“Yes, I have it all planned out. You are going to help me ask Bailey to marry us. But remember, it’s a secret. Don’t tell Bailey,” She nods and smiles at me. “Good girl, I’ll get your things. You go get buckled in; we have to get going.” Emerson skips to the car, humming to herself.
“How long do you think she’s going to be able to keep that secret?” My mom asks me as she walks me to the door.
“Only until I pick her up from Jessica’s. Then, I’m taking Bailey and Emerson to Hershey Park.”
“You’re proposing to her at a theme park?” she questions with a raised eyebrow.
“A chocolate theme park,” I wink, kiss her on the cheek, and leave.
A few minutes later we are pulling into our driveway to see that Jessica is already there. Emerson is bouncing up and down in her car seat. When I pull to a stop, I can already see that Jessica is in a pissy mood.
“You’re late Andrew. I told you I wanted to leave before rush hour traffic. Do you know what a nightmare it is to drive though Philadelphia traffic at 5:00?” She is yelling before I even have my car door closed.
“So nice to see you again too, Jessica. And by the way, it’s Sunday night, there is no rush hour traffic,” I answer sarcastically as I unload Emerson’s things from my mom’s house and put them right into Jessica’s open trunk. Then, I open Jessica’s car door for Emerson.
“Don’t be an ass, Andrew. The Phillies are probably playing or something,” she argues.
“I’m five minutes late. All I need to grab is some sun screen and her bathing suit. Everything else is in there.” I say pointing to the trunk as I pass her. “Next time, if you’re so worried about being late, give me more notice that you want to take a trip.”
I walk into the house, shaking my head. The attitude that woman has is astounding. I feel bad for Emerson. If Jessica is in this bad of a mood now and with a long drive to only make it worse, Emerson isn’t in for a very fun drive. I better pack her some things to keep her occupied. Emerson does not need to be at the tail end of Jessica’s rants just because she wants to talk and sing.
Less than two minutes later, I’m back outside handing Emerson her bag. Jessica is tapping her foot and pouting like a five-year-old.
I lean in the car and kiss Emerson on the head. “I love you to the moon and back kiddo. Have fun at the beach and make me a big sandcastle,” I say.
I stand up to find Jessica still tapping her foot. Child. “Do you have any idea when you’ll be home?”
“I’ll be home when I’m home. Since when did I ever have to answer to you?” she asks, snidely.
“I just need to know when so I have someone to watch her while I’m at work.” Is this really how this is going to be for the next few years?
Jessica now rolls her eyes at me. “I’ll text you.”
I can’t believe I’m sitting in traffic listening to this twerp sing. I must have been crazy to think that this would be a good idea. Crazy or drunk. I took off of work thinking Cary would go with me to Mexico to have a romantic getaway to celebrate my divorce. I guess I should’ve have told him my plans before I took off. How was I supposed to know he was on a business trip this week? I can’t believe he didn’t cancel it like I told him to. He’s got some nerve. He won’t be getting any for a while until he makes this up to me. What do I want? A new diamond would be nice, or a new car. I’ll have to think about this.
“Mommy, did you hear what I said? Mommy?”
“What?” I snap back at Emerson. “Can’t you see that I’m trying to drive, Emerson?”
“Sorry Mommy. I’ll sit quiet now. I’m just excited to get to wear a pretty dress.”
Pretty dress? What is she talking about? I hope Andrew didn’t pack any of those ugly dresses his mom always buys for Emerson. I’m so tired of seeing her in those things. I thought I threw away the last of them.
“What dress are you talking about Emerson?” I ask impatiently.
“My flower girl dress. I said do you think that Daddy will let me pick out my flower girl dress.”
“Why do you need a flower girl dress? Is Daddy getting married?”
“Yes. He’s going to ask Bailey”
“Is that so?” So, he thinks he’s going to go off and get married. That’s so cute.
Monday morning, bright and early, my phone starts buzzing. Andrew left early last night after movie night so that he could get up early for work. I stayed up reading all night. I haven’t had much of a chance to read lately, and I planned to sleep in today. Damn phone buzzing.
Ella: Wanted- new best friend to replace the missing one I used to have.
Bailey: Sorry!! Lunch today?
Ella: What, no kid today? I rate just under the kid … Nice.
Bailey: She’s on vacation with Jessica. I’m sorry I’ve neglected you. Lunch is on me. Your pick.
Ella: You better bring your credit card.
I roll over and pull the pillow over my head. I am woken again when my whole bed starts shaking.
“Get your ass out of bed. You’re taking me to breakfast too,” Ella says with a slap on my butt then leaves the room. I drag myself out of bed and get dressed in shorts, a tank top, and flip flips. A pedicure is called for the level of groveling I have to do. I have been a crappy friend. I always hated those friends that seem to disappear once a man comes into the picture. I’ve become that girl. I suck.
“Best friend. I’ve missed you so much,” I exclaim as I throw my arms around her when I walk into the kitchen. A little groveling with a side of sucking up will do nicely.
“Yeah, yeah, I hear ya. Let’s go. I’m starving,” she picks up her purse and walks out the door.
A few minutes later, we are sitting at the diner, waiting for our breakfast.
“So, how was your weekend away with Lover Boy?” Ella keeps glancing at my hand. I know what she is going to say before it even leaves her mouth. The same thing was on my mind all weekend.
“It was perfect,” I respond after sipping my hot chocolate with a smile on my face. And it was. I wouldn’t change a second of it.
“I don’t see a ring on your finger; it couldn’t have been that perfect,” she states.
“No, he didn’t propose. I kinda thought he was going to. He was so secretive about the whole weekend, even once we got up there,” I confess.
“You don’t seem too sad about that. I really thought he was going to do it. I was looking up maid-of-honor dresses. I was also looking forward to spending more time with that hottie, Jake, while planning the wedding,” she admits. I just shrug. I didn’t really feel anything either way about the subject. Did I think he was going to propose? Kind of. Would I have said yes if he had asked? Absolutely. Was I sad that he didn’t? Trying not to think about that. There is plenty of time for that.
“He did ask me to move in with him,” I offer. My smile is back.
“What?” She nearly chokes on her coffee. Angrily she asks, “What did you say?”
“What’s wrong with me moving in with him? Getting married is okay, but not moving in with him?”
“Yes. If you get engaged, you won’t get married for at least a year. When do you plan on moving in? Soon, right?” She is getting angrier by the minute. The vein in her forehead is starting to pop out.
“Why are you getting upset?” I question.
“When are you planning on moving in with him Bailey?”
“We didn’t set a date but I’d think before school starts,” I admit.
“He’s not even divorced yet.”
I didn’t answer. I hadn’t thought of it that way. I still want to live with him. Is that so horrible? No, I’m not going to let Ella talk me out of this. This is the right decision for me. I look up at Ella and I can tell she knows where my head is. She just shakes her head at me.
“Please, do me one favor,” she waits until I nod to continue. “Don’t sell your house until the divorce is finalized.”
“What do you think is going to happen? Do you think
he’s going to get back together with Jessica?” Now it’s my turn to be angry. Why can’t she just be happy for me?
“No, I don’t. Just please don’t sell your house.” I guess she has a point. Not that I don’t trust Andrew, because I do, with my life. But it would be smart to keep my house until the papers are signed.
“Alright. Alright. I’ll wait.” I let out a sigh.
We finish breakfast and walk across the street to the nail salon. This is the reason I love this little town. You can park your car and grocery shop, grab a bite to eat, get your hair and nails done, do a little shopping, and hit the library all in one stop.
We pick out our polish, pink for me like always, and slut red for Ella, and take a seat in the pedicure chairs.
“So you’re moving away.” She looks at me with puppy dog eyes and her lip pouting out.
“It’s ten miles down the road Ella. It’s not like I’m moving to another state,” I counter.
“I know but you won’t be right down the block from me anymore. And, you’re getting a ready-made family. You won’t have time for me,” she whines.
“School starts soon. I’ll be seeing you every day,” I remind her.
“True.” She pauses. I wait for her to finish collecting her thoughts because I can tell by the look on her face she is about to get mushy. It doesn’t happen often but when it does, it’s a dozy.
“I’m really happy for you Bailey. You’ve been put through the ringer by that asshole. No one deserves a happily ever after more than you do.” The tears are starting to form in her eyes. “I like Andrew; I really do. I know I gave you grief about moving in with him, but I think the two of you are perfect together. He treats you like the princess that you are,” she cries.
Ella jumps up from her chair sloshing water all over the floor. She throws her arms around me and doesn’t let go.
“I love you Bailey. I can’t wait to be your maid of honor,” she squeals.
We both start laughing. “I love you too Ella, but who says you’ll be my maid of honor?”
She punches me in the arm and sits back down.
“So,” she says wiping the mascara off her face. “Does this mean we are going to the hardware store to get paint after we finish here?”
“You know me all too well.”
“How was your weekend? Is she moving in with you?” Jake asks from his side of the lab bench Monday morning. I asked Jake’s opinion about moving in with Bailey. He encouraged me to go for it. He didn’t live with his wife before they got married and that didn’t end well at all. They quickly saw that they couldn’t live with each other, which is why he is also going through a divorce. His is not so simple though. His wife is trying to take him for every penny he has, which is a lot.
“She said yes. We haven’t really talked about when it’s happening yet, but I’m hoping it’s soon. I don’t really want to wait until she sells her house.”
“So she is going to sell it?” Jake asks as he starts making the solution for the medicine we are testing. TAJ0628, whatever that is, probably something for erectile dysfunction.
“I guess so. We don’t need two houses,” I guess.
“What if you rented it out to someone? Someone looking to have a quicker commute to work. Someone like your best friend,” he states.
“You want it?”
“Are you kidding me? Get out of my over-priced, shitty apartment that is almost an hour drive every day. Yes, I want it.”
“Alright, I’ll talk to Bailey about it tonight. I don’t know what she would want for rent.”
I walk to the sink to wash out the pipettes, concerned my samples wouldn’t meet their specs. That would be shitty because I don’t feel like dealing with all the work that would entail. Shaking my head, I get back to my current problem at hand. It would be perfect if Jake rented the house from Bailey. We wouldn’t have to worry about selling it right away, and it would help Jake out as well. He needs to catch a break at some point in his life.
“I’m sure it’s less than I’m paying now. Talk to Bailey and find out what she wants for it. I can afford it. I’m just not ready to buy a new house again right now.”
“Yeah, I’ll talk to her tonight. Also, I need your help with something at the end of the week. Maybe Friday night or Saturday. You free?” I ask.
“Depends on what you need me for? You want me to help move her in don’t you?” he asks.
“Well, eventually yes, but it’s not that. I’m going to propose to Bailey at Hershey Park. I’m going to need some help setting everything up,” I explain.
Jake whips his head around. “You’re proposing already?” he asks skeptically as he puts his pipette down. “Don’t you want to see how it goes living with her first or I don’t know, be divorced from the she-bitch?”
“I talked to my lawyer on Friday. The paperwork is all filed. It should all be finalized this week. That’s why I’m not sure when I’m actually going to do it. I want to have the paperwork in my hands before I ask her.”
“How in the Hell did you get everything done so fast? My lawyer said it would be a minimum of ninety days.”
“I paid a Hell of a lot of money for him to do it as fast as he could. I wasn’t going let Jessica ruin anything else in my life. It also helped that Jessica isn’t fighting back.”
I pick up the report for the next medicine trial and prepare my supplies. “I love her Jake. I’m willing to do anything I need to in order to make her mine.”
“Okay, I get it. I’ve got your back. You know that!” Jake confirms.
“Thank you. I have some calls to make, but when I know more details I’ll let you know.”
“Hershey Park? Really?” Jake questions.
“Why does everyone keep saying that? It’s a great idea! She loves chocolate.”
“If you say so man.”
I just step outside for my morning run when I see Andrew’s truck pull up.
“What are you doing here? Don’t you have to work today?” I ask as he gets out of his truck.
“Yes, I thought I’d get a run in before I went in today,” he answers pulling a water bottle out of his car.
“A run? You’re going to run with me today?”
“Sure, why not?” he answers as he starts doing some silly looking stretches.
“Well, it didn’t end so well the last time you went with me.”
“Har har … Let’s go woman,” he yells as he slowly jogs off.
I catch up with him, and we jog at a slow pace. I keep looking over at him waiting for him to get winded like he did last time. When it looks like he is still doing okay, I start to run at my normal pace. He is still keeping up, so I turn it up again and start to push myself faster than I normally go. I glance over at him, and he gives me a huge smile.
“Okay, what gives?” I ask as I slow down to a walk, catching my breath.
“I’ve been training during my lunch hour every day,” he says with a shit-eating grin on his face.
“Oh you have, have you. And what are you training for?”
“The 10K we are doing in Philly in October.” I stop dead in my tracks. When he sees I’ve stopped, he turns around, and jogs back to me.
“You signed us up for a 10K?” I ask stunned. He nods at me.
“But I’ve never done a 10K. And you don’t like to run,” I state.
“That’s why we are going to train for it, so we are ready. And if you like running, I will run with you.” He takes my hand and pulls me along with him until we were both jogging again.
“You keep doing this to me,” I say.
“Doing what?”
“Wonderful things that make me fall even deeper in love with you. You are going to run a 10K with me, and you hate running,” I marvel
“I never said I hated running. I just never did it, so I didn’t have the stamina that you do. Now quit talking and start running. Six miles is no joke, and I need to concentrate.”
After our six-mile run, the last two being very
painful for Andrew, he showers quickly, while I make him a to-go breakfast sandwich.
“So what are you going to do all day with no pip-squeak to keep you busy?” he asks as I walk him to his car.
“I should get some school work done, but I’ll probably end up on the hammock reading all day,” I confess. He fakes irritation, and I hit him on the arm.
“Hey buddy, I keep telling you. Get your teaching certificate if you want your summers off.”
“I’m kidding you. From the stories you’ve told me, I know you more than deserve your time off.”
“That’s right. I’m marinating steak, so hurry home so I don’t have to char it on the grill by myself.”
“You got it,” he says as he leans in to kiss me. “Enjoy your day.”
“You too. Thanks for running with me.”
Once he was gone, I head for my Kindle and then feel guilty. I need to make new math word problems for the new math series. I’m going to put in three hours of school work then after lunch, that hammock is mine.
Seven hours later, I wake from the best dream ever by the sounds of someone singing Pearl Jam in my ear.
“What is that awful noise?” I groan as I stretch in the hammock.
“Very funny, Eddie is the most prolific poet of the this century,” Andrew responds.
“I wasn’t talking about the song, I was talking about the singing.”
“Funny girl,” he says tipping the hammock, dumping me on my butt in the grass. “You sleep the whole day away?” he asks.
“No, I’ll have you know that I did three hours of school work, a load of very stinky man workout clothes, got everything ready for dinner tonight, and read, all before I got an hour’s nap in.”
“That’s all?” He jokes as he helps me up from the ground. “I already started the grill. Do you need anything else before I go get changed?”
“Nope, I’ll meet you on the deck with a beer,” I say.
He taps me on the butt as he passes me, “You’re too good to me.”
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