by Nikki Ash
Twenty-Five
Bentley
The crazy thing about babies is that they grow like damn weeds! It’s the end of November, Thanksgiving just passed, and Faith is officially five months old. She’s sitting up, eating solids, and when she’s on the floor she does this cute rocking thing on her knees, which confirms what all the moms say is true from Mommy and Me—she’s getting ready to crawl. Yes, that’s right. I belong to a mommy and me group I found online. I still think it’s ridiculous that it isn’t called Parent and Me, but I’ll pick my battles since I’m the only dad actually in the group.
Faith and I have a great schedule going on. We usually start off our morning with some oatmeal or rice with fruit, we join the other moms at the park later in the morning until it’s time for Faith’s nap, and then I head to the gym to visit Kayla while she’s at work. Some days she’ll take Faith home while I work out with the guys and other days I’ll go home to make dinner for when she gets home.
Right now I’m heading to the park to meet the other moms. My phone rings over Bluetooth and Faith makes a bunch of sounds in the backseat.
“Hello?”
“Hey there, Mr. Mom! What are you up to?” It’s Liz, and I would bet she’s home and bored. We haven’t hung out with the babies yet other than when we all hang out together as a group. She’s mentioned it several times, but I figured I would let her and Kayla hang out. They can get their baby and best friend time in at once.
“I’m heading to the park with Faith. What’s up?”
“Really? Would you mind if Nathan and I join you? Bella’s at school until later and Cooper’s at the gym.”
“I’m meeting my mom’s group there, but I guess you can join.”
“Mom’s group? Why don’t I know about this? Am I not cool enough to be part of your group?”
Oh, Jeez. Here we go…
“If you want to meet us, then meet us. It’s not that big of a deal.”
“Okay, text me the address of the park you’re going to. Be there soon! Bye!”
We get to the park and I spot Monica and Sara right away. They both have daughters that are just a little older than Faith. They wave to me and I head over to them, putting the diaper bag down on the bench along the way. There are four swings and two are empty, so I put Faith into the swing and push her lightly. Her giggles start up immediately and I snap a picture to send to Kayla.
“Hey Bentley!” both women say in unison and laugh.
“Hello, Ladies. And hello to you precious little girls,” I say to their daughters, tickling each of their tummies. They both give me a baby giggle.
I go back to pushing Faith as we discuss our babies’ recent milestones.
“Tori is finally crawling!” Monica announces excitedly.
“Amy is almost there, but she’s standing up for a few seconds against the couch before she falls back down on her butt. Maybe she’ll just go straight to walking and skip crawling,” Sara chimes in.
“Nice! Faith is still doing the whole rocking on her knees thing. I’ve baby proofed the entire apartment though just in case.”
“Just in case what?” I hear from behind me. I turn around and see Liz standing with Nathan on her hip, her eyes darting between the two women and me. Damn, she got here fast.
“Hey Liz. This is Monica and Sara.” I point to the two women. “I was just telling them how Faith is almost crawling, so I baby proofed the house this weekend. Ladies, this is Liz. She’s my friend Cooper’s wife, and this little guy is Nathan.”
“And I’m also his girlfriend’s best friend,” she adds with a tone that sounds off.
Both women say hello and we continue the play date. A few of the other women in the mom’s group show up and soon there’s almost a dozen babies crawling, walking, and running all over the park. Liz is sitting on the bench while Nathan sits in front of her as she looks intently at her phone.
I sit next to her and place Faith on the ground to play with the sand toys.
“Cooper?” I ask, nodding toward her phone. She looks up and glares at me for a second, but quickly relaxes her face into more of a grimace.
“No, actually it’s Kayla. You remember your girlfriend, right?”
I ignore the dig. “Cool. Tell her I said hi.”
“That’s it? You said hi?”
I think about it for a second not sure what answer she’s looking for here.
“Um, hi and I’ll see her later at the gym?”
She huffs out a “Whatever” and goes back to texting.
A couple of the moms come over and let us know they’re going to head out since it’s almost nap time and invite Liz to join us the day after tomorrow at the local pool.
“I’m not sure what I have going on, but thank you for the invite.”
“Okay, well, it’s an open invitation, and I’ll send you an invite to our online group. I’ll get your email from Bentley later. Let me know if Faith starts crawling, Bentley! See you at the pool,” Sara says before leaving.
Everybody else says goodbye and then it’s just Liz and me left.
“Seriously?” she barks out.
“What?” I’m confused as fuck as to why this woman is acting so damn weird.
“While the girlfriend-slash-mother of your child is at work, you’re hanging out at the park with a bunch of hot women who are all having Daddy Bentley fantasies?”
What in the actual fuck?
“Please don’t tell me you texted that bullshit to Kayla. You already know how insecure she is about being in a relationship. Would you be saying this shit if I was a woman at the park with other women? No, you wouldn’t. I can’t help there are no other dads that stay home or join the mom’s group.”
“Whatever, Bentley. I didn’t say anything to Kayla, but you should.”
Faith starts to whine and I know it’s time to get her home for a nap. I scoop her up and wipe the sand off her body and turn to face Liz. “I’m not doing anything wrong. Don’t make this something it’s not, please.”
She sighs loudly but nods okay.
I get home, lay Faith down for her afternoon nap and begin to work on the laundry. I start to think about what Liz said. Does she have a point? Should I tell Kayla about the mom’s group I’m in? I haven’t purposely kept it from her. I tell her all about Faith’s day and mine, but if I’m honest I don’t include the other women I hang out with in our conversations.
Every day I hope and pray Kayla won’t wake up and change her mind about us. Sometimes I feel like I walk on eggshells afraid that if I do or say the wrong thing she’ll walk away from me. So maybe subconsciously I kept that tidbit of info out of our conversations to keep everything stable.
My phone rings in my pocket and I see it’s my mom.
“Hey, Mom, how are you?”
“Oh, I’m good, sweetie. How are Faith and Kayla?”
“Both good. Faith is sleeping and Kayla is at work. What’s up?”
“Well I was wondering if we could take Faith for the weekend. I was thinking Kayla and you can do a weekend getaway and we could watch Faith. I would love some time with my granddaughter.”
I laugh at her comment. The woman spends time with her granddaughter several times a week, but I’m not going to turn down a chance to take Kayla away.
“That actually sounds really good, Mom. We haven’t been away since my birthday when Kayla surprised me. Now I can surprise her. Thanks.”
“No problem. Why don’t you guys join us for an early dinner Friday and then take off afterward? You can pick Faith up Sunday night or Monday morning.”
“Perfect. I’m going to make reservations now.”
I text the guys to see if they want to make it a group thing. Cooper replies a little while later saying his mom would love to take Nathan and Bella for the weekend. Caleb says he’s down, and Kaden is down as well. I tell Cooper to let Liz know I’m surprising Kayla and to invite Hayley and Ashley as well.
He texts me later letting me know Ashley’s parents
are good to watch her son and Hayley will be joining as well. I send out a group text letting them all know to pack warm clothes because we’re flying to Breckenridge, a ski resort in Colorado. My family has a cabin up there and now seems like the perfect time to take advantage of it.
I shoot my mom a text letting her know and she replies with a smiley face. Next, I make reservations to charter a private plane from McCarran international to Eagle County Regional, which is only about an hour from the ski resort.
While I’m booking the flight I get a text from Monica confirming our play date for the pool on Thursday. I send her a thumbs up emoticon and continue making plans for this weekend, writing down all the shit I need to pack for us and Faith. Luckily my parents keep a lot of stuff at their house since we visit often. I also jot down to remember my favorite red bathing suit of Kayla’s. We will definitely be taking advantage of the hot tub at night.
Twenty-Six
Kayla
It’s Thursday morning and my only appointment of the day was canceled because the fighter has to go out of town for a last minute photo shoot. I decide to surprise Bentley and meet him at the pool at the local Y. Liz told me she’s joining him as well. I go by the house, grab my bathing suit, and head to the swimming center.
I pay for my swimming pass and head to the locker room to change. There are a few moms changing their babies in there while conversing.
“My God, he’s like sex on a stick,” one woman says, fanning herself.
“Seriously, and the way he is with his daughter… If I weren’t married, I would be all over that,” another woman says.
“Yeah, well, I’m not married, so maybe I should be all over that,” another woman says.
I hear them leave as I finish changing, and then go in search for my sex-on-a-stick. When I get to the pool I spot Bentley and Faith. Damn, he looks sexy. He’s holding our daughter in the air and then brings her back down, making it look like he’s plunging her into the water, but in reality he does it so gently the water barely parts. I can see her beautiful grin from here. I look for Liz and see her talking to the women I just saw in the locker room.
I walk over to join Bentley in the water, but before I can make it over, the women who were just talking to Liz join him in the pool with a baby on each of their hips.
I watch for a few minutes and it’s clear he knows them. Holy shit! It hits me. My sex-on-a-stick is the same sex-on-a-stick they were talking about! Oh, hell no! That shit ain’t gonna fly.
I pick up my pace and walk quickly over to the edge of the pool and walk down the steps on a mission to claim my damn man. When Bentley first sees me, he looks… shocked… or is it guilt? But then his face morphs into a huge smile.
He must tell Liz I’m here because she looks over at me and her face definitely looks guilty. One thing about my best friend is she can’t hide shit from me and something tells me she knew all about this. I give her an eyebrow up silently saying what the fuck and her eyes bulge out knowing exactly what I mean.
I swim to Bentley and, without saying hello to anybody else around him, wrap my arms around his neck and give him a kiss that screams mine. He’s still holding Faith and when she spots me kissing her daddy she begins to squeal in his arms wanting me to grab her.
“Surprise,” I whisper to Bentley, so only he can hear.
He stares at me for a brief moment, gauging my tone, then says, “It definitely is.”
He grabs the back of my neck with his available hand and kisses me once more. Faith’s squeals get louder and we both separate and laugh. I take her from him and give her chubby little cheek a big wet kiss.
“I didn’t know you would be joining us,” Liz says nervously.
“My appointment canceled so I thought I would surprise you guys.”
“Hey Bent, do you want to get out to give the babies a snack? It was my turn to bring snacks and I brought yogurts.”
I look over at the woman who, not even five minutes ago, stood in the locker room and said she would be all over that if she wasn’t married, clearly referring to my boyfriend.
“Bent?” I ask Bentley.
He at least has the decency to look sheepishly at me. “Kayla, this is Monica, Sara, and Roxy. They’re in the Mommy and Me group Liz and I belong to.”
I turn to glare at my best friend who has never mentioned this before.
“Um, well, actually I’m not exactly in the group. I just met them the other day. My membership is still pending upon approval from the admin.”
I shoot her another death glare and she looks down at Nathan, pretending to pick imaginary lint off him. Yeah, my best friend and I will definitely be having a conversation later. But for right now, I do what any respectable woman does when she’s caught off guard but can’t let those catty bitches know. I fake it!
“Oh, that group! I remember you mentioning them,” I first say to Liz. Then turning to the bitches that want my man, I say, “Nice to meet you. I’ve heard so much about you guys.” I put my hand out to shake each of their hands.
Bentley looks scared as hell at this point, knowing I haven’t really heard shit about the hot moms he’s been chilling with.
“Sooo…yogurt?” I ask nobody in particular. Everybody nods and says yes and we all get out to get the yogurts.
Bentley tries to stop me by putting his arm on mine, but when I turn around and growl out “Not now,” he stops and takes the hint.
I lay Faith on the lounge chair that Bentley has everything sprawled out on and change her wet diaper. Liz comes up to me and, like the best friends we are, apologizes with only her eyes. I nod slightly, letting her know we’re good, and sit on the chair with Faith between my legs. Bentley sits on the edge of the chair and begins to feed Faith a yogurt. She gets so excited, batting at the spoon, wanting to grab it herself. This little girl is our entire world. I get choked up when I think about some other woman spending time with my daughter. Is that what Bentley needs? Does he need a woman who stays home instead of works? What if after all we’ve gone through to get here, I’m not the woman he needs? And then I think about the deceit. Not once has he mentioned he’s hanging out with all of these hot moms during the day while I’m at work. He has to know this is wrong or else he would have mentioned it.
I close my eyes to hold back the tears that are threatening to spill over. When I open my eyes, Bentley is looking at me with a pained expression. He opens his mouth, attempting to speak, but with those women around I’m not doing this here. I shake my head, and he sighs, but nods.
We spend the rest of the afternoon at the pool, and while we have a blast as a family with our daughter, it’s tainted by all the secrets that have been kept, and all the questions I want answers to. Is this where it all ends? Is this where my mom gets to say the I told you so I’ve always feared?
Twenty- Seven
Bentley
Fuck! I know I technically have nothing to feel guilty over, but at the same time, I know I do. When Kayla closed her eyes, I could see it in her face, the insecurity that I might want these other moms over her. I could see the fear in her that I’m going to break her heart and that her mom was right and she was once again wrong. I wanted so badly to explain, to hold her and tell her she’s all I’ll ever want, but she wouldn’t even let me talk.
The day comes to a close, we say our goodbyes, and since we took separate vehicles, Kayla and I part ways and agree to meet at home. Kayla takes Faith home with her, so I stop by the florist and pick up a dozen roses. I know it’s totally cliché, but at this point I’ll try anything.
I walk into the apartment and Kayla spots the flowers immediately. Tears start flowing down her face and I have a feeling flowers weren’t the right move. I set them on the end table and go over to her. Picking her up, I carry her over to the couch. Faith is playing in her exerciser, twisting and turning, while banging the keys that make noise and light up.
I turn Kayla so her legs are straddling my thighs and let her cry into my shirt for a couple of min
utes before I speak. “Baby, please stop crying. I’ll throw the fucking flowers away. I’m sorry.”
She looks up at me with wide, vulnerable eyes and quietly asks, “Do you still want to be with me?”
“What are you talking about, woman? Of course I still want to be with you. You are my forever.” I give her a soft kiss on her lips. They taste salty from her crying, and it’s officially my least favorite taste in the world.
“When I went into the locker room to change I didn’t know it at the time but those women were talking about how hot you were and saying if they weren’t married they would want to be with you. One woman even said she’s not married and wants you! And then when I saw you with them, having fun with Faith and their kids… Is that what you want? A woman who will stay home with the baby? And why didn’t you tell me about this group? Do you know how crappy it feels to be kept in the dark about what you do numerous times a week?”
Jesus…women and their big mouths. I know these women have occasionally flirted, but I’ve ignored it. I figured it was just innocent and since most of them are married I let it go. They have never approached me or said anything remotely inappropriate. The truth is them gossiping is the equivalent to what guys do when they see a hot woman. However, pointing that out to Kayla is not going to help the situation. I might be a guy, but I’m not a complete idiot.
“Those women can say whatever they want. You are the only woman for me. I joined that group so Faith and I could socialize with other parents, that’s it. I love being home with Faith. I love that you enjoy your job. I told you this before and I’ll say it as many times as you need to hear it. I’m okay with you working. If you ever want to stay home, then you can do that. You choosing to work instead of staying home doesn’t change how I feel about you. You are a great girlfriend and mother. Okay?”