Tripped Up Love

by Farley, Julie

  Peter decided to put it all on the table. “I’d love to take you guys to dinner sometime this week. Maybe we could go up to the Hard Shell?”

  Heather stared straight ahead. She had planned on easing the kids into Peter, and all of the sudden he was taking control.

  Of course, Henry spoke up. “Sweet! I love crab legs, and Mom never takes us out for them. I’m sure they have them there.”

  Henry was moved by food. Gracie just smiled, and Hayes shrugged which was better than a smart aleck comment. Heather was confident that would come later. Heather stared ahead not moving.

  “We’ll talk about it later,” said Heather.

  “I hope you’re able to join us, Diane.”

  “O.K. Meadows kids, let’s go to the car,” said Heather, needing to escape from the mixture of Peter and her family.

  “Enjoy your day. We’ll talk later,” said Peter.

  Heather smiled and tottered off holding Gracie’s hand.

  Unbeknownst to Peter, Janie had watched the whole encounter.

  “So, that’s Heather Meadows and her kids?”

  “Yes.”

  “Did you go out with her again?” Peter had deliberately not mentioned Heather to Janie while they were at the game. He didn’t want her to taint any of his memories with her irrational sentiments. But, Peter didn’t like to lie, and knew Janie would find out so he told her the truth or at least part of it.

  “Actually, we went out last night.”

  “Hmmm…you like this girl, don’t you?” Janie stared into her brother’s eyes surprised by his actions.

  “Yes, I do. I just met her kids and her mom for the first time.”

  “Seriously man, you’re going to be giving her a ring tomorrow if you don’t watch it. What happened to my love ‘em and leave ‘em brother?”

  “I don’t know. I seem to have lost him.”

  “Well, if you find him and he causes any kind of trouble for us, I will take him down.”

  Peter knew Janie was telling the truth.

  Chapter 15

  Diane gave Heather a hug, told her she smelled good and smiled. Dear God, even her mom knew she had hooked up last night. Heather wondered if there was anything more embarrassing. She knew if there was she would find it without any problem. Heather and the kids headed back home. Heather wanted to ask the kids what they thought of Peter but didn’t want them to have an opportunity to say anything too rude. He was different than Hank in almost every conceivable way. It made Heather wonder how she could fall for two guys who seemed to be polar opposites. Hank was clean cut and preppy. He was the dad at the baseball game with the visor and the embroidered whale shorts. He always looked like he had just come from the golf course. Peter looked like he jumped off a stage. And Heather, more often than not, looked like she just rolled out of bed.

  The ride home was quiet. They all had a lot to think about. Heather needed another coffee, so she took them all through Starbucks again. She also knew it would make Hayes happy. Starbucks broke the silence.

  “You’re dating a guy with tattoos?” asked Hayes.

  “Guess so.”

  “Don’t you think that’s weird?”

  “Not really. He thinks tattoos are a form of art. They all have meanings for him.”

  “I think it’s sweet. I am totally getting some when I’m older,” said Henry. Heather was sure that was the truth. She just hoped he waited until he wasn’t under her roof anymore.

  Gracie was quiet. Heather looked at her in the rear view mirror.

  “What are you thinking about, Gracie girl?”

  “I don’t know. Peter seemed nice I guess. I think he likes you Mom.”

  “He is nice. He really helped me when he found me in the road. I was so lucky he stopped. You know his niece is in fifth grade at Weaver.”

  “Really, what’s her name?”

  “Her name is Elizabeth. I’m not sure about her last name.”

  “I think I know an Elizabeth who rides Mabel’s bus.”

  “It’s probably her. I think she lives in her neighborhood. Her brother Michael is in 7th grade, Hayes. Do you know him?”

  “I think.”

  Hayes just stared out the window. Heather knew he wasn’t ready for this. He wasn’t ready to have a mom who was dating or a new guy in his life who had connections to his school and his life. Heather remembered back when her parents had gotten a divorce. She’d never had an easy time with any of her dad’s girlfriends. Fortunately, none of them had kids, but some of them didn’t want anything to do with kids, especially Heather. Heather knew how important it was to bring Peter into the kids’ life slowly. That’s why she was a little pissed he asked them to go out to dinner. She knew Henry would not let go of that idea until they went. He would probably start going on about it like a broken record.

  They were almost home when “Payphone” came on the radio. Heather and Gracie obsessed over this song. The words tore at Heather’s heart.

  It's even harder to picture,

  That you're not here next to me.

  And then, the next lyrics always broke Heather.

  If "Happy Ever After" did exist,

  I would still be holding you like this

  Heather and Hank had made plans. Plans for the future. And it was getting harder and harder for Heather to remember what it felt like when they were together. She had to refer back to her book now to remember certain things. Heather started crying in the car. The kids were pretty used to it. She had learned the hard way Happily Ever Afters didn’t exist, and it broke her heart over and over again.

  Hayes looked at Heather. “I’m sorry I wasn’t nicer, Mom.”

  “Oh, Hayes. It’s not that. You have to be you. As long as you aren’t rude to people, I don’t want you to be anything else. It’s just in my wildest dreams I never imagined introducing you guys to someone I was dating.”

  “Why were you just going to keep him secret?” asked Henry not understanding what Heather meant.

  “No, sweetie. I thought I would always be with your dad. I never thought there would be anyone else.”

  “Well, dad must have had a short life line. You better check this guy’s.”

  Heather couldn’t help but laugh. “Who taught you about life lines?”

  “Isabella told me all about them at recess.”

  Leave it to Henry to read palms in the schoolyard. Sometimes Heather wondered where his personality came from. She wondered if when her dad died, he was reincarnated as Henry.

  Heather was ready for a relaxing evening with the kids. They all needed some good uninterrupted family time. Heather had left her phone in the car during baseball since she was with all her kids. Who else could need her? Apparently, Jenny. Jenny had called three times and texted 8 times.

  11:34 Jenny: Well???

  12:01 Jenny: Hello??

  12:15 Jenny: Did he swallow you up?

  12:20 Jenny: Are you ignoring me?

  12:22 Jenny: Getting worried!

  12:45 Jenny: WORRIED!!

  1:03 Jenny: k…u aren’t home. Neither r the kids. Calling ur mom’s.

  1:05 Jenny: ur mom’s not there either.

  Heather dialed her number.

  “Where have you been?”

  “At baseball. I left my phone in the car.”

  “I was so worried.”

  “I’m fine. Haven’t been kidnapped or hacked up.”

  “WELL?”

  “Well what?” asked Heather, knowing exactly what Jenny was waiting for but not wanting to give up the info so quickly.

  “How was last night?”

  “It was great.”

  “AND?!?”

  “And we had dinner at his place and hung out there afterwards.”

  “AND?!?”

  “I’ll give you the details in the morning. I need to hang out with the kids. We’ve had a busy afternoon. Come in after the bus.”

  “Ok, but if you find yourself with an opportunity to talk, call me.”

&nbs
p; “K.”

  Heather knew Jenny was dying to get the details, but she needed to chill out tonight. Her head was all foggy from the kids meeting Peter this afternoon. Part of Heather wanted him to ignore them, but she knew she would have been pissed if she saw his car in the parking lot and he hadn’t said hi. Nothing bad happened, and he was kind and polite and looked incredibly sexy at the ballpark. But Heather had gotten used to having control over everything regarding her kids. And he had taken over the whole meeting. She knew she was being silly, but it surprised her to see him there. She had wanted to set up the perfect situation for them all to meet. But Heather was learning quickly nothing went as planned where Peter was concerned. Maybe the universe was telling her to give up thinking and trying to control everything. Dating with three kids was messy. Luckily, Heather did messy well.

  Chapter 16

  5:43 Peter: Loved seeing you today. You have beautiful kids.

  5:44 Heather: Thanks. Thank u for last night.

  5:44 Peter: My pleasure.

  Heather turned off her phone. She needed to veg on the couch with her kids. She ordered Jiangs take out, and they had a picnic in the family room while watching their favorite family movie The Parent Trap. Heather knew Hayes wouldn’t enjoy this time for much longer. He was getting too old for it. Their evening was just what the doctor ordered. At least now they would be ready to get back into their regular weekly schedule. Heather felt unglued if she didn’t have unstructured time with the kids at some point during their weekend. But the peace and quiet ended when the doorbell rang at 7:30.

  “Who could that be at this hour on a Sunday night?” wondered Heather.

  Henry ran to the door and yelled, “It’s some girl, Mom.”

  “I’m coming. Hold on.”

  Heather opened the door and a stunning college-aged blonde girl handed her a box from Carytown Cupcakes.

  “This is from Mr. Adamson for the Meadows kids.”

  “Thanks.”

  The delivery girl turned quickly and left without another word. Henry was chomping at the bit to tear into the box. Heather let him carry it into the kitchen. There was a note taped to the top in Peter’s scrawl.

  These are my niece and nephew’s favorites. Hope you guys like them too.

  See you soon.

  Peter

  “Sweet, Mom! There are 12. How many can we have?” asked Henry.

  “1 each tonight.”

  So, Peter had some girl deliver a dozen cupcakes to the kids on a Sunday night. He was definitely trying to win the kids over…and Heather. Even Hayes happily took a cupcake. Heather smiled. Maybe it was time for someone to bring all of them a little bit of happiness. Heather planned on thanking him first thing tomorrow morning.

  Chapter 17

  Heather put the kids on the bus. As soon as Heather saw Jenny, she asked if she could call her after she finished running a really important errand. There was something Heather wanted to do right away. She wanted to surprise Peter at his apartment. They had spoken briefly last night when she called to thank him for the cupcakes, but they hadn’t made any plans. Heather was dressed in her finest workout clothes and hadn’t even showered yet, but that was all part of her plan.

  She drove downtown and parked in the public parking lot next to his building. Heather hadn’t planned out the logistics of being able to get into the apartment building, and she knew she would need to be buzzed in. But as she was walking to the door, an older man in his sixties was leaving and held the door open for her. Obviously, she looked pretty harmless in her cast. Heather took the elevator up to the 7th floor, took a deep breath and knocked on Peter’s door. The same blonde who had delivered the cupcakes the night before, answered Peter’s door.

  “Oh, I’m sorry. I must have the wrong apartment,” said Heather.

  “No, I think you’ve got the right one. You’re the lady Peter found in the road?” asked the perfectly groomed and very young blonde.

  “Yes, that’s me. Is he here?” Heather wasn’t sure why this chick was here, and honestly, the girl was ruining her mojo and making Heather feel self conscious about the state she was in.

  “Wait here. I’ll see if he’s free.” She closed the door on Heather and left Heather standing in the hallway. About a minute and a half later, Peter burst through the door apologizing for his assistant, Aiden.

  “Come in, Heather. I’m so sorry Aiden left you standing in the hallway.” Peter stared at Aiden and seemed a bit flustered. Not you-just-caught-me-doing-something-bad kind of flustered, but I-can’t-believe-you-are-actually-here kind of flustered.

  “I, uh, I just wanted to come by and thank you for the cupcakes. The kids loved them. They even had one for breakfast this morning. Of course, they had a green smoothie too. I guess they canceled each other out.” Heather was nervous and when Heather was nervous she babbled a lot.

  “Come in and stay. Aiden, I think we’re done for today.”

  “Ok. Well, call me later and tell me what time you want me to come back tomorrow,” said Aiden.

  “Sure. Thanks.”

  Aiden gave Heather a quick once over before she took her bag and left for the day. Heather was sure Jenny would not like that girl’s energy. Heather was also sure Aiden did not like Heather.

  As soon as the door was shut, Peter wrapped his arms around Heather and kissed her.

  “I’m so happy you surprised me.”

  “Well, I hadn’t anticipated interrupting anything. Sorry about that.”

  “I was writing. Aiden was going through my mail for me.”

  “Is Aiden your assistant?”

  “Yes, she is.”

  “I’m sure she loved dropping off the cupcakes last night.”

  “She gets paid well to do things for me. If she doesn’t like it, she can leave.” Peter lightened the mood with another kiss and did a quick rundown of Heather’s tiny body with his hands.

  “I didn’t shower yet this morning. So, I thought I’d stop by. Your shower is so much nicer than mine.” Heather wasn’t sure where her brazen attitude was coming from. She usually needed copious amounts of alcohol or caffeine to act like this.

  “Well, I have already showered, but I think I missed some places. I might need to do it again,” said Peter as he lifted Heather up and took her directly to his bathroom. He started the water and had her shirt off immediately. He kissed her neck and her chest. Heather finally realized why people wanted a nice, smooth décolletage. It was for moments like this when you were standing in front of the yummiest man in the world. As he kissed her, his hands unclasped Heather’s bra. He slid his hands down to her yoga pants and slipped them down. He was pleasantly surprised to find Heather wasn’t wearing any underwear. He took her yoga pants off over the cast. Heather pulled Peter’s shirt over his head and let him work on his pants. He was obviously anxious to remove them and get in the shower.

  Once they got in the shower, Peter used the shower gel all over Heather. He shampooed her hair and even conditioned it for her. The cast was clunky, but with the help of the benches and Peter’s strong arms, there was no need to move to the bed this time. Somehow, this time was even better than the first two as far as Heather was concerned. Afterwards, they sat next to each other on the benches and enjoyed the steam. The steam from the shower, not from the sex.

  “That was an amazing surprise. Completely unexpected. I had every intention of turning up at your place this afternoon.”

  “I saved you the drive.”

  “I’m not worried about the drive. I would happily pay your mileage to surprise me anytime you want.”

  “Is that what you do for Aiden? Pay her mileage?”

  Heather could see Peter roll his eyes through the steam.

  “I didn’t mean it that way. I just meant I would do anything to get you here.”

  Heather quickly forgot what they were talking about because Peter’s hands were exploring all the previously cleansed areas and Heather decided to do a little exploring of Peter on her own.
When their fingers turned into prunes, they got out. Peter wrapped Heather up in his robe and grabbed himself a towel. Heather picked up her clothes and made her way into the bedroom. She started getting herself dressed using the wall to balance as she put on her pants.

  “Do you have a lot more writing to do today?” asked Heather.

  “I have some. You have some more time to hang out with me?”

  “Unfortunately, no. I have to go do all my mommy chores at home.”

  “Can I take you and the kids out to dinner this week?”

  “Hayes has baseball on Tuesday and Thursday. Gracie rides on Wednesdays.”

  “What about tonight?”

  “Um, I guess. What time were you thinking?”

  “What if I come to your place a little before six and we can go up to the Hard Shell?”

  “We can’t all fit in your car, so we can just meet you up there.”

  “No, I’ll drive your car. I don’t want you to have any of your famous mishaps on the way up. That way we can all be together in case I need to save you.”

  “Ok…” Heather was thinking that take-control Peter was pretty sexy, and she decided to show him just how sexy her mouth thought he was before leaving.

  After they each got cleaned up again, Peter walked Heather out to the car and kissed her goodbye.

  Chapter 18

  Heather sent Jenny a text as soon as Peter left the car.

  11:01 Heather: Meet me at Dave’s Auto Spa in 30 min?

  11:02 Jenny: Odd but k.

  Heather started her freak out. Peter was going to drive the car. She had to clean it. Clean the evidence of three kids and all their garbage. Heather gave the car to the guys at the Auto Spa and sat down in the lobby and waited for Jenny.

  “Hey! Why am I meeting you here?” asked Jenny as she sat down next to Heather.

  “Because I have to get the car cleaned. Peter is taking us out to dinner, and he said he would drive us. He cannot see my car in its normal state.”