after his panic attack. Seeing him so lost, so sad, so broken shattered my heart. He’d been so strong for me and for my Seth. Who had been strong for him?

Not me.

No one had been his support.

I felt so guilty for not recognizing his distress and honestly, being the cause for his distress. I was thankful I was able to get him out of his spiral of fear and stress, but hated myself for not seeing it sooner.

I got up from the couch when Seth woke up from his own nap. I pointed to Edward’s sleeping form and we walked to the kitchen. “Is everything okay?” Seth whispered as I pulled out food from the fridge for dinner.

“We’ve been a mess, right?” I asked, pointing to my son. “Nightmares, therapy sessions, getting over these fears of Jacob …” I gulped down bile. “… of Jacob escaping and finishing what he started.”

“Right,” Seth frowned. “Even though he’s behind bars, I’m still terrified.”

“Yeah, well, who’s been Edward’s rock?” I pressed. Seth’s brows shot up and a sad expression flitted over his face. “It all came to a head today. He had a panic attack, a bad one. I’ve never seen a man cry as hard as …” I trailed off, blinking to my sleeping boyfriend.

“Why did he freak out?” Seth asked, walking to the fridge, and taking out a soda.

“He was afraid to leave us,” I murmured. “He has the same fears we do, but up until today, he hid them.” I sighed as I stared at the meal I was going to cook for us, but I had zero motivation. Shaking my head, I pulled out the wooden cutting board and began working on dinner.

“He’s been there for us, every step of the way,” Seth said, washing the vegetables I’d removed from the fridge. “What’s going to happen? He’s supposed to go back to work tomorrow.”

“He’s staying home, and the movie is going to be put on hiatus. Once he wakes up from his nap, he’ll call Elliott and Alec, but you know how I get after I have a panic attack,” I said, blinking up to my son.

“Uh, yeah. The last one? You know where I was taken by my psycho sperm donor? You slept for four days,” he deadpanned. He cracked a wry grin, and I threw a grape at his head. My son, ever the athlete, caught it with a snort. “Seriously though … Dad has been awesome, and we’ve been a little … focused on us. Not on him.”

“He’d argue that it’s how it should be,” I shrugged. “But, he was also put through a trauma. So, he’s taking some time off and hopefully, will be in a better place in a couple of weeks. I know that I’m being very overprotective of you and you’re being clingy to both of us. It’s getting better. You haven’t snuck into bed with us for the past two days.”

“That’s because Uncle Jasper is sleeping in the guest house. Do you know that he snores? Ugh, the windows rattle with his snoring,” Seth scoffed, rolling his eyes. “I love Uncle Jas. I do, but I’m never rooming with him again.” He stood up, looking at Edward and saw Bear kissing his hand, presumably to try and wake him up to take him for a walk. “I’m going to take Bear for a walk on the beach. I have my phone. I won’t go far.”

I blew out a breath, smiling at Seth. “Be safe. Love you, kiddo.”

“Love you more, Mom,” he replied, hugging me tightly before hooking the leash up on Bear. They slipped out the slider, onto the back patio. I watched him until he was on the sand and continued working on dinner. Seth was outside for about an hour, playing with Bear on the beach.

Edward slept soundly, barely moving when Jasper and Caius came back from their adventures outside of the house. As I was finished making dinner, Edward started to wake up and sat up, confused and bleary-eyed. I encouraged him to take a shower to wake up. He nodded, kissing my cheek, and walking up the stairs.




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