Here Comes The Sun

Chapter Two

Toby wouldn't be home for another couple hours and today his friend's mom was going to be dropping him off since his friend would be spending the night. He had had a friend or two stay over before, it was a weird experience for me. I had never been a parental figure in this way for Toby or any child.
    Growing up I had helped Lucas whenever and however I could as a young teen. It wasn't much at first since I was literally eleven when Toby was born, Lucas had only been fourteen. Toby's mother had been nineteen and the worst human to ever be wrongfully gifted the right to breathe. She was the scum of this earth and I hoped she rotted away wherever it was she lived now.
    She'd taken advantage of him and fucked with his head so badly at such a young and important age and then when she had found out she was pregnant she attacked Lucas. Saying how if he told anyone about them he would never see his kid, how she would take the baby and run if he didn't do what she needed from him. He had ended up stealing over five hundred dollars from his parents when he finally got caught and told them everything.
    She'd gotten three years in prison for extortion and statutory rape, had gotten out in two for good behavior. Chief Williams had hired a lawyer that knew what she was doing, that vile woman would never be allowed to even step foot near Toby. She'd given birth while in trial but had willingly given him up to Chief Williams and his wife who raised him the majority of the time while Lucas was in therapy and experiencing whatever he could out of a now warped childhood.
    I had been so young I didn't understand or find out the truth till years later. All I knew was my best friend had a baby and I loved them both with all my heart. I was there for so many of his first that by the time I was sixteen he had started to call me mom, we tried to stop him so he wouldn't get confused. He kept doing it though and when he was ten we sat him down and explained to him how I wasn't his mom but I loved him like my own and if he wanted to call me that he could.
    He had understood as best a ten year old could and decided he wanted to call me both Maisie and mom. Lucas never had an issue with it, he always saw me as Toby and his family even if neither of us ever wanted anything more than the friendship we had. I never saw him like a brother or a lover. He was just always Lucas, the boy I loved with all my heart, the one I could tell anything to and would always stand by me. He had gotten me through so much even when he was going through worse, he supported my career choices and didn't ever hold it against me when I moved to california to pursue my passions.
    He was the best thing in my life and without him I felt hollow, the empty spot in my heart where he had resided my entire life and not a thing nor a person would ever be able to fill it. The only reason I had the strength to push through the mountain of grief that crushed me was Tobias. Chief Williams had called me to tell me of Lucas's passing and that it was not only expressed to his parents but written in his will that I would be Toby's sole guardian, I would have complete authority for the choices in his future. He had hoped I would know I could always turn to his family for help but Toby was mine, my ward, my responsibility, my son.
    I had returned to Florida two days later and found a mess of a child in a room riddled with misery. He had not left the room in the three days since the accident, hadn't eaten, or talked to anyone outside of screaming at them. I was terrified of the reaction I would receive, I didn't think I'd be able to handle rejection from him at that moment. When his door opened a few minutes after I had knocked I hadn't been met with the monster of grief described to me but my broken little boy who latched onto me for hours before he finally stopped crying and said the words allowed for the first time.

    "My dad's dead."

    Now here we are eight months later still figuring out how to survive without the most important person in our lives. There had been some bad moments from then to now but we had managed with the help of others and a lot of late nights where we just ate pizza and sat in silence till one of us broke, it was usually me.
Using the few hours I have on my own before he gets back I go to my room that's on the first story of the two bedroom beach house I bought for Toby and I. It had been an obvious choice when we were house hunting. It was four bedrooms but had two masters, one on each floor. I had given Toby the upstairs one. Feeling safer that there was me and stairs between anyone who might break in. That was a Jew fear is unlocked living with a kid.
The chance of someone breaking into my house were the same now as they were before I lived with Toby but I never worried about it like I do now. I'd had a top line security system along with cameras installed before we had even moved in, he thought it was lame I'd be able to spy on him but I needed it for peace of mind. In my head a robber was just waiting for the chance to break in and if he had a gun and Toby pulled some stupid shit like he usually does I'd never recover from that.
The house itself was already safe without the extra, thick wooden walls, heavy duty doors with glass that took a shit ton to break. Every door and window had hurricane glass that could withstand some high speeds. We lived on the beach in Florida, it was a necessity to have. Plus I had a lot of things in here, my taste was what Toby would call weird and I would call eclectic.
    I love colors and plants and knicknacks. Plants hung everywhere with all the natural lighting the house got from the large windows, I had most the walls covered in pieces of art I had collected in my travels while surfing and had been gifted to me by friends, it reminded me of that episode of spongebob where they paint Mr. Krabs house with how the walls were filled. The couch was orange velvet, rugs of all different colors and patterns were scattered across the large open space, I had round large cushions spread out for extra setting and a stained glass chandelier hanging above. Small weird objects were all over the coffee tables and shelves that were throughout the room.
    All the house had this vibe besides Toby's room and the spare upstairs he used as a gaming room. Those were more bare, he apparently didn't like the idea of having so much stuff to dust even though I hired a maid to come do so twice a month.
    I grabbed the box I kept locked away in a safe on the top shelf of my closet and headed up to the roof top deck. I had a small couch and a large hammock set up out here, it was one of my favorite places on my property. I could see the ocean from here, see the small shops lining the street a decent distance from my house. I had gotten so lucky with this property, so many houses on the beach were tightly packed together but I had space and land to just enjoy. The plant life grew naturally here just how I wanted it to stay.
    Opening the book I pulled out a joint and lit it, I had cut back on my smoking since living with Toby. I did not need to be a bad influence in his life, that role was reserved for Seth. I had gotten half way through the joint when my phone started ringing. It was my mom, I was tempted to just let her go to voicemail. Our talks never ended with me feeling all too great about myself and I really didn't want her to kill this buzz for me.
    I sat it back down and relaxed when it stopped ringing, until it started up again. She was just going to keep calling till I answered, it was like she could sense when I was ignoring her. Picking up the phone I gave myself a quick pep talk before picking up.
    "Hey mom." I barely got out before her voice that seemed already annoyed came through.

    "If you were able to hear your phone, why didn't you answer the first time I called? What if it was an emergency and I needed you?"

    "Well I'd hope you would call 911 before me, you remember how long it took me to learn CPR properly. Do you really think there is much I would be able to do for you?" Everyone else got it down in like ten minutes, I was there for over an hour till the nurse they brought him to teach us felt I could actually save a person.
    Thankfully I have yet to test if she was right in that assessment.

    "You're right, you are a disaster most of the time." Well that made me feel nice and warm. " I was calling to tell you I will be coming over with Adam Saturday for dinner." Of course she wouldn't ask if I was free, it's not like i have a very busy schedule or anything.

    "Actually this weekend won't work. Toby is going to his grandparents Saturday and I have a work thing."

That was a lie, I was actually planning on going out and getting absolutely trashed. Though if I posted a picture on instagram I could technically call it a work thing. My publicist had been getting onto me for weeks about my lack of post in the past few months. She'd given me some time to grieve without a fuss but now it was all she was doing.
Maybe a drunk post will be just what I need to get her to calm down, though she is just trying to do the job I pay her for. Rebecca was a great publicist too, I probably should pay her more for the shit I have been pulling lately so she didn't dump me. Speaking of her my phone buzzed against my ear with her specific pattern, I set it to the TMZ intro music. She had not found it as funny as I did when she had called my phone after I lost it in an award event restroom last year.

Rebecca - You're doing a podcast next week, don't forget like last time.

"Well that doesn't work great for my schedule but I'll make do, Tuesday night instead." My mom sounded kind of mad now.

"Sounds good, I have to go but I'll talk to you later. Tell Adam I said hi." I quickly hung up before she could continue the conversation.

Opening my messages with Rebecca I send her a thumbs up, even though I know how annoying she finds that response.

Rebecca - Also post something on your socials, people are starting to think you're dead or in rehab.

Yeah she had noticed an influx of RIP comments on her last few posts. She'd let it be, people were going to come to their own conclusion and she didn't really want this part of her life on blast at the moment. She relit the joint and tried to get back the high her mother had so rudely stolen.