Ten minutes later, I’m lotioned and perfumed up and dressed in a cute sundress that shows off how big my breasts have gotten while pregnant and breastfeeding.
My curly dark hair lays damp across my neck and shoulders. The blow dryer could wake up the boys. I love my husband and I want to look nice for him tonight, but I need to remain sane too.
I click on my phone, ordering food from Breakers to have Garrett pick up since it's his favorite. By the time I get Sebastian back in his bassinet in the family room, every limb in my body is exhausted. Jackson's still asleep on the couch, so I decide it's time for a breather.
I sit there, relaxing in the silence of our family room until it all becomes hazy. I remember thinking about tonight with Garrett. I remember thinking how we need to spend some time with Jackson alone. I remember thinking about Sydney and how she'll be out of the house soon, which saddens me. I haven't had nearly the time I would have liked with her. I remember thinking that though this stage is hard, before I can snap my fingers, Sebastian will be Jackson’s age. I remember thinking about the burnt chicken nuggets. I remember being worried that Jackson hadn't eaten lunch. I remember wondering if Sebastian should go on formula. I remember, I remember, I remember, until a man's scratchy beard presses around my mouth and gentle lips meet mine.
My eyes flicker open to find Garrett above me with Jackson in one arm and Sebastian in the other. The man truly can hold up our whole family.
"Why don't you go upstairs and reserve some of that energy?" He smiles, the promise of later twinkling in his eyes.
I stretch my arms and stand up, kissing both my boys on the forehead. "I guess I was tired, but the nap did me good."
The bags of food are on the table, and I catch the microwave clock. Six fifteen at night.
"Syd should be home soon. I told her six." I go to the kitchen and start taking out the boxes of food.
"Really, babe, just go and relax upstairs."
Jackson slides down his body and we both hear Sebastian's sucking noises.
"Well." He smiles. "Maybe after you feed this one. I guess it's true, a real father puts his kids above him." He hands me over Sebastian, but first bends down and gives me a real hello kiss this time, complete with tongue. Damn, he tastes so edible.
I go upstairs to the nursery, hoping that once I feed Sebastian, change him and put him in a onesie, he'll fall asleep for a few hours. Compared to Jackson, Sebastian is a great sleeper. We won't get the entire night, but maybe we can have a meal with Jackson alone.
Switching on the two-way monitor I hear my husband and son talking and I listen in on Jackson retelling the days events to Garrett. He even relays the sucker incident and Garrett tells him how he knows he's trying to help, but we have to be gentle with Sebastian.
Jackson gives him the guilt trip I've gotten several times over today, but Garrett responds by telling him we'll plan a Mommy and Daddy date with him and maybe Sydney can watch Sebastian, which excites him and puts a smile on my face.
Garrett is the best dad ever.
The night is starting off calm and quiet and I’m finally at peace having another set of hands to help me—that is until I hear Sydney arrive home—with a boy.
"What’s this?" Garrett's voice drops about ten octaves whenever a boy is sniffing around his daughter.
I stop where I am on the stairs to see how this plays out.
"Hey, Dad. You're back." She sounds genuinely happy to have her dad home. "This is Jeremy, he plays football at school."
Jeremy must be Jeremy Sever, the quarterback of the high school football team. His family just relocated to Climax Cove from Portland after deciding the small-town life was for them.
"Syd, we live in a town of a couple thousand, I know who he is," is Garrett’s response.
No greeting to Jeremy at all. I glance down at Sebastian who is perfectly content nursing and I lean back in the chair, content to stay out of what I’m sure is coming.
"Can he stay for dinner?" she asks sweetly, her daddy's little girl voice coming out to play.
"No."
"Dad," she sighs. "Where's Charlie?" She knows I'll make this easier on her, but I'm strapped to a kid like a cow with their calf, so, she's on her own.
"I only got enough for us."
"He can have mine." Jackson says.
"What is this?" I hear Garrett say, followed by the rustling of him opening all of the takeout boxes. "I didn't order that. This isn't even our order," he growls.
"Maybe I should go?" I hear the voice of who I'm assuming is Jeremy.
"Maybe you should’ve never come?" Garrett suggests.
"Dad."
Oh, Garrett, she's sixteen.
"I don't want any of this." Jackson whines and my head hits the back of the chair.
Sebastian, finally full, pulls away and I move him up to burp him.
"I'll make you something else," Garrett says and opens the fridge.
"Want some of this, Jeremy?" Syd offers and I stifle a laugh. Is it wrong that a small part of me is happy that she doesn’t listen to her father either?
"Sure," Jeremy says.
"Syd!" Garrett screams and I know he's hanging on by a thread down there.
Sebastian lets out a big burp over my shoulder as though he knows I need to hightail it down there, too.
"What a good boy." I pat his back and place him in the crib. "Night night little guy. See you in a few hours." Turning the monitor the other way, I turn off the lights and turn on the starry sky machine that lights up his ceiling before shutting the door.
By the time I get downstairs, Garrett's head is in the freezer and Sydney and Jeremy are sitting at the kitchen table eating our dinner.
"My stomach hurts," Jackson says.
Because you haven't eaten since seven this morning.
"That’s because you haven’t eaten all day." I slide by Garrett who flicks me his what-the-fuck-is-she-doing-bringing-that-dickweed-here look.
"I'll handle it. Sebastian?" he asks, his fingers gliding along the small strip of flesh on my back.
Shivers cascade over my skin like the ocean meeting the beach as I remember what tonight is.
"Can we go downstairs?" Sydney asks.
I release a breath, shooting her a look silently asking why she has to push her dad's buttons when he just got home.
"No!" Garrett booms.
"Where are Chloe and Sasha?" I ask.
Sydney stands up from the table, Jeremy following suit like a puppy dog. I can't blame him, Sydney is gorgeous. Tall like her father with chestnut silky-smooth hair, an olive complexion and crystal blue eyes from her mom. Garrett should have known he'd have his hands full with her.
"They're at the festival. You said I had to come home, so Jeremy volunteered to bring me. The least we can do is feed him."
I give her an imploring look so she can see what a bad idea this whole thing was.
"I’ll tell you what. Why don't you, Jeremy and Jackson all go downstairs. Watch your brother, while your dad and I handle this dinner fiasco." I widen my eyes, shielding them from Garrett.
She understands it's her best option.
"Okay. Come on Jack."
He holds up his hands and she picks him up.
"By the way, you got marked again," Sydney says as the three of them head to the basement.
I crane my neck to see over my shoulder and sure enough spit up is now drying on my sundress.
"Fuck." I say under my breath.
"Why the fuck are you letting him stay in this house?" Garrett asks and I know this is my time to turn on the charm.
"We have at least a half hour before Jackson starts whining and wanting to come back upstairs, are you going to help me out of this sundress or what?" I sashay up to him until our chests are pressed to one another.
He grabs my ass and lifts me up, his lips descending on mine, his tongue sliding into my mouth.
Eventually he lets me slide down his body to the floor and we rush up the stairs and enter the
bedroom, where he flicks the lock.
I don't wait for him to be ready, but lift my sundress over my head then reach back to undo my bra. The straps aren't even off my arms before Garrett is squeezing my breasts.
"Shit, I’ve missed these." A squirt of breastmilk shoots out and hits Garrett in the eye.
"Probably just a little leftover. God, don't stop, it feels so good."
He doesn’t miss a beat, picking me up by my hips and flinging me onto the bed.
Propping myself up on my elbows I watch him undo his pants. When they fall to the ground my mouth salivates at the thought of having him again after so long.
He's crawling on top of me, dragging his body against mine. The tip of his dick pushes past the opening of my pussy when screams erupt from down the hall.
Garrett ignores it for a moment, his mouth sprinkling kisses along my collarbone and neck.
"We have to get him," I say.
He groans. "I'll do it." He stands, pulling on his jeans. When he swings open the door open and I’m transported back to tenth grade when my dad caught me kissing my boyfriend in the basement. Standing there is Sydney and Jackson, with Jeremy looming in the background. I slide even further under the covers.
"Sydney!" Garrett screams.
"Eww, seriously?" she says clearly disgusted that her dad and stepmom have sex.
"Yes, Sydney, seriously," Garrett says and walks by her heading down the hall.
"Mommy, my stomach really hurts," Jackson says, crawling onto the bed.
"I thought you were going to watch him?" I ask Sydney.
"He won't stop complaining about his stomach."
I rustle his hair. "Give Mommy some privacy, she needs to change her clothes."
They all leave and once the door is shut, I pull on another pair of yoga pants and a tank top. So much for dressing nice for my husband. At least these ones are spit-up free.
I open the door minutes later with my hair back in its usually messy bun and head down the hall to Sebastian’s room where I find Garrett stripping down the crib.
"What happened?" I ask.
He grins over to me. "I get you're hoping he's an overachiever, but I think potty training this early might be a lost cause."
"What are you talking about?" I walk into the room, picking up the dirty sheets.
"There’s pee and shit all over his bed because he didn't have a diaper on."
"Seriously?" I ask, my shoulders sagging.
Garrett nods.
Small footsteps run up the stairs.
"MOMMY!" Jackson screams. "I'm hungry."
"Jackson, you can't be that hungry." Garrett tells him and I bite the inside of my cheek.
"Mommy burned my nuggets," Jackson says, his trembling lip on full display.
"Dad! Charlie!" Sydney screams up the stairs. "I'm going to the movies with Jeremy!"
Garrett's about to charge out of the room, but I place my hand on his chest.
He stops and stares down at me, clearly not happy about it.
"Be home at ten!" I yell back down and Garrett tilts his head, his eyes throwing daggers at me.
"Thank you!" she calls in the nicest tone I've heard from her in a while. "I will!"
The door shuts and Garrett's strong chest is still pressed up against my hand.
"Listen, I haven't fed Jackson since breakfast, I put my newborn to bed without a diaper, my son said fuck today. I've changed my clothes twice. We are not wasting my shaved legs and showered body, so I'm going to feed Jackson, you're going to finish here and then we are going to…" Garrett's lips tip up at the edges and he looks down at Jackson. I cover his ears before he learns another bad word. "Spend the rest of the night in our bed, got it?"
The smile I love so much emerges on my husband’s face and he kisses my forehead.
"You're an amazing mom, you know that, right?"
"Not today I’m not." I'm pretty sure we can chalk up this entire day as a mom fail.
"Every day. These boys and Sydney are lucky to have you." He wraps his arms around my shoulders and Jackson wraps his small arms around my legs.
The door downstairs opens and footsteps run upstairs, stopping at the door.
“Forgot something,” I hear Sydney say behind me.
Soon, Sydney's arms are wrapped around us and we’re in our own little Shaw family hug, minus the newest member.
I may not be the perfect mom, but these people have my heart. They’re why I try so hard. And the great news is, I get to try again tomorrow.
The End
***If you want to see how Garrett and Charlie found their happily ever after, check out Piper Rayne’s, Sexy Beast, along with the rest of the Single Dads Club Books!***
About Piper Rayne
Piper Rayne, or Piper and Rayne, whichever you prefer because we’re not one author, we’re two. Yep, you get two established authors for the price of one. You might be wondering if you know us? Maybe you’ll read our books and figure it out. Maybe you won’t. Does it really matter?
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Other Books By Piper Rayne
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Road Trip
LL Collins
L Collins © 2017
Road Trip
Edited by: Switzer Editing
Road Trip
LL Collins
"I'm leaving the house in five minutes if I can get these little shits to stop arguing—Alex, put that down! You're not taking it! Ashton, I swear to God if you don't stop—then I'll be to you in about twelve hours. Which is literally like six in the morning. Hope you like getting up early on a Saturday! Yay for a whole new kind of birthday celebration!" I blew a stray piece of hair out of my tired eyes and hoisted another bag on my shoulder. The whole trunk was full already, but Aeden had to take it. He would more than likely end up with it on his lap or using it as a pillow, but there was no reasoning with any of them. Stubborn little shits. I wonder where they got it from.
It was their father's fault.
Absolutely.
We would go with that.
You would think we were going for a month-long trip instead of a week. I wouldn’t be surprised if they brought every toy they owned, but who knew if they had underwear?
Oh, they did. Because I packed it.
Yeah, yeah, so two of my kids were old enough to be responsible and do it themselves. That’s what good mothers did—taught their kids how to do things themselves. Listen, I just wanted to get there with as few casualties as possible. If I had to pack some tightie whities, then eff all those perfect moms. I’d teach them to be responsible later. Suck it, Sanctimommies.
Ella, my best friend and partner in crime (at this stage in our life, the crime of mothering, because that’s as much trouble as we got in these days), chuckled on the other end of the line. "Are you sure you want to drive all night? You know I don't
care about letting you in the house early, you skank. But…you are crazy." What she didn't say was, are you sure you want to drive all night…with them? We've driven many nights together in our twenty years of being best friends. We've driven to concerts, to college, on random road trips just because we wanted to.
But never in my life had I taken three shits—er, wonderful, amazing children—on a road trip by myself. It was only about ten hours from my house in Florida to hers in South Carolina, but I figured with pee stops, twelve was a good assumption. Though if the Melatonin gods were in my favor, the three little gremlins would sleep soundly, all snuggled up like bugs in a rug in the back of my minivan. And if not, the DVDs were packed, the electronics were charged, and every preservative-filled, sugar-laden snack they could think of was stuffed between the seats. Sleep or no sleep, we were going.
It was Ella's birthday week, and I promised I would go celebrate with her. What I didn't bank on, however, was my husband having to work all week long with no chance of changing it —thanks manager with a last minute “emergency”—and my parents being blissfully “busy” in retirement. So, in other words, no one to watch the boys. Alex was ten, Ashton was eight, and Aeden was four, and they loved Ella as much as I did. She had a daughter that was nine but smartly stopped after one. Thankfully, her daughter, Chloe, was a tomboy and didn't mind hanging with my boys. And no, I'm not going to “try for a girl.” I'm perfectly content having three little hell-raisers, thank you very much. They keep me quite busy enough, so no need to “have a girl.” (No, I haven’t been asked that a million and one times).
That was sarcasm…in case you missed it.
So, this week wasn't going to be what we originally planned. While her husband wouldn't mind keeping all four kids for a few hours, the birthday celebration would be more of a family affair now. Sigh. The life of moms. But we would make do and enjoy spending time together, as we always did. It didn't matter how much time passed between visits, we picked right up where we left off. We always said we were more family than just friends.
#MomFail: 24 Authors & 24 Mom-Coms Page 20