Chapter 9 — Date Night

How do I explain to my children that their mother is going on a date with the same detective that had arrested their father? Plus, they are coming with me on the date? I roll over onto my stomach, smushing my face into the pillow and scream. And then there is this problem with me acting like a horny teenager when I'm around him now. I have never ever acted like that, not even around the kids' own father. I scream into the pillow again. Nothing is wrong with me, I just like this guy I explain to myself as I go over to the sink and splash water on my face.

After getting dressed I head over to the kids' room to give them the good/bad news. I tap on the door then let myself in. (I had the guy at the front desk make me a key card to their room.) "Oh good you're up," I say as I walk into the room. "I need to talk to you two about a phone call I received this morning from Detective Braylon," I explain as I sit on the bed beside Emma. "First of all," I say as I clear my throat. "Is that I had no idea that your father waived his rights to a jury trial. Detective Braylon mentioned that little piece of information when he told me that the judge found your father guilty of murder. Now he hasn't been sentenced yet that will come later," I stop and look at my two beautiful children sitting there expressionless. I guess they had already come to terms with what their father had done. In their minds they had become judge and jury.

The next part was the part that I was mentally preparing for while I had waited for some crying or screaming out of them with the news but since nothing came here it goes. "Detective Braylon also had a request that I had accepted," I take a deep breath. "He would like to take us, all three of us, on a date so to speak," I look over at Emma, who looks confused and then over at my son who has fallen back on the bed in a fit of laughter. "What is so funny," I chuckle. It's hard to be stern when your son is laughing so hard he snorts. I hear giggling beside me and see Emma has swapped her confusion for laughter.

I sit there waiting for them to catch their breath. Finally after what seemed to be forever Ethan says "Come on mom think about it he tells you that dad was convicted of murder and in the same breath asks you on a date, I'm sorry that dude has some big cojones, I like him already."

"Well he didn't just ask me he asked all three of us out to a nice dinner," I reiterated. "Now I guess we need to get dressed so we can go find some nice clothes to wear tonight."

I head for the door then stop and turn around. "I'll meet you at the car in thirty minutes so be ready or I will pick your clothes out for you," I order hoping it will make them hurry up. When I get back to my room I throw on some clothes, run a brush through my hair then head to the car to wait for my children. Except when I step outside they are beside the car waiting for me. "Hurry up slowpoke or we will have to pick out your clothes for you," They teased. I am so thankful that they are okay with this date.

We head for Denver, Colorado's shopping district. Our first stop is H&M to find Emma something amazing to wear tonight. While Emma and I were trying on dresses Ethan roamed off to look for him an outfit by himself. I guess it's not cool to have your little sister and mother help pick out clothes when you're a sixteen-year-old boy. Anyway, Emma picked herself out a lovely light blue/batik-patterned chiffon dress along with a pair of white gladiator shoes. I picked myself out a white wrap dress with a pair of black ankle boots. After we made our purchases we went to try and track down Ethan. Emma and I tracked him down at Hot Topic talking with a girl who works there. So Emma and I go and grab us a pretzel across the way while we wait for him. "She is kinda cute, isn't she?" Emma says with a mouthful of pretzel. "Yes she is, do you think she can sell him that awful shirt?" I ask her already knowing that my son has his own sense of style and the rainbow shirt she was trying to sell him was a big fat no. "Hmm, nope not a chance it's not his style, Ethan is more classic not retro," Emma explains as she shoves the last bite of her pretzel into her mouth.

Sure enough, we were right. Ethan shakes his head no then heads out of the store, where he notices us sitting at one of the benches. "Hey," He says as he strolls over. "Where's mine?" I hand him some cash to get his own pretzel. "So did you finish your shopping?" I inquired looking at the bags he plopped down in front of me. "Yep, I grabbed a white shirt, a pair of blue jeans, a blue sportscoat, and a pair of black dress shoes," he declares as he walks up to pick up his order. "Wow, You're going to be the best dressed one at dinner tonight," I teased but was seriously impressed at my son's shopping. Emma was right though her brother is a classic.

We finish up our day with a light lunch at the Hard Rock then head back to our hotel in just enough time to get a shower and dressed before Braylon showed up for our date. I'm so nervous that I had to have Emma to help me tie my belt because my fingers didn't want to function properly. She then insisted on helping put my makeup on and fixed my hair. As I looked at my reflection in the mirror I realized that my daughter has a promising carrier as a beautician.

Braylon knocks on my hotel door precisely at seven o'clock on the dot. "Wow, I didn't think you could look more beautiful but you have proved me wrong," He says sheepishly. I felt the redness rise up in my cheeks and my heart started beating so fast I couldn't catch my breath. After a minute or two I finally managed to squeak a "Thank you."

I tap on Ethan and Emma's door as we step outside. "You two look very nice this evening, so much that I feel slightly underdressed compared to you three," Braylon smiles clearly pleased that we had dressed up for him. "Mom took us to Denver to go shopping so we could look nice for tonight." Emma says as she spins in her new dress. "Well your mom is a great lady," He proclaims as he smiles up at me. "Shall we go my pickup is right over here," He gestures towards a dark blue F250 sitting in the parking spot across from us.

Braylon drives us to a restaurant called Piste Mountain Bistro. It was a quaint little building nestled in the mountains and trees. Braylon and I ordered the Halibut while Ethan decided to try tuna and Emma decided to stick with the chicken.

We had a pleasant evening with Braylon. The kids laughed and joked with him. They never did that with their father; he wasn’t much of a joker. When Braylon dropped us off at our hotel we went ahead and made plans for another date this weekend without the kids this time.

The next morning we packed our belongings and headed back to our home in Montana. This week has turned out a lot better than any of us expected. Ethan and Emma were happy they had gotten a week vacation from school even though they had to make up everything that they had missed while they were gone. I had gotten rid of my living, cheating husband. Plus I had gotten him thrown in prison for murdering his mistress. Granted he was the one who was supposed to have been killed, but this way works to because there was no suspicion put on me.