Until December: Until Her/ Until Him

by Aurora Rose Reynolds

  “Yep. Sorry, bud.”

  I leave his door open and go to Mitchell’s room, expecting him to be asleep when I walk in. But surprisingly, he’s up, sitting on the side of the bed. “I’m up.”

  “I see that,” I say, and he grunts in response before rubbing his hands down his face and standing. I leave him and stop to look in Max’s room just to make sure he’s up and see him at his dresser, so I head to the kitchen and start a pot of coffee.

  The minute there’s enough in the carafe, I pour December a cup, add her creamer and sugar, and then take it back to my bathroom, where she’s blow-drying her hair and wearing nothing but a short, baby pink robe. I set the cup on the counter next to her, and she shuts off the dryer and picks up the mug, looking at me in the mirror. I wrap my arms around her waist and press my nose to her neck, breathing in the scent of her body wash that smells like berries.

  “Are the boys up?” she asks breathlessly, making my cock twitch.

  “Yeah.” I flick her earlobe with my nose. “They’re both zombies, but they’re up.”

  “Mornings suck.” She takes a sip of coffee.

  “My morning didn’t suck.” I smirk, and she blushes as she smiles at me in the mirror over the rim of the coffee cup. I turn my head and kiss her neck then meet her gaze once more. “You want breakfast?”

  “Just toast please.”

  “Got it.” I give her waist a squeeze and kiss her neck before letting her go. I scramble eggs for the boys and drop bread in the toaster for her and them, and as I’m stirring creamer into my second cup of coffee, I feel fur slide against my ankles. I look down at Melbourne as he circles my feet.

  “Dad, is December still picking me up after practice?” Mitchell asks, coming into the kitchen as I go to the pantry to grab a container of Melbourne’s food and dump it in his dish.

  “Yeah, why? What’s up?”

  “I have a test in English coming up, and I’m going to ask her if she can help me study for it while we’re at her place.”

  “I’ll totally help you study,” December says, appearing at the edge of the counter with her hair pulled back away from her face in a low ponytail. She’s wearing dark slacks and a hot pink button-down shirt that has green dinosaurs on it that match her bright green flats. Fuck, she’s the only woman I know who can wear shit that is completely ridiculous and still look fuckable.

  “Thanks, I need all the help I can get. I barely passed the last test in that class.”

  “I’ve got your back. We’ll go over the stuff you don’t get tonight and make sure you’re ready for the next test.”

  “Cool.” He smiles at her, and she smiles back before walking her empty coffee mug to the dishwasher and putting it inside. When she comes back to the counter, I hand her a plate with a piece of toast then watch her pull off the crust before she starts to eat it.

  I look at the clock, and when I see the time, I yell, “Max!”

  “I’m coming!” he yells back, and I take a sip of coffee.

  A minute later, he takes a seat next to his brother, then after a grumbled “Good morning,” he starts to eat.

  “I think this summer we should enter the boys in one of those hot dog eating contests. I bet we could make a killing,” December says loud enough for the boys to hear. They both grin as they continue to shovel food into their mouths. “Seriously, you two are pros. It doesn’t even seem like you need to breathe.” She laughs as they eat even faster, and then she looks at the clock and places her last bite of toast in her mouth, chews, and swallows then reaches for my coffee, which I hand over.

  “I’ll see you tonight.” She smiles, handing me the cup back after she takes a sip, and then she looks at the boys. “Mitchell, I’ll see you after practice, and Max, I’ll see you later.”

  “Later,” Mitchell says, and Max says the same as she grabs her purse.

  “I’m gonna walk December out to her car. I’ll be back. You two finish eating then get packed up.” Getting nods from both of them, I walk her outside and kiss her like I’ve wanted to since she walked into the kitchen wearing that ridiculous shirt. By the time I walk back into the house, the boys are in their rooms, so I pick up the kitchen then go back to my room. I jump in the shower quickly then get dressed before taking the boys to school and heading to work.

  Hearing my cell ring, I roll out from under the car I’m working on and grab the towel out of my pocket to wipe the grease off my hands as I walk toward my toolbox. When I see Mom’s name flashing on the screen, I pick up my phone and answer. “Yeah.”

  “Gareth Daniel Black, I swear to God I’m going to kill her,” Mom hisses in my ear, and I roll my head on my shoulders.

  “What happened now?” For the last two days, Mom’s been hanging at the house with Beth and Max until I get home, while December’s been picking up Mitchell from practice and taking him to her place to hang until Beth leaves. Needless to say, this has not been going well. Mom’s never liked Beth, and with her leaving her children, her dislike of my ex has only grown. Having to spend time with her and be nice for Max’s sake is taking its toll on her.

  “What happened? What happened?” Mom shrieks.

  “Mom, I’m in the middle of work. Can you please just tell me what’s going on without the drama?”

  “She showed up with a dog, Gareth.”

  “Pardon?”

  “She showed up at your house with a dog for Max,” she says. “It’s not just a normal dog either. The thing is huge, and of course the moment Max saw him, he fell in love. So now you have a giant dog who I don’t even think is house broken.”

  Fuck me. “Where’s Melbourne?”

  “What?” she asks, sounding confused.

  “December’s cat, where is he?”

  “I haven’t seen a cat. I didn’t even know December had a cat,” she replies, and I shake my head.

  “Let me talk to Max,” I say, and the phone goes quiet for a second before I hear her yell Max’s name and listen to her tell him I want to talk to him.

  “Dad, I swear I didn’t know.”

  “I know, bud, but you gotta do me a favor. Find Melbourne and put him in my room.”

  “Oh crap!” he yells, and then the phone goes silent for a moment before Mom comes back on the line.

  “I didn’t know you had a cat.”

  “It’s December’s cat.”

  “Then why is he here?” she asks. “Never mind, stupid question. So what are you going to do about the dog situation?”

  “I’ve been thinking about getting the boys a dog for a while now. I just haven’t had time to talk to them about it. So if he’s friendly, we’ll keep him.”

  “You’ll keep him? She didn’t even check with you before she showed up with a dog, Gareth. You don’t even know what his story is.”

  “Mom, she wants a fight. She wants to feel like she can still get a reaction out of me. The thing she doesn’t understand is I just don’t give a fuck anymore. The boys are happy, I’m happy, and eventually she’s going to see she doesn’t factor into that. Hopefully when that happens, she will get her shit together and find a way to be in her kids’ lives without the drama or disappear, and if we’re lucky, stay gone.”

  “I guess you’re right.” She sighs. “I still think you’ll feel differently when you see the dog she brought into your house.”

  “What kind of dog is it?” I ask, now curious.

  “A werewolf.”

  “Always wanted one of those,” I mutter.

  “Let’s see if you think this is funny when you get home,” she says, and I sigh. “I have another hour at least until I’m done. Will you be good until then?”

  “I’ll be fine. I can’t make any promises about the mother of your children though.”

  “Just remember she’s never around for long, and a judge won’t lessen your sentence just because you’re old.”

  “Whatever. I’ll see you when you get home.”

  “See you.” I hang up and start to set my phone down b
ut stop when it rings and December’s name pops up. “Hey, babe.”

  “Tomorrow’s Friday,” she says as a greeting, and I feel my brows dart together.

  “What?”

  “Tomorrow is Friday, Gareth, which means tomorrow my parents are planning on coming to your house for dinner.”

  “Okay?”

  “Okay,” she whisper-hisses, and I realize she’s been whispering this whole time.

  “Why are you whispering?”

  “Because my place isn’t huge and Mitchell is in my living room and I don’t want him to hear me.”

  “You don’t want him to hear you tell me that tomorrow your parents are coming to dinner?”

  “No. I don’t want him to hear me freaking out about my parents coming to dinner with your ex—his mom—around.”

  “She’s not going to be at dinner tomorrow, Ember. We’ll take them out. I’ll send Mack a text and see if he has a table at Flame available. If he doesn’t, I’ll make reservations somewhere else.”

  “Thank you,” she breathes, and I know then she’s been more worried than she should be about this.

  “Babe, breathe. It’s going to be all good.”

  “I just want dinner to go well.”

  “Then it’s probably better that we don’t have dinner at home,” I say, and then add, “Beth got Max a dog.”

  “What?”

  “Beth got Max a dog. Mom says it’s a werewolf. I’m not sure those exist. Still, it would suck if they do and he transformed at dinner with your parents around.”

  She giggles then pulls in a sharp breath. “Melbourne’s—”

  “In our room,” I cut her off. “I told Max to find him and put him in there. Do you know if he’s ever been around a dog before?”

  “I have no idea. Are you keeping the dog?” she asks, sounding curious.

  “Yeah.”

  “Just like that?”

  “Like I told Mom, I’ve been meaning to talk to the boys about getting a dog, so at the end of the day, Beth saved me listening to the boys fight about what kind of dog they each want. And I’m not giving her what she wants, which is for me to be the bad guy who tells Max he can’t keep the dog, which I know would start another fight.”

  “I really don’t like her very much,” she murmurs then sighs. “I should let you get back to work, we can talk about this stuff later.”

  “I should be done in an hour.”

  “All right, I’ll see you at the house then, and don’t worry about stopping to pick up dinner. I got the stuff to make spaghetti, since it’s easy.”

  “Sounds good baby. I’ll see you at home.”

  “Yeah.” Her voice is warm and soft. “See you at home. Love you.”

  Fuck, I love that. I love knowing that no matter what bullshit happens, what I have to deal with, at the end of the day, I get to go home to her and my boys.

  Fourteen

  December

  “Sloth, come here.” Max pats his thigh, and the huge gray dog—who looks like his face is melting off and nothing like a werewolf—walks slowly to where he is standing just outside the open back door. “You can do it, not much farther,” Max encourages him, but the big dog gives up and stops to rest, causing the loose skin covering his body to slide toward the floor.

  “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a lazier dog,” Gareth mumbles, and I glance up at him briefly. He’s right; the dog is lazy. He’s also seriously overweight. Beth, not surprisingly, didn’t tell Gareth much about where she got him, just that she adopted him from somewhere in Nashville. If I’m being honest, the ugly dog is actually very sweet, which is a surprise, since he was a gift from Beth. I just worry he has some kind of health issue that is making him as lazy as he is.

  “I think I should see if I can get him an appointment at July’s clinic, just to make sure there’s nothing wrong with him,” I say, watching Sloth get up, move out the door, and go to Max, who is now standing out in the middle of the yard shouting for him.

  “That’d be good, babe. If she has time to see him today, I can take a break from work to run him over there.”

  “I’ll send her a text before I finish getting ready for work.” I turn toward him and rest my hands against his stomach then lean up on my tiptoes. “Will Melbourne be okay out here?”

  “Babe—” His lips twitch. “—I think that dog is in more danger than the cat is.”

  “You’re probably right.” I lean up farther, touching my lips to his, and his hand slides down to my ass, making me laugh. “Stop.”

  “I can’t.”

  “Try.” I smile against his mouth then wiggle free from his hold and walk backward until I reach the hall for the bedroom, listening to him laugh. Grabbing my cell off the bedside table, I send July a text telling her to call me when she has time as I head into the bathroom to get dressed.

  “Hey,” I answer my phone when it rings with her name as I’m tucking my shirt into my slacks.

  “I got your message. What’s up?” she asks, and I look at my top in the mirror then smile. One of my favorite things about teaching younger kids is that I have a reason to purchase clothing that would otherwise look ridiculous on a woman my age. Like today’s navy blue long-sleeved button down that has tiny colorful hot air balloons all over it. “Hello, are you there?” July calls.

  “Sorry, yeah, I’m just in the middle of getting dressed for work,” I reply, sliding a thin red belt through the loops of my navy slacks. “Anyway, Gareth’s ex got the boys a dog, and I just wanted to see if you had time to check him out today.”

  “What kind of dog is it?”

  “A big one,” I say.

  She laughs. “That’s helpful.”

  I roll my eyes. “I honestly don’t know what kind of dog it is. Beth didn’t leave any paperwork or anything. All I know is he’s big and looks like his skin is melting off.”

  “He could be a Shar Pei. Did she say what pound she got him from?”

  “No, just somewhere in Nashville.”

  “All right, tell Gareth he can bring him in anytime today and I’ll fit him in.”

  “Thanks, I owe you.”

  “You can pay me back by coming out to have a drink with me and the rest of the girls Saturday. We all want to know what’s been going on,” she says, making me feel guilty.

  The last few weeks, I have been consumed with Gareth and the boys. Not that I’m complaining. I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else but with them. Still, I’ve hardly talked to my sisters.

  “I’m sorry. It’s just been…”

  “Crazy,” she finishes for me.

  “Exactly.” I sigh. “What time Saturday are y’all meeting?”

  “I think nine, unless we have dinner before; then it will be a little earlier.”

  “All right, I’ll meet you guys. Just let me know when and where.”

  “Cool, and you should know Mom’s beyond excited about tonight.”

  “I know. I’m just not sure if she’s excited about meeting the boys or going to dinner at Flame.”

  “The boys,” she assures, and then asks, “Can Gareth hook me up with a reservation for Flame?”

  I laugh. “I’m not sure, but you can ask him when you see him today.”

  “All right, and I’ll see you tomorrow. Have a good day at work, and tell Gareth I’ll see him later.”

  “I will. Love you, and talk to you soon.”

  “Soon, love you.”

  I hang up then slip on my flats and grab my bag. When I walk into the kitchen, the boys are eating, and Sloth is lying on the floor next to the back door like he came back in and gave up moving any farther. “July said you can take Sloth in anytime today and she’ll make time for you,” I tell Gareth, going to his side and taking his cup of coffee to have a sip.

  “Is July your sister who’s a vet?” Max asks, and I nod. “Why is Sloth going to see her?”

  “He’s a dog. He has to go to the vet,” Mitchell says, and Max looks over at him. “It’s normal after you get a
n animal that you take him to get checked out. It’s not a big deal.” He shrugs then goes back to eating, and Max looks at me for confirmation.

  “He’s right. It’s normal.”

  He nods then asks, “Is your sister going to be at dinner tonight?”

  “No, tonight, you’re just meeting my parents, but you’ll meet my whole family on Memorial Day. My parents have a huge pool party and barbeque every year, and all the Maysons, along with tons of friends, show up. It’s always a lot of fun.”

  “Awesome.” He grins.

  “It is awesome.” I grin back then glance at the clock and take one more sip of Gareth’s coffee before I hand it back to him. “I need to stop at my place to pick up some stuff before I go to work, so I need to run.”

  “I don’t know why you don’t just move in. It’s weird that you’re always here and still have an apartment,” Mitchell tells me, and Max nods like he agrees.

  My heart lodges in my throat, and I stare at the two of them, unsure about what to say.

  “I’ll walk you out,” Gareth says, setting down his coffee and placing his hand against my lower back as he looks at the boys.

  “We know—eat and get packed up,” Max mumbles, making Mitchell laugh.

  Still feeling overwhelmed, I look at the boys. “I’ll see you both tonight. Have a great day at school.” I pick up my bag from the end of the counter and make sure I have my lesson plan and the tests I graded last night before going to the door to put on my coat.

  “Wait,” Mitchell calls, and I stop to face him. “Are you still picking me up after school?”

  “Yeah. I mean… if you still want me to?”

  “I do. I just…” He looks away for a moment like he’s suddenly uncomfortable. “It’s just we’re having a mock track meet, so you can come down to the field to watch if you want.”

  My chest gets warm and tight at the same time. “Of course I want to,” I say without crying, which is a surprise. “What time does it start?”

  “As soon as practice begins.” He lifts one shoulder. “About 3:45.”

  “I’ll be there with all the bells and whistles.” Why did I say that? “I mean, I’ll just be there like a normal person, not with bells or whistles. That would be weird.”