My eyes lazily snap open as I hear the baby wailing between floors. I roll over to my wife’s empty spot between our silky sheets. She must have went into work early, leaving me alone to pursue our marital errands on my day off. A glance at the digital clock confirms it, it is nearing nine in the morning. Saturday’s used to be spent in fatigued bliss, catching up on sleep from the previous busy week. Janice’s ex husband was in prison again for possession, leaving us with custody of their daughter and her newborn.
I couldn’t resent the new addition to the household, poor Alexa was an eighteen year old high school senior with an addict for a father, and an absent mother who immersed herself in work at an RN at the city’s prestigious cardio center. Janice was a loving mother, but she married young due to an unplanned pregnancy. As her ex climbed down the rabbit hole of addiction, their brunette teenager sought solace in the bed of many. She was forced to grow up and tackle both graduating High School and following in her mother’s foot steps of teenage motherhood.