Creed agreed but only with the stipulation that I join him in his room (he and the kids had adjoining rooms) when he called to tell me they were asleep.
But the whole weekend, outside of the nights, would be spent together.
I was looking forward to it. Not only because I f**king loved roller coasters and they had tarantulas you could hold at the Butterfly Pavilion and tarantulas weighed about an ounce, they were furry, cool and I thought they were the shit. But also because I got a birthday weekend like I’d never had before.
Filled with family.
I heard dishes clanking in the kitchen while I watched Creed roll to his back, grab Theo and toss him in air repeatedly, making Theo giggle. I hoped like all hell all the unprotected sex we were having meant I’d soon see him again doing just that.
But with our baby.
I was so focused on this, when Brand threw himself into the grass beside me, my body jerked and my head whipped around.
“Hide and seek is for babies,” he declared and my gaze moved into the yard to see, with difficulty but also patience, Kara organizing the game with Adam and Leslie.
“I don’t know,” I replied to Brand. “Seems like it’d be fun to me.”
He grinned at me. “A squirt gun fight would be fun.”
I grinned back. “Yeah,” I agreed. “Little too late for that, though. Charlene and the kids’ll be heading home soon.”
He looked into the yard. “Bummer.” Then his eyes came back to me and he suggested, “We could do it when they leave.”
“I don’t have any squirt guns,” I informed him, making a mental note to put that on my shopping list and stock up.
“Does Denver have stores?” he asked cheekily.
“Uh… yeah,” I answered.
“Then I get to ride with you in your ‘Vette when we go get ‘em.”
My grin became a smile. “It’s a plan.”
He looked back at the yard and stated, “It’ll be so cool when you move in with Dad and we move in with you guys. Squirt gun fights all the time.”
I stared at his profile, forgetting how to breathe.
I forced myself to remember and asked a wheezy, “What?”
He looked back at me with another grin. “Kara says you’re gonna move in and when you do, we’re gonna move to Dad’s. He has a better pool and he likes football, so we can watch it on the big screen. Not like at home where Mom makes me and Van watch it outside on the smaller TV.” He paused then finished, “Oh, and you have a ‘Vette which is way cooler than any of Dad’s or Mom’s or Van’s cars.”
I blinked at him before I cautiously asked, “You’re, uh… moving in with your Dad?”
He nodded and looked back at the yard. “Yup. Kara says you’re Sylvie and we know what that means.”
Holy shit!
“What does that, um… mean?” I asked and his eyes came to me.
“You’re on Dad’s back.”
God, Creed was right. His kids were far from dumb.
“Brand –” I started but he interrupted me, not that I knew what I was going to say.
“Kara says you’re, like, the one. She says Dad’s been waitin’ for you to come back for, like, ever. She says that now you’re back, Dad will be happy and he’ll want us all together. She says Mom couldn’t hold onto him because she wasn’t you. Now he has you and we can be a family again. Least that’s what Kara says.”
He looked back to the yard as I mentally scrambled to figure out what to say, what to do at the same time sending vibes to Creed in an effort to get him to come over and rescue me from this crazy, landmine filled conversation.