Chapter 79 79

Chapter 79 79
ADELINE
The house was finally at peace again, a rarity since Scarlett stepped foot into it. It’s been less than a week, yet she had hired two brainless lankies who followed her around. I could almost hear her shrill despite her absence. Pretty sure she’d gone shopping yet again, her favourite past time and my new favourite time because I could finally breathe and not have my hearing threatened.
Since her little outburst, she hadn’t dared to enter my room, but her voice was loud enough, and I could almost swear she intentionally stomped her feet whenever she was crossing the hallway just to irk me.
The maid Grayson hired, Tracy, was on grocery run so I could get a break from the fussing she always did around me.
I planned to enjoy my moment before she got back, I was going to even if it was just a few minutes. Shopping was her favourite thing and she made sure to do it atleast twice daily. I wasn’t sure what her plan was, but it was starting to look awfully like her plan was to max out all of his black annex card. Isn’t that ironic? I was called the gold digger for years even when I never touched a cent on the card he had given me, but Scarlett? She spent a heart wrenching amount daily, those bags were never less than half a dozen and every single one packed full with either designer bags, shoes or clothes. It really was a wonder how Grayson hadn’t picked up on it.
Immediately I placed the pan on the cooker, the sizzle followed, crying for its next victim to roast. Pancakes and eggs were Johnny’s favourite and it’s been forever since we got anytime together. If he wasn’t being forced to receive love from Scarlett, he was locked up in his room because he was in no mood to deal with more of Scarlett and her ‘maids’. Funny how she suddenly saw the need for them after Grayson got me one, but that was her business, none of my concern.
I whipped the batter one last time, the paste like consistency just right and perfect. I couldn’t say the same for the kitchen counter, which to put things kindly, was an absolute mess. One cup of batter in the pan, beating the eggs while it browns, flip to the other side, mix the spices for the bacon strips. I had the little song down to a ‘T’ in my head.
Thirty minutes later, sweat gathered at my temple and dropped down the sides of my neck, sticky and messing up the thin shirt I had on, it had been so hot and being in the kitchen did not help and despite how light the shirt was, I was still soaked. On the bright side, I had suceeded in producing a decent sized plate of pancakes, with a side serving of milk filled scrambled eggs and bacon, topped off with a heavy drizzle of maple syrup on one plate and chocolate syrup on the other.
I cleaned up the counter till it was spotless, the grey marble masterpiece bare save the two plates and clear enough to show my own reflection.
“That should do just fine.” It was perfect really. I missed this, cooking for just Johnny and I, but most of all, I missed the excitement and giddiness that oozed off of him anytime he had it for breakfast. I hadn’t seen him a lot of late and even when I did, he had his smile upside down, it made me uncomfortable to say the least, that wasn’t the ever energetic Johnny I was used to.
I wrap each plate with cling films to keep the heat before leaving the kitchen in better condition than when I stepped in. I knocked and waited a moment before letting myself in.
Johnny had his face pressed to the mattress, like he was asleep. He wasn’t though, he still had shoes on and his legs dangled over the edge of his student sized bed. Just seeing him all alone in the room, no form of entertainment, no excitement to read and learn something new, he didn’t even lift his head to check who had entered his room, he wasn’t interested.
“Hey big guy.” I neared his bed carefully so as not to spook him incase he was actually sleeping and woke up to the sound of my voice.
“Addy?!” His head jerked off the bed so fast, the shock in his eyes hurt more than the pin of having to look at Scarlett’s face everyday and not be able to do anything to purge the world of it.
“Not expecting me?” I teased and made a mess of his hair before he could block it. He’s grown so much in the past year. Johnny a year ago wouldn’t care if I shaved all of his hair, much less worry that I’m messing it up a little. Johnny now? Well now, he protected it like my hand were a clipper and I was about to make him bald everytime I came close with it.
“It’s not that, Addy. I’ve just missed you so much and miss Scarlett is never around to play with me.” He sighed. It was almost funny how the biggest problem for Johnny was the fact that he didn’t have someone to play with. I thought I did myself, that is, someone to play adult games with, but now I had the product of said games playing and swimming around in my belly and the father nowhere near meeting my expectations because he is apparently still married to his she devil ‘ex-wife’. Life.
“Well, I’m here now!” I gave him my biggest smile, poking his cheeks like they were sponge cakes. “And guess what?”
That caught his attention. He was swift, one moment he was on the bed and the next he was clutching my arm so tight I was just glad, he was still too tiny to even cause a pinch type of pain.
“I made pancakes!” I clapped my hands together unable to contain my own excitement, the sound echoed in the silence of his room.
“Yay! Where? I want some!” He grinned from ear to ear, all signs of the the quiet boy from seconds ago gone like he never existed.
“Come on, I wrapped it up real nice and with chocolate syrup and bacon too!” I couldn’t help it. He had a bounce in every step and I found myself giggling with him as we both rushed to the kitchen like sugar hungry toddlers.
We skipped down the hall, the sound of our steps pounding against the floor, but it didn’t even matter. My mouth watered at the thought of all that fluffy goodness in my mouth, a silver lining of golden maple syrup and the best part, crispy bacon, tender on the inside. Just perfect.
The moment we stepped through the kitchen door, our hearts and dreams crumbled at our feet. Scarlett buried her fingers into the giant heap of pancakes, her manicure fingers already stained with chocolate and pancakes crumbs, almost like she was begging to be slapped upside the head.
“What did you do?!” The anger boiled and toppled over the longer I glared at her. She wasn’t even fazed, totally unbothered by the fact that she was shamelessly munching on pancakes she didn’t make, chocolate coated her fingers, every single one like she wasn’t taught anything about manners in preschool. The worse part was the counter she absolutely mess, hours of cleaning wasted “Addy I thought the pancakes were for us.” Johnny’s voice broke me, he was close to tears already, any moment now and he would be crying on the kitchen floor and I couldn’t even blame him, I rose his hope and for what? An almost empty plate of messily eaten pancakes. Crumbs were all over the counter and if I wasn’t glaring at the culprit, it would not be far fetched to assume a dog or some wild animal had gotten to it.
“They are? You should go to your room sweetie, I’d come join in a few okay?” I cradle his hair like I was letting my child go forever, like I had decided to give up a child I birthed just because “Take it pelt I waited till Johnny was out of hearing distance before I both pounce on y ou. “And you?you better clean your mess,
“Or what?”