One Night Changes Everything

Natalie was standing in her kitchen sink looking up at nothing. She had been standing there for the last ten minutes doing absolutely nothing but zoning out.

All her mind kept thinking about was the previous night. Over and over her mind replayed the events. Every touch, every movement was etched into mind so vividly she almost relived the event.

Julie walked into the kitchen and stared at her mother as Natalie stood still with the kitchen faucet running.

�Mom are you ok?� Julie asked as she stood between the kitchen and dining room.

Julie�s voice snapped her back to the present.

Shaking her head slightly, she turned the faucet off and turned to look at Julie.

�Yeah. I�m just�thinking about something.� Natalie said in a dismissive way, walking over to her daughter with a shrug.

Julie stared at her mother for a few seconds. Determining if her mother really was ok, she stared at her mother. Puffy eyes, slightly reddish nose, and the fact that she was still at home at 8:30 only reinforcing the fact that her mother��was not ok.

It was funny how Julie saw things differently now. Before moving here and meeting Mr. Monk she didn�t pay attention to things like she now did. Julie had come to the realization that both she and her mother had changed after meeting Mr. Monk. He kind of did that to people. Made them see things in a whole new light, changing you in the process.

Julie didn�t mind. She liked Mr. Monk. In a way��he had become part of their family. It was a nice addition. He had his issues��but everyone does. But that�s what made Mr. Monk�Mr. Monk.

�Mom are you sure you�re ok? I mean�.(Julie hesitated in voicing her thoughts) you�re usually at Mr. Monks by now.�

Natalie didn�t want to lie to Julie. Her daughter was a smart teenager that had unfortunately picked up some attention to detail. Natalie knew immediately it was from Monk�s influence on her.

Natalie approached her daughter and pushed back a few strands on Julie�s long hair and then put her hand on Julie�s shoulder.

�Sweetie�(letting out a sigh) we need to talk.�

Julie stared at her mother. The last time her mother said those words��like that��had been when her mother had told her that Mr. Monk had died. Instantly Julie was worried.

�Is Mr. Monk ok?� Julie immediately started to get upset.

�No! No�no sweetie�� Natalie immediately tried to squash Julie�s fear, �it�s just that� (pausing not knowing how to go on) can we sit down and talk.�

Julie took a second before she nodded her head. Whatever her mother wanted to tell her it was pretty important. Julie had only seen her mother act like this two times. Once for what they both thought was Mr. Monk�s death and the other had been when her mother had told her that her dad was dead.

Both sat down and sat for a second, as Natalie took a deep breath.

�I ah��I might not be working for Mr. Monk anymore.� Natalie began, being as straight forward as she can.

Julie�s face immediately morphed, showing that she didn�t understand.

�Why? Did you get another job like the lotto thing��

�No�I ah�.(again pausing as she tried to find the words)� It�s nothing like that�.�

�Well,� Julie began, shrugging one shoulder �did you quit?�

Natalie shook her head. �No��not yet anyway.�

Julie�s eyebrows furrowed.

�Mom�.what happened? Did��did Mr. Monk��(stumbling with the words) hurt you or�..�

�What?! No�No��god no sweetie(saying this while shaking her head, reaching a hand out and taking Julie�s hand in hers, trying to reassure her)� really the truth is��I think I hurt him.�

Julie�s eyebrows stayed furrowed.

�Well��(again shrugging one shoulder) why don�t you just apologize. I mean��we all make mistakes sometimes. Mr. Monk knows that you didn�t mean to hurt him��I mean (suddenly fearing)� you didn�t mean to hurt him�did you?!�

Natalie straightened in her chair. She was not about to tell her teenage daughter about what really occurred between she and Monk��but the truth of the matter was�her daughter wasn�t going to let this go�at all.

�Honey��sometimes it doesn�t matter if you didn�t mean to hurt someone�.which I didn�t mean to do��sometimes��(fumbling yet again) sometimes you hurt someone badly enough��that things change between you�..even if you don�t want them to.�

Julie just didn�t understand.

�But mom! It�s Mr. Monk��you two are��best friends! You don�t stop being someone�s best friend because of one mistake!!�

�Julie..�

�No Mom�.(stressing the word mom) Mr. Monk�s saved your life- and you�ve saved his. Not many people would put themselves in danger to save someone else�s life. No matter what you�ve done��I don�t think that he would stop caring about us.�

At the word �us���Natalie just looked at Julie in slight shock.

�Julie�..(reaching over and combing back Julie�s hair once more) Mr. Monk wouldn�t stop caring about you- even if he was upset with me. Me quitting wouldn�t change that!�

Julie looked away and shook her head.

�I just don�t understand why you can�t just apologize for what happened. You can�t just leave him mom ( looking at her mother once more she stared into her mother�s eyes) he needs us!�

Natalie just stared at her daughter as the words sunk in. It was the truth. She had never really acknowledged it��but it was very true.

Adrian Monk had been abandoned by his closest friend when they had met him.

Doing that again to him���.she didn�t know if that was worse than trying to overcome this giant obstacle that she now faced.

Yet as she stared into her daughters eyes��she never realized how a much a part of her life this man had become in both of their lives.

Oh Gawd� She thought as she stared into her daughter�s eyes still.

When did things become so complicated?