Down the picnic table, I observed my brother Bradley as he bitched about the heat to Jayden’s Uncle Stephen. He had shown up in one of his hot shit suits and I thought the discomfort served him well.

Little sister Molly was busy chasing after Trip to get what I was sure was some foreign object out of his mouth. I laughed as Trip gave her hell once she had retrieved it. She looked up at me with utter disgust when he licked her face.

It was heaven.

We no longer just did brunch at my mothers, we did family day at Mallory’s as well. My mother and Mallory had grown close over the last two years and had even taken a trip to Vegas together. I thought it completely fitting somehow. They were living it up as independent ladies, and as far as I could see had no plans of slowing down. It warmed me to no end they were as close as Gerri and I, who was shushing her new husband at the end of the table.

Drew leaned in, seeming to enjoy her discomfort as he egged her on with his whispers. I gave him a knowing wink. Drew had ended up being Gerri’s perfect match. He drove her completely insane, but in a good way. Jayden and I often spent our weekends with them, playing cards and watching movies—my husband still being the homebody. At a time when I thought I’d lost my best friend by gaining a husband, I didn’t realize life was pushing Gerri toward her own.

Our friendship had never wavered in strength and never would. She was a snot cry friend and like I said, those are the most important, and the longest lasting. We were lifers she and I. And when I stood next to her on her wedding day, dressed to the nines in my maid of honor gown, and Gerri looked into her groom’s eyes, I knew that she had finally found a man who wouldn’t make her question his love, wouldn’t make her wonder where his loyalty lay. I watched Drew profess his love to my best friend without reservation and with his whole heart, and it only deepened my appreciation for the way things worked out.

Sometimes the things we are so sure of can suddenly turn into things we have to let go of in order to land on the road we were meant to travel.

In my case, I had a clear idea for years of exactly how I wanted things to happen and what type of man I would choose to let them happen with. My love and relationship with Jayden completely rearranged my order to a rewarding chaos.

“Make way,” Mallory barked with a hot pot of drained, low country boil as she threw the contents on the clothed table. Laid out before us was a seasoned and boiled buttery feast of sausage, corn, red potatoes, and crab legs. Uncle Stephen made an Indian call as a prayer as we all shouted “Amen” and dug in. I looked at my mom as she surveyed the table, much like I was looking at each of her children as she measured smiles. And when her eyes landed on mine, her own smile deepened. Our eyes connected, we gave each other a knowing nod before we returned our attention back to the rest of the party.

I was elbows deep in cracking crab and thinking about my honeymoon when I met my husband’s knowing eyes across the table. He seemed to be reliving the same memory as he gave me a slow, sweet, heated smile.

It was real. It was love. It was happiness. It was us, and for Jayden and I, that meant always.

 

Wiping my feet on our welcome mat, I walked through our front door of our new house completely exhausted. I fought Trip through the front door with my usual “chill out,” in a harsh whisper as I kicked off my heels and peaked into my bedroom knowing I would see Jayden fast asleep. I crept up to the bed and leaned in as I observed the little storm of destruction that clung to him. She was in a lone diaper with only one sock on and had her chubby hand fisted into his t-shirt as her thick check rested against him. She had her father’s dark brows and rich long lashes and looked completely edible. I fought the urge to take her from his chest just to have her near me. Jayden’s eyes opened slowly as I hovered and I apologized as a slow sweet smile appeared on his face.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered, placing a slow kiss on his lips.

“No way, it’s date night,” he said, looking at the clock on our bedside table, “or it was.”

“Yeah, I had to solve a crisis. I’m sorry.”

He looked back at me and lifted his lip in a sneer. “You aren’t getting out of it.”

Mallory lifted her head, opening her deep blue eyes to look right at me with a tiny smile of recognition before it fell back to her father’s chest and she passed out again. Jayden and I chuckled as she let out a soft grunt in protest to us disturbing her slumber.

Our baby came into this world six months ago and became the most high maintenance child on the planet, and we wouldn’t have it any other way.

“Put her to bed. I’ll go clean up,” he ordered, determined to salvage what time we had left.

“I just found Trip eating another diaper,” I told him as I lifted her to my chest.

“Good times, at least it wasn’t a shitty one…was it?” I kissed Jayden’s cheek and reared back after taking a whiff of him.

“You totally stink, go bathe, I’ve got this,” I said kissing Mallory’s full, soft cheek. Jayden gave me a small smile.

“Your OCD is slipping,” I joked as I walked into Mallory’s room and set her in her custom crib by Jay. Mallory lifted her head again as I held my breath before pushing her tiny diapered butt up and settling in. I traced the stenciled art work on the crib with my finger admiring my husband’s talent in both making beautiful babies and custom cribs. I took a step back to soak in the rest of the room. It was filled with brilliant color and it never failed to capture my attention. The wall above her crib was stenciled Beatles quote,

The rest of the room was a mix of Sergeant Pepper’s and The Magical Mystery Tour. When I told Jayden of our little girl’s pending arrival, he’d gone straight to work on making everything perfect. Secretly I knew he’d hoped for a boy, but when I put Mallory in his arms, the look on his face told me disappointment didn’t exist.

Our entire house was furnished with mostly Jayden’s art. After he had crafted me a custom rocking chair and delivered it to my baby shower in front of my guests, individual orders had come in left and right. Once Jayden had completed a catalog of baby furniture, the demand for it took him away from his uncle and kept him busy enough to turn our building in our backyard into a work shed. So when I wasn’t working, we took turns caring for our diva so we both could keep our dream job.

My phone buzzed and I walked quickly out of the room to answer. “Monroe PR, this is Hilary.”

“Boss, I know it’s date night, I know you told me not to call you for any reason but—”

“You’re fired,” I teased, making my way to the kitchen to pour some wine.

“Funny,” my assistant Denise huffed. “We got the gym account.”

“That’s great, love. Thanks for calling,” I said, knowing that information already.

“And the full chain,” she added. Freezing mid-uncork, I asked, “And chain?”

“All two thousand stores. They want a full set up and then individualized account for each with monthly maintenance. I just sent over a two year contract.” I sat down in a chair that didn’t exist and landed flat on my ass.

“Boss, you there?”

“I’m...what?”

I heard Denise cackle on the other end of the line, because that’s what Denise did, she cackled.

“We...we need ...” I was fumbling like an idiot as the numbers circulated in my head.

“More employees. I’m on it. At least four, right?”

“Denise,” I said in disbelief as my eyes watered.