Uncomplicated Choices

by Cara Dee

  "Maybe I'm starting to do the same." I wasn’t gonna say more on the topic, and he knew I was here if he needed anything. But, yeah, now when I thought about it… The tension, the avoiding one another after being so fucking close, the vague replies. Something was up between him and Abel.

  Given their differences and rather huge age gap, I kinda-but-not-really ruled out anything of an intimate nature, but who knew.

  He smiled stiffly and nodded with a dip of his chin, and that was that.

  Madigan went up to the roof again, leaving Ellis and me alone, though we didn’t linger. It was time to fess up to Adeline too, and then everything would be out in the open.

  Haley was a comical sight. Her little form was sprawled out across a loveseat, and she owned it like a boss. She was the one who spotted us first.

  "No one took the seat!"

  I grinned and walked around the coffee table. "Good job, baby. High five." I held out my hand as I reached her, and she smacked it with her first. "That's a fist bump." With a grunt, I picked her up and nibbled on her stomach, which earned us all her lovely shrieks. "Whoa, you can shatter glass with those pipes."

  Ellis and I took our seats, and Haley wanted to keep on sprawlin'. I got the lower end of her, her feet tempting me to—wow, okay, shit, Ellis knew me well by now. His look told me I shouldn’t tickle her feet.

  "You're a shit-stirrer."

  "Who, me?" I put on my innocent face.

  "Yeah, all right, I can see it now." Lincoln was apparently watching us, a smirk tugging at his mouth.

  Lyn climbed on up his lap and grabbed his face. "What can you see, Daddy?"

  "You." He smiled and poked her tummy.

  "Case and Ellis have news," Madigan, the impatient prick, declared. Out of the four loveseats around the table, I kind of wanted his to magically appear in the pool right now.

  We sure as shit had Adeline's attention now. She studied us expectantly and set down her coffee. "What news?"

  "Ellis gave me his class ring," I said. "We're going steady." I grasped his hand to make a point, and we rested them on Haley's stomach. "See? Very steady."

  Thing was, she didn’t laugh. It meant there must've been some suspicion. Instead, she straightened in her seat and, funnily enough, looked to Ellis for proof. It was as if the jokester in the family couldn’t be trusted.

  Ellis cleared his throat into his hand. "Well, he kidnapped me."

  "What the—" I faced him so fast I thought my neck was gonna snap. "That's my line, you bastard. You kidnapped me."

  His eyes danced with laughter, and he was having way too much fun for being a thief. It left me no choice. I had to twist his nipple.

  "Are you serious?" He hissed through a chuckle and rubbed his sore spot. "Sometimes you're twelve, Casey."

  "Sometimes, you're a thief—"

  "Hey!" Adeline wanted us to focus on her. "How about you two stop the foreplay and tell me all the details? This is…holy crap. Are you actually together? Ellis, I didn’t even know you were into men, too. How come I didn’t know? Tell me everything, boys—right now."

  "It's like she forgets you're older than her," I muttered under my breath to Ellis.

  He was politer and far more accommodating than I was, meaning the end of our banter and the beginning of all the details.

  "It's probably best you ask specific questions, baby," Lincoln told Ade. "Otherwise, they'll gloss over everything."

  "You're not helping," I accused.

  "I'm helping me," he argued. "If my wife doesn’t get to know everything, I still gotta live with the crazy—ah, ah—" Adeline had a grasp of his neck hair, and Lincoln winced. "With the amazing, beautiful, brilliant mother of my children."

  "Nice." Madigan smirked.

  This was spinning out of control, and I felt the need to address the girls because someone had to be the responsible adult around here. "Remember, violence is bad."

  "Good one, nipple-twister," Ade retorted. "Now. Speak. How did this start?"

  Well, I was kidnapped…

  Epilogue

  "Hon, we ditched you at the hotel for a reason. You need your sleep." I trapped the phone between my cheek and shoulder so I could adjust Theo in my arms. Sitting on a nice beach made it easier. I pulled up my legs a bit, and he made some weird baby noises as I laid him down along my thighs. I could kiss his tiny feet forever.

  I'd bought the socks, obviously.

  "I know…" Marilyn yawned in the background. "Are you sure he's okay?"

  I smiled and tapped his nose gently. "We're fine. He's not crying." In fact, his blinks were getting heavier and heavier.

  We could add the sound of the ocean as a way to put him down. Maybe we should spend more time on the water castle…

  Boy, was he a fussy little monkey. From the minute we left the hospital, it felt like he screamed for three weeks straight. Then it got easier once he'd adjusted to the breast milk, though he still kept us up most nights.

  "That’s a miracle," Marilyn laughed softly. "Okay, I'll get some sleep. Wake me up when you're back at the hotel."

  "Will do." I ended the call and pocketed my phone. "You are one adorable little terror, though." Dipping down, I nuzzled his nose with mine and grinned when he sleepily grabbed my ear. "Okay, I think we need to have an important discussion," I told him. "You're eight weeks old. It's time to decide what you want to do with your life. And given the recent developments, I suggest race car driver."

  Being in the car was the only other sure way to get him to sleep without much fuss. Poor Marilyn, she'd been near a meltdown a few weeks ago. She'd needed to leave the house and get some fresh air, but with Theo screaming at the top of his lungs, she dreaded taking him someplace public. However, the minute the engine rumbled to life, he was dead to the world.

  So Marilyn kept driving.

  Hours later, she'd called us all euphoric, albeit freaked out, 'cause she'd ended up in Oregon.

  It was how we'd ended up in LA now, too. Everyone needed a quick break, it seemed, and I wanted to check in with Jesse. I was gonna report back to Lincoln later, and then we'd have a few days of chillin' before road-trippin' back home.

  Theo suckled on his pacifier—some fancy type for colicky babies—and let his eyes fall close. He was so cute it almost hurt. I remembered thinking the same when Haley was a newborn.

  Lifting my gaze, I spotted her and Ellis by the water as he lifted her up to sit on his shoulders. The sun was about to set, and the moment was too beautiful to not capture. I retrieved my phone again and snapped off a handful of photos.

  I'd blog a photo tomorrow or something. While a big portion of my single followers had dumped me, a new demographic had found me. They loved it when I blogged funny stuff about parenthood, mishaps, and pictures of my family.

  The topic of the post tomorrow would require some sensitivity, though. I'd tone down the humor and hopefully have a sweet story to share about Ellis telling my daughter she could call him Dad or Daddy, too.

  Our daughter.

  Our son.

  I tugged down Theo's cap a little. "I love you, baby." I pressed a gentle kiss to his forehead, and he stirred, which made me go rigid. "Oh fuck, forgive me—don’t wake up, please. I don’t know what I was thinking—" Shut up!

  I shut my mouth.

  He didn’t wake up.

  Phew.

  A while later, Ellis and Haley returned, and I was quick to hold a finger over my mouth.

  Haley nodded in understanding and snuck closer until she was behind me and could hug my neck.

  "Let me look at you." I tried to face her, a bit nervous, and she poked her head forward. "You okay?"

  She nodded again and appeared oddly shy. Then she whispered in my ear. "I have two daddies now."

  "You do?" The relief hit me squarely in the chest. Don't get mushy. "That's so awesome."

  She grinned.

  Ellis sat down next to me and kissed my shoulder, his gaze landing on Theo.

  "Are you okay?" I ask
ed him quietly.

  He was on the same train. They were silent nodders.

  "Very," he managed after a while.

  It dawned on me a minute too late that it could've been an emotional roller coaster of a conversation to go through.

  I decided not to ask. It was between them. It only made me happy to see them strengthen their own relationship.

  "Guys, we have a very difficult decision to make." I kept my voice down, because this was serious business. "We need to figure out how to get Theo to the car without waking him. Who's gonna—"

  "Not it," Ellis and Haley said at the same time.

  My head went side to side, and I stared at them in disbelief. "When did I become the grown-up in our family?"

  "I'm joking," Ellis chuckled. "I'll take him on one condition. Have dinner with me tomorrow night."

  That answer was simple, although I didn’t understand why Haley suddenly giggled behind her hand and looked all secretive. She exchanged a glance with Ellis, to which she nodded and mimicked me from earlier by pressing a finger to her mouth. She was going to keep a secret.

  "What the crap was that?" I asked. "Are you conspiring against me?"

  "Yeah," Haley giggled. Having no clue what the word meant.

  "Never you mind, sunshine." Ellis gently took Theo into his arms, and the sweetheart didn’t even move. "Dinner tomorrow, you and me. Deal?"

  Well, yeah, sure.

  It was just dinner…

  ###

  In Camassia Cove, everyone has a story to share

  Lincoln & Adeline

  Abel

  Jesse

  Madigan

  Adrian

  Jameson

  For more, visit: https://www.caradeewrites.com/