The New Ever After (The New Ever After Series)

by Farley, Julie

  "I think relaxing is impossible," said Heather.

  "I'm used to your chaos," said Jenny. "You know that."

  "I say we just do a lot of this," said Peter.

  Chapter 38

  The rest of the day was pretty perfect. Peter was able to spend some quality time with his parents, one of his goals for their vacation. They sat out on the beach, and the twins miraculously fell asleep in the little tent. Heather was certain they would sleep well tonight after a full day on the beach. Tom's lobster bake was prepared and delivered by the seafood store in town. They brought it to the house, and they all ate outside at the picnic tables. It was a perfect evening. Henry was in heaven with his lobster. Peter organized a game of football on the beach after dinner, and Heather thought they were living a very Kennedy-like life. The most relaxing thing Heather realized was that she was not connected to the outside world. She had almost everyone she needed right there on the little coast of Maine.

  Jenny, Janie and Heather sat discussing the Kelly issue that had started the whole disappearance.

  "How could you be jealous of anyone?" asked Jenny.

  "You have to remember the Matt/Victoria thing was fresh in my head and Peter just started acting so weird."

  "The way he looks at you? That is enough to make anyone jealous. Doesn't matter how many meditations I do, I can't mantra my jealousy of your relationship away."

  "But she's beautiful and has a perfect body."

  Janie and Jenny rolled their eyes as Peter walked up.

  "You're not talking about Kelly, are you?"

  "Yes. But we won't waste our time on that gold digger," said Janie.

  "Janie, I'm not sure how you really feel about that girl," said Jenny.

  "I've known her since I was a kid, and I never liked her. She was a party girl and only interested in the next best thing. She's interested in Peter now because he is the thing."

  "We also need to tell you about something else," said Jenny. Janie and Jenny looked at each other and launched into the Aiden story.

  "I'll call Richard tomorrow and see what we need to do," said Peter. "Thanks for having our backs as usual, Jenny."

  "Maybe we can have her text something about Victoria to Ken's attention," said Jenny.

  The statement shocked Heather as revenge was way out of her character. "Like, do you know where your wife is sleeping, Ken?" asked Heather.

  "Exactly."

  "That is so beneath the two of you. We're keeping Aiden out of this. I'm thinking we need a restraining order to keep her from contacting us at all."

  "She's crazy but not Fatal Attraction crazy," said Heather. “If you’re letting her text you about her manuscript, it’s hard to get a restraining order.”

  "I’m not doing that anymore," said Peter.

  “You’ve been texting with her?” asked Janie.

  “She wanted to send me her book.”

  “About a student who had an affair with her professor,” said Heather.

  “What are you thinking?” asked Janie. “You can’t have contact with someone like that.”

  “Ok. I get it. I won’t,” said Peter.

  Tom was building a bonfire on the beach with the kids. Mary offered to put the twins to bed so the rest of them could enjoy the fire. Peter grabbed the s'mores ingredients he had bought on Sunday after their last sail together.

  "Let's tell ghost stories," said Michael, Janie's son.

  "If you wanted to see a ghost, you could have just come to our room to hear our shutter bang. It finally stopped yesterday," said Henry.

  "Didn't the guy come to fix it on Monday?" asked Peter.

  "He did but I heard it again that night," said Heather.

  "I have too. But ever since Peter got back it has stopped," said Henry.

  "How about you, Hayes?" asked Tom.

  "Yeah, I heard it banging. But I didn't really care."

  "It was someone telling us to pay attention and to be careful. As soon as Peter was safe it went away," said Henry.

  "Pay attention to what?" Gracie asked.

  "I guess the wind," said Henry.

  Heather was not in the mood to discuss ghosts and instead asked them to pass the marshmallows.

  Chapter 39

  Heather and Peter sat in bed both knowing they still needed to talk about the blonde elephant in the room named Kelly.

  "So, you want to talk about Kelly?"

  "Remember, she and I had a talk while you were lost at sea. She is completely in love with you and regrets letting you go."

  "Well, I have you and even if I didn't have you, I wouldn't want to be with her. She had her chance, and I wasn't good enough for her without all my money and fame. Of course she wants all of that now. It's easy for her to say she made a mistake."

  "Still, why'd you get all weird when you saw her?"

  "Because she was my first. I don't know if you'll understand because you ended up with your first. But if you hadn't ended up with Hank for whatever reason, he would hold this place in your heart. You don't forget your first and you hold them on this pedestal. You can't take away the importance they had in your life. It's easy to forget about number 29."

  "NUMBER 29? What the hell?"

  "I'm just kidding. You probably don't hold some guy you hooked up with in college on a pedestal. But the minute you decide to go 'all the way,' that person takes on another significance."

  "Why'd you decide to go all the way with Kelly? What did she have that made her your first?"

  "SAT word cards."

  "So, you had sex for the first time with someone because she had a stack of cards with vocabulary words on it. That was your all important decision making criteria? And then you get all ga-ga over her on the beach 25 years later?"

  "All my friends had done it. I was like the only one who hadn't. I was already nerdy and she was hot and into me and had word cards. Boys don't think as much as girls. Especially girls like you."

  "You are weird. You're analyzing it with the mind of a 42-year- old now but you're remembering the decision making process of a 16-year-old."

  "Why'd you decide to go all the way with Hank, Miss Over-Analyzer?"

  "He was good at math."

  "What? Seriously, in your book you don't say why he was your first you just say he was."

  "Because he was everything I knew. He was my home. He was part of everything that was comforting in my life and his messy, wet kisses gave me butterflies."

  "You went all the way because he was comforting?"

  "Yep. He was that warm blanket that you can't get enough of on a cold day. He was a bowl of mashed potatoes covered in gravy that you can't stop eating. I wanted as much of him as I could possibly have, that's why we went all the way."

  "And what was it with me?"

  "Your shower," said Heather remembering the moment she saw the amazing shower in his bathroom.

  "Ha ha, Mrs. Adamson."

  "It was the shooting star I saw from your window. I knew it was a sign, a sign from Hank that it was ok to move on. And plus, I couldn't resist your ass."

  Peter propped himself on top of Heather and kissed her. It was a hungry kiss. A kiss letting her know he wanted more, much more.

  "I'm not sure you're ready to go all the way," said Heather.

  "I've been ready since the moment you walked through the door at the hospital. You just better keep quiet and not let out any of your screams. Don't want to wake Jenny and all seven kids."

  "I have an idea..."

  "And what is your idea, Mrs. Adamson?"

  "Let's go out to the beach. I haven't had sex on the beach in years."

  "I like the way you think. I'll grab a blanket."

  Heather threw on her flip-flops, grabbed a sweater and left her shorts and tank top pajamas on. Peter put on a pair of khakis over his boxers and grabbed a t-shirt. They snuck down the steps and passed Jenny asleep on the couch. Peter grabbed a blanket that had been draped over the railing on the porch, and they made their way down
to the water.

  They walked for a few minutes, until they found a secluded spot. Heather had chills not only from the sea breeze but also because doing something illicit felt a little bit good to this forty-one year old mother of five. Peter spread out the blanket and they sat down.

  "I came out here last night. I walked to the end of the jetty. I needed to feel the water, the water that you were in."

  Peter rubbed her back. It was killing him to think of her in that pain.

  "I turned on every light in the house so you could see it if you needed to. I didn't know what else to do."

  "Babe, I am so sorry. I thought I could handle being out there. I never anticipated what was going to happen, and I did everything wrong. I'm not sure how I'm going to make this up to you."

  "I have a few ideas." Heather smiled and reached over to kiss Peter. He rolled Heather onto her back and took his time adoring his favorite spots on her body. She kissed him like she might not ever see him again. Her feelings from 48 hours ago were still so raw. Peter wiped the tears off her cheeks and didn't stop what he was doing.

  Turns out sex on the beach was better than Heather remembered it. Maybe because it was sex on the beach with Peter. Maybe it was because Heather was older and more experienced herself. Or maybe it was that anything with Peter alive and well was amazing right now.

  They stayed outside for a few minutes listening to the waves and then made their way back upstairs. Both were happy to be sleeping in the bed in the rental house. After a good night of sleep, things felt like they were getting back to normal. Peter got up and went for a run before the twins woke up and Heather and Jenny sat and had coffee.

  "How was last night?" asked Jenny. Heather gave her a quizzical look.

  "What do you mean?"

  "I heard you leave. I'm a mom, do you think I would miss someone walking by me while I slept?"

  "We just went for a walk."

  "Hmmm...really? Is that why you're a crazy shade of red right now? Hey, don't be embarrassed. I'm just jealous."

  "I'm sorry. That was really insensitive of us to flaunt it around like that."

  "Don't be ridiculous. It's not your fault Matt fooled around. Apparently, Victoria is more appealing than me."

  "STOP! That's absurd. She probably threatened him or something weird like that. He was probably under contract to kiss her."

  "No, he wasn't but it doesn't matter. You guys won't have that problem. Your Peter will never lose sex appeal. That's not even possible."

  "He might end up with a beer belly and sagging tattoos."

  "My tattoos will never sag and I will not get a beer belly," said Peter grabbing Heather around the waist.

  "Eww...you are sweaty. Really sweaty."

  "You don't usually mind when I'm sweaty. See you're already getting tired of me."

  "You're right. I like the smell of your sweat, but it's dripping down my arm and grossing me out a little."

  "Ok. You've made your point. I'll shower and grab the twins on my way back down assuming they can stay asleep that long." Peter spanked Heather's ass as he walked away.

  "Matt would never have done anything like that. He wouldn't have done it even when we were just married."

  Heather and Jenny had never talked about their sex lives until Heather had started dating Peter. Then all of the sudden Heather's love life was an open book. People liked to talk about it on Facebook, at baseball and probably in a lot more places that Heather didn't even know about.

  "You know I'm here to help you. After all you have done for me in the last few years, I want to be able to help you with anything."

  "Thank you. And when I know what you can do, I’ll ask."

  Peter came down with a twin in each arm, all dressed and ready for the day. Heather smiled. He had a swimsuit on and held his shirt in his hand. Heather had an urge, an almost irresistible urge, to run her hands down his abs. She could feel her cheeks getting warm and looked over at Jenny who promptly rolled her eyes.

  "Beach, correct?" he asked.

  "Assuming you guys didn't mess up all the sand last night."

  "We weren't that sneaky leaving the house," Heather said.

  "It's better than upstairs in our room right over your head, Jenny. Don't you think?" asked Peter.

  There was a knock at the front door distracting them from the teasing from Jenny. Peter went to answer it and was greeted by Kelly.

  "Oh my gosh," she gushed. "I'm so happy you're safe."

  "Thanks," said Peter being careful not to give her any extra attention, and he started to walk towards the kitchen.

  Kelly handed a basket of muffins to Heather and stuck her hand out to Jenny. "Hi, I'm Kelly."

  "And I'm Jenny."

  Peter stood behind Heather and wrapped his arms around her.

  "Thanks for the muffins," said Heather.

  "I'm just so happy Peter came back to us," said Kelly.

  "Not quite as happy as Heather," said Jenny.

  "Or me," said Peter. "The thought of not wrapping my arms around Heather again kept me holding onto the steering wheel as best as I could."

  Heather was a little bit embarrassed by Peter's clear display of affection but tickled by the pained expression on Kelly's face.

  "Well, I still hope you guys can join me for dinner while you're here."

  "I don't think we'll be able to. Jenny and Janie are staying with us, and we have a lot planned after they leave. Thanks for the invitation, but we'll have to pass," said Peter.

  "Ok, well you know where to find me if you need me," said Kelly turning her back and making her way to the door.

  "Thanks again for the muffins," said Heather as Jenny followed Kelly to the door and let her out.

  Jenny ran upstairs to change into her swimsuit while Heather turned to face Peter.

  "You didn't have to be that blatant."

  "Would you rather I not hug you?"

  "No, it's all good. I almost felt bad for her."

  "Well, I decided I needed to make sure the one I'm going to be with for the rest of my life knows that I want to be with her. And I want Kelly to know exactly how I feel about you too."

  Heather kissed him and grabbed his nice tight ass at the same time.

  The day at the beach was relaxing, as relaxing as a day at the beach with all those kids could be. Peter played with them most of the time. He played catch, built sandcastles, dipped toes into the water and found the best shells around. Heather and Jenny had more time to sit and talk and discuss the reading Heather had rescheduled for the next day. She decided she wanted to change it up.

  "What do you think if I write something about the last few days and read that?"

  "Well, everyone is going to ask you questions about it, so I guess that's one way to head it off. I can text Richard and make sure it's ok that you're not under any contractual obligation to read from the book."

  "Yeah, do that. And let's not mention it to Peter. I kind of want it to be a surprise."

  "Can't wait to see how he surprises you in return for something like that."

  Heather smiled. She decided when she took the twins up for a nap she would sit down and write. She knew it would come easily. She just needed some time and of course pen and paper. The basics.

  Chapter 40

  Peter and all five kids went to the book signing with Heather. The rest of their crew, including Tom, Mary, Janie and Jenny, met them at the bookstore. Heather’s family and friends were enough to pack the bookstore. When they arrived it was already standing room only. The owner greeted them and showed Heather to the podium. All of her peeps scattered across the back of the bookstore. Peter held George and Jenny held Emily. Heather set herself up in the front, and the owner of the story introduced her.

  "We’ve had a tough week, as you probably have heard, so I hope you don’t mind if I do something a little bit different. I'm not going to read from my book. I'd like to read something that I wrote yesterday. I think it probably sums up how I'm feeling and how I'
ve felt over the last few days." Heather paused and caught Peter's eyes. His blue eyes held onto hers until she had to look down to read.

  "I guess I'm one of those girls who is luckier than most. My first happily ever after was with the boy I met when I was six. Honestly, we had disagreements over the years and said things we both regretted, but I only ever dreamed of him. I dreamed of marrying him, buying a house with him and having his children. And I did it all. But Hank didn't get to have as much time with us as we all wanted, and he left us without even saying good-bye. I stopped dreaming about knights on white horses because mine had disappeared. My happily ever after was gone, but not before giving me three beautiful children." Heather took a break and saw Hayes rolling his eyes and Gracie holding Peter's hand.

  "But just when I thought my luck had run out again, it appeared like an elusive rainbow that you keep searching and searching for. My happily ever after reappeared in a way that I had never imagined. Never in a thousand dreams did I imagine falling in love with Peter. For the universe to give me two great loves, that was more than I could have asked for. My love with Peter has been fast and furious and everything that my thirty-two years with Hank wasn't. Peter pulled up in his shiny blue Lexus and rescued us all. His love helped us heal our broken hearts, and he showed us, especially me, that we could be happy again. And of course he gave me two of the biggest surprises that turn each and every day upside down and right side out, our twins. We've become this dysfunctional family that has more love than it deserves. When I first met Peter he did something that no one had done for me since Hank had died, he hugged me. He gave me one of those hugs, the kind you can only get from someone who is so much bigger than you are, the kind that makes you feel secure and like you're protected from every worry in the world. The kind that let's you take a deep breath and relax your shoulders for the first time in 18 months." Heather looked up at Peter and smiled and then turned bright red. "His kisses make my stomach do somersaults. His touch gives me goosebumps. I love the spicy salty smell of his sweat after he's come back from a run. And I love the way his arms feel around me any time of the day."