Free The Death Row Complex by Kristen Elise

leapt from her chair. Crossing the living room to retrieve the phone, she danced over a minefield of stuffed animals and the hard plastic toys that Tom angrily referred to as “ankle-breakers.” As she passed the coffee table, she grabbed the remote control and switched off the TV, which had been loudly projecting without an audience for the past two hours. She glanced at the clock. It was 9:35 p.m.
    “Hello,” Katrina said irritably as she picked up the receiver.
    “Hey, babe,” Tom said casually on the other end.
    “Tom, where are you!” It was not a question, but a demand. “You missed dinner again.”
    “I know—I’m sorry. My car broke down, and my cell phone battery was dead, so I couldn’t call until now.”
    Katrina rolled her eyes and flipped through a stack of bills on the table next to the phone. Several of them were marked in red as overdue. “You sound pretty cheerful for someone stranded at nine thirty on a weeknight.”
    “I had to get my car to the mechanic, and the tow truck driver took forever. By the time I got here, they were closed, so I had to figure out where I could leave the car overnight.
    “It’s funny what happened though. I borrowed this jarhead’s cell phone. He was just walking by and I could tell he was in the Corps. I showed him my Navy and medical tattoos and asked if I could use his phone. He goes, ‘Anytime, Doc.’ Anyway, I’m waiting for a taxi now so I’ll be home pretty quick.”
    Katrina glanced away from the stack of unpaid bills and looked at the caller ID. Her stomach knotted. She clicked back to the number from an earlier call, and her knees suddenly felt weak.
    Katrina lowered the receiver of the phone to take a deep breath and let it out. Then she returned the receiver to say, “Well, your jarhead friend must have really meant that you could use his phone any time. That same number called our house this morning at ten o’clock.”
    Silence.
    “How do you think that happened, Tom?”
    “Look! I don’t want to hear your paranoid bullshit right now, Katrina! I’m stuck here with no car—”
    “Save it! You know, the least you could do is come up with an excuse that makes a little bit of sense when you call me from your girlfriend’s fucking phone. I don’t have time for this, Tom. I have a qualifying exam to take next week, and I’m a little busy trying to prepare for it while raising two children. Excuse me, three. So… just enjoy your affair, Doc .”
    Katrina slammed the phone down and stood panting beside it for several moments. Then she blinked back the tears that were threatening and bit her lip to maintain her composure as she walked down the hall to check on the children. She peeked into Alexis’ room first.
    The seven-year-old was on the floor in her lavender Care Bear nightgown, happily playing with her ponies. She was quietly talking both to them and for them, altering her tiny voice to create different characters. Her waist-length, straight hair was still held back with the pink bow Katrina had tied around it that morning. The ribbon was now disheveled and drooping to one side, and Lexi’s hair was tangled from the long day’s activities.
    Katrina was initially surprised to find her daughter still awake, and then she remembered with a pang of guilt that she had promised to help her into bed at least an hour earlier.
    Alexis looked up at her mother in the doorway and smiled sweetly.
    Katrina forced herself to smile back. “It’s way past your bedtime, honey,” she said quietly. “Brush your teeth and get into bed. In a few minutes, I’ll come tuck you in.”
    Katrina crossed the hall to glance into Christopher’s room and confirm that her son was asleep. When she opened the door, the five-year-old made a light cooing noise but then settled back down. Katrina watched him for a moment.
    Christopher’s blonde curls sprang wildly from around his cherubic face, and one chubby fist was resting against a rosy cheek. His blanket had