Always Yours

by Shelly Jones

  “Or before, in case the girls show up,” Jeremy says.

  “Yeah, I mean I’m pretty sure my cousin has some tools we need to borrow to fix the shed and the fence panels,” Josh says with a laugh.

  “Dude, you guys fucking rock. We’ll swing by my parents. I’ll run in and say we forgot some things, grab Brady and Brody and go over there. You’re fucking geniuses!”

  I pull into my parent’s driveway, run in and check on my mom telling dad we’ll be right back. Dad gives me that look that means he knows what I’m up too.

  “Just be careful Eric, you’ve got too much to lose now,” he says as he smacks me on the back.

  “I know dad. I know!” I smack him on the back and give him a half of hug.

  “I’ll tell Katie I sent you five on a hardware store run in case she stops by,” Dad says as I’m getting in the truck.

  “Text me if she shows up. Oh Dad, thanks!” I give my dad a nod and a smile.

  I put the truck in reverse and back out. Putting the truck in drive and Brady turns the radio on, and “Boy Round Here” By Blake Shelton comes on. I start to laugh, “This is our theme song boys,” Brady yells. After that song, “Drink in My Hand” By Eric Church comes on as we get close to Josh’s cousin’s house.

  I pull up to the front of Paul’s house and park on the street. I look across the street to see Reagan’s car sitting in the driveway with Reagan and Dean sitting on the front porch. My hands automatically ball into fists.

  “Breathe dude,” Brady tells me.

  “Yeah, I’m breathing alright, only problem is, so is he!” See, what no one knows is one night I snuck down into my dad’s office and found Katie’s file and the pictures. My dad brought her file home to go through it to see if he could keep him locked up. Dad didn’t know I knew he had the file. I opened it. Read every inch of it and I saw the pictures. If Katie knew about this, she would probably hate me forever, but it was something I needed to see. Even as his release date got closer and I gave dad the letters he sent Katie, they weren’t threatening and they didn’t help to keep him in jail. Watching that mother fucker breathing and smiling makes me want to throw up.

  I open up my truck door and hop out. Still keeping my eye on the prize, Dean finally makes eye contact with me. Reagan looks over at me. She says something to Dean and he shakes his head no.

  “Hey Reagan,” I yell as I smile over at her.

  “Whatever Eric,” she says back as she rolls her eyes at me.

  I walk around my truck and head over to where the guys are at in the garage. Paul gives us a bunch of boxes full of shit, just to make it look good.

  “Man thanks for these. This will help us out a lot,” I say loud enough for them to hear. Each one of us looks over to see where that fucker is at. He’s still sitting there with her watching us.

  “I’ll be right back,” I say to the guys. I turn on my heel and walk towards Dean. Brady, knowing what I’m going to do, jogs up next to me.

  “Eric, don’t. You don’t want to lose Katie. He’s not worth it. Remember, Steve is more to blame then this piece of shit is,” he tells me.

  “Brady, relax,” I smirk at him. I let Brady follow me across the street.

  “What do you want Eric,” Reagan says to me.

  “Where’s Heidi?”

  “I don’t know. Why?”

  “Because I want my ring back.”

  “She ain’t got it, I’m pretty sure she pawned it a couple of days ago.”

  “Figures,” I say with a roll of my eyes.

  “You know she was with me don’t you,” Dean says to me.

  “Yep I do! And if I didn’t love her as much as I do, you wouldn’t be breathing right now.”

  “I know and I honestly would let you. Go live your life. She loved us both, but she loves you more.”

  “I don’t get how you can love someone and then almost kill them. You’re fucked up, and what’s even more fucked up is you’re sitting on the porch with the tramp that was a part of your problem to begin with!”

  “Fuck you Eric! You don’t talk to me like that,” Reagan protests.

  “Oh really, so you’re saying what I just said isn’t true?” Reagan didn’t say anything. She just glared at me. “Just stay away from Katie and everything will be fine,” I say to both of them.

  I turn on my heels and walk across the street. The guys are sitting in the back of my truck watching the whole thing.

  “Bravo, Bravo,” Brody says.

  “Let’s go,” I say. We get in the truck and head back to my parents’ house.

  “Well he’s still breathing,” Brody says.

  “Only because he was choosing his words carefully,” I snap.

  “You think he’s actually sorry?” Josh asks.

  “He can be sorry all he wants. He can blame Steve, Reagan, and the alcohol. Hell, he could blame god and the devil themselves; it still doesn’t make it right. He knew what he was doing and I don’t care how sorry he is. He as much as looks at Katie and I’m going to fucking kill him. I won’t be fine until he’s lying next to Steve in the ground!” The guys get quiet. ‘Yeah assholes, Mr. Pussy romantic still can be the hard ass dick when he needs to be,’ I say in my head.

  “So when are you going to ask her to marry you,” I hear Brady ask me.

  “What?”

  “Oh come on don’t play stupid. When are you finally going to make her Mrs. Reed?”

  “Dude, can you let me move all my stuff in the house first. Shit!”

  “Ok, whatever,” Brody huffs and rolls his eyes.

  “Listen it’s not like I’m not thinking about it. I am. I just don’t know when.”

  “Ok well at least you’re thinking about it.”

  “Dude you know I have been. You know that night of graduation party that I was taking Katie for a walk to ask her to be my girl, but fucking Reagan, that bitch went and fucked shit up. You knew what I was going to do. That was always the goal. We should be celebrating our eighth year wedding anniversary or something by now.”

  “Well then what the fuck are you waiting for? Do it. You’ve waited long enough, fucking ask her,” Brady says. Is he right? Is this moving too fast? Could I ask her now? No I’ve got to wait a little while. Yeah I’m going to wait, but not too long.

  We finally get back to my parents and the guys and I get everything done. I’ve gone to check on mom and she’s doing well. She of course misses me, but is so happy for Katie and me.

  Katie has sent me cute little texts all afternoon. She told me she has some big news to tell me and she’s really excited. She’s taking Ava to her dad’s tonight so we can go out to dinner and then we’re meeting up with everyone at the bar later. She told me to tell my parents that Gary, his girlfriend Dana, Katie, Ava and I will be over for dinner tomorrow night. My mom is so excited about it.

  The guys and I take a break in the garage. Dad has lemonade and sandwiches waiting for us.

  “So what’s this big news with Rachel and Katie?” I ask Brady.

  “Not sure. She and Maddie were very hush hush about it all morning, and they won’t say shit until they talked to Katie. Why?”

  “Just wondering, Katie was all excited and can’t wait to tell me. She’s even got Ava going to grandpas tonight so we can go out.”

  “Yeah, I got the message we’re all going to the bar tonight. What the fuck is going on?”

  “Not sure,” I shrug my shoulders.

  “I guess them being pregnant is out of the question, if they want to go to the bar. Right?” Brady asks in an unsure tone. Poor bastard is just as confused as I am.

  “Guess we’ll find out won’t we,” I say smacking him on the back and I let out a chuckle.

  Chapter 19

  Katie

  I pull into Rachel’s driveway and see Maddie, Annie and Jenny’s cars sitting out front. Huh, I wonder why they’re all here.

  I get out of the car and go to the back to get Ava out of her car seat and get her diaper bag. We start wal
king up to the front door and it opens. “It’s about time,” Rachel says with a smile.

  I roll my eyes at her and smile. “So what is going on? You’re pregnant aren’t you,” I say walking in. I see Maddie’s kids and Ava instantly wants down to play.

  “Um, I don’t know....Why,” Rachel asks confused.

  “Well your texts, it sounded like you’re pregnant or something.”

  “No, I don’t think so. I have new job proposition for you.”

  “Ok,” I say following Rachel into the kitchen where the girls are sitting at the table.

  “So what the hell is going on?” I ask.

  “You know that bakery next door to my shop?”

  “Yeah, so, what about it?”

  “It’s up for lease,” Rachel says with a smile.

  “Ok. So?”

  “Let’s buy it. Open up a bakery, café, floral shop,” Rachel says with excitement.

  “But I have my photography business. I just can’t ignore that Rachel!”

  “Throw that in too. Do you know how many weddings and birthdays and parties we will get? Add the photography to it...Holy shit image our business,” she says. I look over at Maddie, and the other two and they’re excited as hell.

  Shit, I have no idea what to say. Should I talk to Eric about this? Who’s going to watch Ava? There’s so much to think about. “It sounds great Rachel, but what about Ava? There’s a lot to think about.”

  “I know, but shit, doesn’t it sound fucking awesome?”

  “It does, you know owning my own bakery has always been a dream of mine and my mom’s, but I don’t want to be working day and night and not have time for my family. I remember eating so many meals with just mom because dad was always working. I don’t want that for Ava or any other kids I decide to have.”

  “You won’t have to. We will hire people, you’ll be the owner. Yeah you’ll have some long nights, and it’s not easy, but it’ll be a dream come true, and you won’t have to shut down ‘Memories by Katie’ because you can keep that going.”

  She’s right, photography has been quiet. My name hasn’t been out there and word of mouth only gets you so far. My head says talk to Eric first, but my gut says ‘do it’!

  “Well can we go see the place before I make any decisions,” I need a visual. Maybe that might help.

  “Wanna go now,” Maddie says with a smile, holding up the keys.

  “You have the keys,” I ask. She winks and shrugs.

  “Let’s go,” Maddie says.

  We get to the bakery and Maddie opens the front door, I walk in and look around. The walls are painted a pale yellow, “This color will have to go,” I whisper. I’m looking around and I start to see it.

  There are enough glass cases for cakes, cookies, muffins, breads and other deserts. There’s room for a couple of high end coffee machines. The customer area is plenty big for tables and chairs, and I’ll probably add some booth like seating near the windows. I take off and walk towards the back and start to smile. It’s perfect! There are big ovens, a large decorating area for the bakers, and 3 office areas; one would be my office, another would be for the employees to put their personal belongings, and the third room I would use for meetings with the clients. This would be a private area to talk about their dreams for their cake, photography or both. I look around further, and my eyes land on one of the back walls and I get tears in my eyes. I walk over to the wall. “Ok mom, I hear ya,” I say out loud staring at the purple and pink butterflies painted on the wall. My mom’s favorite insect, or animals as she called them, was butterflies. She would always plant flowers that would attract them. After my mom passed, I went and got a butterfly tattooed on my shoulder and I had “mom” tattooed in her wings.

  I close my eyes, turn and look at the girls. “I’m in,” I say opening my eyes. Rachel screams and starts jumping up and down.

  “Thank god, because I would hate to have to tell my dad you weren’t in,” Maddison says.

  “Why?”

  “My dad bought the place, you’ll be leasing from Daddy Roberts,” she says and winks at me.

  “Holy shit,” I giggle.

  “So...... we’re doing this,” Rachel asks.

  “We’re doing this!” I look around and smile.

  “So, umm can I get a job,” I hear Annie ask.

  “With who,” I ask.

  “With you, at the bakery, doing cakes or anything,” she says.

  “You’re hired! Anyone else need a job?”

  “Me please; I hate the bar and it would be nice to have a job where the men don’t treat me like a piece of meat,” Jenny says.

  “Do you even know anything about baking?”

  “No, but I’ll learn. Or I can just run the front for you, I’m good at taking people’s money and I’ve worked at coffee shops before.”

  “Jenny, I was joking. Of course you can work for me.”

  We stand in the back for a while, looking around. I cannot believe I’m doing this. Walking back out to the front, I see Ava and Maddison’s kids are running around laughing and giggling. “Hey Katie...what about knocking out this wall and either putting in a glass door or just an arch way connecting our stores,” Rachel says standing by the door.

  “I like it. Not sure which way, maybe we could let our men decide on that for us?”

  She laughs, “Ok we’ll let them have that decision. Hey do you think they’re going to get mad at us?”

  “I don’t know. I guess only time will tell, but Eric can’t say much since it’s my money and we’re not married.”

  “Not yet.”

  “What? What do you mean ‘not yet’?”

  “Oh cut the crap! You know you two are going to walk down the aisle.”

  I shrug, “Not thinking about it.” But wait, he did ask if he could adopt Ava if we got married. So is he thinking about it? Just the thought of that gives me butterflies in my stomach and puts a smile on my face.

  “Alright, what aren’t you telling us,” Maddie says.

  “What?”

  “Don’t what me, did he ask you?”

  I start laughing, “No he didn’t. He just said something, that’s all.”

  “Well, fucking tell us,” Jenny says.

  “It was nothing.”

  “Kaitlyn Michelle Brooks Tanner soon to be Reed, tell us now,” Rachel says, “And FYI, your last name is to damn long!”

  “Damn you guys are nosey! Fine! He asked that IF we were to get married could he adopt Ava.”

  “Shut the front door! Oh My God! I’m going to cry,” Rachel says her eyes getting red.

  “Seriously that’s the sweetest thing ever,” Annie says.

  “It was. I fell deeper in love with him that moment. He’s moving all his stuff in today,” I say with a little squeal.

  “We need to celebrate,” Maddie says.

  “Babysitters tonight,” I ask.

  Maddie nods her head yes and grabs her cell phone. I call dad and ask him to take Ava for the night. He says of course. We talk a little and then hang up.

  “All good,” Rachel asks.

  “All good,” I say.

  Maddie’s parents are taking her kids. “Ugh, well I might be going out alone. Dylan is being a pansy ass and isn’t sure he wants to go out tonight.”

  “Oh!”

  “He does this shit. Just ignore him, I do half the time.”

  “Mom we’re hungry,” Deacon, Maddie’s eldest says.

  “Let’s go back to my place. I have Lunchables and stuff you guys can eat,” Rachel says.

  “Sounds like a plan,” Maddie says. We lock up the new bakery, get in our cars and head back to Rachel’s.

  Once the kids are fed, we sit at the table. Rachel hands me a notebook so I can start making notes. I have an appointment with Madison’s dad on Tuesday to sign the paper work and get everything in my name. Besides the wall connected to Rachel’s floral shop, I’m not sure I need to remodel anything, but I’ll get a hold of a designer and see
what we can come up with. I might need to go back in there a couple more times by myself to get a vision.

  “When do you think you’ll open,” Rachel asks.

  “I’m not sure, I’m going to have to paint and stuff and I’m not going to open up until all of the work is done, so maybe a month or two.”

  “Can’t wait, this is going to be so awesome.”

  After a couple of hours, I decide to grab Ava and drop her off at dads; he already has clothes, diapers and everything she needs. Dana is there when I get there so I stay and talk for a little bit. I tell them about the bakery and they are both super excited. Dad thinks it will be great, and Dana has offered to watch Ava until Eric or I get off work. Once I get all the details finalized and talk to Eric I tell them I’ll let them know.

  I get in my car and call Eric, “Hey babe, what’s up?” he answers.

  “Oh nothing, Just wondering when you’re coming home,” I say in sweet tone.

  “Soon, why?”

  “I just dropped Ava off at dads for the night.”

  “We’re about done here, so I’m guessing I should be home in about thirty minutes or so.”

  “Ok, well hurry home babe. I miss you!”

  “I miss you too, I’ll go drop these guys off and be there soon. I love you!”

  “I love you more,” I tell him and hang up.

  I rush home and I get in the door and start to pace back and forth. For whatever reason, I’m nervous and anxious as hell for him to get home. What seems like two hours was only maybe twenty minutes and he’s finally home. I’m standing in the kitchen when the side door opens.

  “Hi,” he says.

  “Hey,” I say as I walk up and kiss him.

  “You ok?”

  “Yeah, why?”

  “You look stressed or something. I don’t know,” he says.

  “Crazy ass day,” I whisper and I give him a shy smile.

  “You want to talk to me,” he lifts my chin so our eyes meet.

  “Yes, but I don’t know how to say it.”

  “Katie, talk to me.”

  “Um, well remember how I told you Rachel needed me.”

  “Yeah, are you ok Katie?”

  “Yes babe I’m fine, actually I’m great!”