Chapter Seventeen
Madison
I struggle to take the frozen turkey out of the freezer. I really don’t have the energy to do this right now. Not after the night crazy hot night Ryder and I spent together. He’s still sleeping and so are the boys. So, here I am lifting this dreadfully heavy, big as a boulder bird so the boys, Tyler and I can have a nice dinner tomorrow. Does it matter that it’s only seven o’clock in the morning? Nope, it doesn’t because I know this damn thing has to defrost for at least an entire day before we can cook it.
“Mommy?”
I turn around, nearly losing my grasp and dropping the turkey right on my foot. “Yeah hon?”
“What are you doing?”
“Taking this out for Thanksgiving tomorrow. You don’t want to eat a frozen turkey for dinner do you?”
“Ew gross.”
“Why don’t you go back to bed, it’s still early.”
Aiden rubs his sleepy eyes and shuffles his feet along the kitchen floor. He climbs on a stool and sits. “I’m not tired anymore.”
“Why is everyone up so..?” Ryder’s voice trails off as he hurriedly makes his way to me, grabbing the turkey out of my arms. “Why didn't you wake me up to help you Madison?” He easily carries it to the sink and places it inside before giving me an annoyed glance.
I take a clean dish towel out of the drawer and wipe my cold, wet fingers. “You were sleeping. I didn't want to bother you.”
“You never bother me.”
“Ryder are you cooking the turkey for us tomorrow?”
“Aiden! Ryder is not your personal chef. Besides I think he’d rather spend Thanksgiving with his own family.” I quickly glance at Ryder sitting on the stool across from Ryder and see a hint of disappointment cross his face. I hadn’t even given what I said a second thought until I looked at him just know. “It’s not that I don’t want you here Ryder, I do. I just thought you’d rather spend the holiday with your mom and brothers.” Ryder and I have spent plenty of nights talking about our families, or in my case, a lack thereof. It was only logical for me to think he’d want to be with his family tomorrow.
“I’m not going to my mother’s this year. She’s going to my brother Wyatt’s in-laws. I was invited but I’m gonna spend the day with Quito. His sister is flying in with her best friend. We’ll probably go out to dinner or something. Quito’s mother has the flu, so the whole family will have a do over Thanksgiving when she’s better.”
“Have Thanksgiving here with us Ryder. Uncle Tyler is coming.”
“I don’t think…”
I place my hand on his forearm. “Yeah, spend the day with us tomorrow. I mean you’re here anyway, you might as well stay.” I wink playfully.
He chuckles. “I’d love too, but I made plans with Quito.”
“Then break your plans and make new ones. Invite him and his sister here instead.”
“No Madison. I don’t think that would be a good...”
Disappointment twists in my stomach and it’s obviously written all over my face because he stops talking to survey my expression. Is he embarrassed by me so much that he doesn’t want his friends and family to meet me? Maybe he is. Maybe I’m not up to his friend’s standards of the kind of woman Ryder should be with. After all, who would want their best friend to meet his mother of two, divorcee girlfriend. Yeah, he’s definitely ashamed of me. I lower my head feeling utterly deflated and take the coffee grinds out of the overhead cabinet to busy myself.
“Aiden, why don’t you go brush your teeth and make your bed while your mom and I talk a minute, okay”
Aiden jumps off the seat. “Okay.”
I take a deep breath, holding back the sob that desperately wants to escape my throat. I can’t cry. I will not cry. I inwardly scoff. Here I thought I was actually important to him; that my kids were important to him. Well, I guess we didn’t mean as much to him as he had me believe. This fact makes me want to cry even more and I can feel the tears beginning to well in my eyes, my vision becoming blurry with hurt. With my heart breaking in two I try to brush past him. “I...I should go help him.”
He blocks my path, lifting my chin with his finger. “Hey, what’s wrong?”
I bite the side of my cheek and avert my eyes, doing my best to hide the agony bubbling deep in my gut. “Nothing. I should really go help Aiden.”
“I think Aiden can handle it on his own. Talk to me.”
“Maybe you should go home Ryder.” I say wryly, pushing past him again.
He grabs me by the elbow, spinning me around to face him. “Oh no you don’t. You’re not going to tell me to leave and not give me an explanation why.”
Observing my face with a sympathetic gaze, he seems to inspect every line, every pore of my skin until a small smile tugs at the corner of his mouth. He frames my face with calloused, tattooed hands and regardless of how I feel, my body betrays me by shuddering under his gentle touch. “Oh Peaches, did you think that I didn’t want my friends to meet you?”
Crossing my arms over my chest and being downright annoyed that he was able to read me so easily, I lie. “No.”
He chuckles. “Yes you did.”
His levity at the situation is only making me angry, the sadness I felt only seconds ago now depleting. “I’m glad you think it’s funny.”
“I find it funny that after everything we’ve shared you can stand there and think that. You should know me well enough by now that I don’t care what anyone thinks. I know we haven’t been together long, but you and the boys mean the world to me and I would be proud to introduce you all to my family. I was turning you down because I don’t want to burden you with extra guests when you already have so much to worry about. It was not because I’m embarrassed of you.”
“If your friends are important to you, then they’re important to me Ryder. You are never a burden to me or the boys. You’ve done so much for us. The least I can do is have a few of your friends over for dinner.”
“So, this is a pity invitation.”
I smile. “Maybe.”
He places a tender kiss on the tip of my nose and grins. “Well, thank you for your kind offer. Can you make me some coffee now please?”
Aiden rounds the corner half carrying, half dragging Caleb into the kitchen. “We brushed our teeth.”
Ryder bends down, picking Caleb up, and the baby lays his tired head on Ryder’s bare shoulder. And there go my ovaries again. I swear I can hear them screaming, ‘Awww, look at them. Aren’t they the cutest thing in the world?’ Get a grip Mad. You do not need any more children at the moment. Maybe ever. As I watch Ryder take Caleb’s sippy cup out of the dish rack and place it on the counter, my heart does a little flip. He would make a wonderful father. Switching the baby to his left arm, he pulls the milk out of the refrigerator and pours it in the plastic Cookie Monster cup. I hold out my arms to take the baby, but he adjusts him and places a kiss on top of Caleb’s head. “No, I got him. Why don’t you go shower and we’ll go out for breakfast today. I’ll get the boys ready.” He opens the container of chocolate powder mix and grabs a spoon from the drawer, scooping some in the milk. He stirs it, puts the spoon in the sink and twists the cover back on the cup. He is doing all this one handed while holding Caleb in his other arm and I have to say I’m impressed. Handing sleepy Caleb his cup, he settles him on the couch to watch cartoons on the television.
“Aiden, go pick out clothes for you and Caleb so we can get ready while we wait for mom to get out of the shower.”
“Ryder you go take a shower first. I can wait.” I insist.
“No you go ahead. I took one last night. I can wait until we get back. We have to go out soon if I’m going to be making dinner tomorrow. The supermarket will be a disaster zone.”
Aiden jumps up and down excitedly. “Ryder is cooking dinner tomorrow?”
“Yeah I am little man.”
Aiden puts his hand to the side of his mouth, trying to whisper to Ryder. “Good, ‘cause mommy’s turkey is dry.” He says the last word in two syllables for emphasis.
I place my hands on my hips. “Hey! I heard that.”
Aiden shrugs. “Sorry mom, it’s true.”
Ryder laughs. “Let’s go get ready.”