I took my dad to the airport this morning. I think we’ll be okay as long as he stays out of my relationship and keeps his opinions to himself unless he’s asked for it. I didn’t tell him about how I’m now engaged either. Today has been good and busy, but now, we’re sitting down having dinner like a family. Never would I have thought something so simple and mundane would make me so happy.
“When do you want to get married?” I ask Sydney. “This summer?”
She glances over with surprise. “So soon?”
“You want to wait?” I frown. “What’s the point? If you want to marry me, why would we wait a year or two?” Her mouth opens, but I can’t stop just yet. “We were practically together for two years when we were teenagers and then again the past two years. It’s not like we don’t know one another and we need time to make sure we don’t discover something that could be a deal-breaker. So, what’s the problem, babe?”
Sydney avoids looking at me, pushing around her green beans or trying to find a way to help Savannah, which means I’m not going to like what she has to say. “I said yes because I love you and I think that is our future—”
“But?” I interrupt.
“But...” She shakes her head. “I don’t know. It seems so soon and this entire thing doesn’t seem real. I don’t want to rush us or push into something before we’re ready.” My mouth opens, but she holds up a hand to stop me. “Our relationship has never run on the timeline we’ve wanted and I just don’t want us to somehow screw it up by making it happen when we actually want it to.”
“So, this is about you being scared?”
Sydney sighs and with that one sigh, I can tell that she truly is worried.
“Babe.” She lifts her gaze to mine. “It’s different now than it was. It doesn’t matter what happens or if we make mistakes as long as we’re both fully committed to making it work. I’m not going anywhere. Ever.”
Sydney seems to think about this for a minute. “It’ll be small with just the people we’re really close to?”
“Whatever you want. Once I find you a ring, we’ll tell everyone and pick a date, okay?”
She nods. “All right.”
I grin. This is good. I told her to give me a week to pick out the ring. I did give her the option of picking it out herself, but apparently, I seemed too eager to do it myself, so she declined.
Tonight is a family date night, so to speak. Sydney and I haven’t been out in a while, and we didn’t really want to put Savannah on Logan again, even though he probably would watch her. So, I told her that we’d go out and take Savannah with us. Hence the family date night. We’re having dinner a little earlier than usual. After this, we’re going to the movies to watch one for kids.
Sydney is a little nervous because she’s never taken Savannah to the movie theater before. The movie we’re watching has been out for a little while, so hopefully there won’t be that many people in there. Plus, it is a Monday. That has to help. Then, it won’t be so bad if we have any issues with Savannah. I don’t think we will because she loves to watch movies at home. If she can sit and watch it at home, why can’t she do that in a theater?
When we get inside the theater, Savannah doesn’t want her own seat. She wants to sit in my lap. So far, there’s only us in here. Sydney holds out the small bag of popcorn. She didn’t want to get any, but this is Savannah’s first experience. She needs to have it done right with a bag of popcorn and a soda.
“Mmm. So good,” Savannah says. “What we doing?”
“We’re going to watch a movie, buttercup,” Sydney explains.
“And there are some rules, okay? When the movie starts, we have to be quiet unless something funny happens and you want to laugh. If you do need to talk, you have to whisper. And you sit in your seat the whole time unless you need to go to the bathroom.”
“I should take her before it starts,” Sydney says.
“Think you can follow the rules, little Miss?” I ask.
She nods. Sydney hands me the popcorn and takes her to the bathroom. Two more families come in while they are gone, but that’s it. Savannah climbs into my lap when they get back and starts munching on the popcorn. She shouldn’t be hungry since she ate all of her supper before we came, but maybe the popcorn is just that good.
When the lights dim, Savannah freaks out a little, sitting up and glancing around. “What happen? I scared.”
“Ssh,” I whisper. “When the movie starts, they turn the lights down a little. It’s okay. There’s light from the screen and those lights there.” I point to the lights lining the walkway.
“Don’t like it,” she whispers back.
“You’re with me and Mommy. You’re okay. Let’s watch the movie.”
It takes her a minute before she leans back against my chest and relaxes. She jumps once or twice from the sound, as she’s not used to it being so loud. Once she gets used to it, she’s fine. There are a couple of times where she talks about what’s happening, but she does whisper. It’s a win in my book. After the movie, I have Savannah in one arm and Sydney next to me, my hand in hers.
“I think we should have some ice cream, don’t you think so, Savannah?”
“Yes!”
“Ian,” Sydney says.
“Uh-oh. Sounds like Mommy doesn’t want to go. How can we convince her?”
“Please, Mommy!” Savannah begs. “Please, please, please!”
Whispering, I tell her, “Remind her that you were good during your first movie.”
“I was good, Mommy!” Savannah says, not wasting a second.
“A small ice cream,” she says to me.
“Or a big one that we can split,” I counter.
“You’re spoiling her,” she says as we walk toward the adjacent strip of stores, one of which is an ice cream parlor.
“You deserve to be spoiled every now and then, don’t you, little Miss?”
“Yep!”
I laugh and Sydney shakes her head with a smile. Savannah picks out her favorite ice cream and then we find a small table to share the bowl. I place a hand high on Sydney’s thigh, which earns me a wary look.
“Having fun?” I ask.
“Yep!” Savannah answers before making her spoon dive into the ice cream.
I laugh and look to Sydney, since I was asking her. “Yeah. We should do this more often.”
“We will, especially in the summer.”
“Daddy.” Savannah taps my arm. “We go swim.”
I look at my watch to check the time. By the time we leave here and make it home, it’ll be time for her bath and then bedtime. “Not tonight. We’ll try to go soon, okay?”
“Nooooo,” she whines. “Today.”
“When we get home, you need a bath and then it’s bedtime. We can’t go today.”
“I wanna go!” She slams a fist on the table.
At that, I pluck her from her seat and put her in my lap so she’s facing me. She folds her arms over her chest and pouts. I haven’t even said anything yet! “No. We went to the movies and got you ice cream because you were a good girl. We can’t go today, but maybe if you keep being good, you and Mommy can go tomorrow while I’m at work. Or, you’ll have to wait until later this week for all of us to go. Either way, we’re not going today.”
I’m feeling pretty proud of my little speech until Savannah bursts into tears, blubbering about how she wants to go swimming today. Sydney stands to throw away our trash. I rub her back, not sure what else to do. When she comes back, Savannah reaches for her and leaves me for her mom.
“C’mon, buttercup. It’s okay. We can’t always do what we want when we want to do it.” Sydney holds her hand out to me, so I stand and take it for us to head out while she keeps talking to Savannah. “We’ll go swimming. Just not today.”
“Daddy has to go,” she says through a hiccup.
“We’ll wait until Daddy can go with us,” Sydney promises. “He’s busy with work this week, but that’s a good thing. Do you know why?”
“Why?”
“That means we have plenty of time to go shopping for a bathing suit.”
Savannah lifts her head and frowns. “I wear Daddy’s shirt.”
“That’s because you didn’t have a bathing suit. Trust me, you’ll want to go shopping with me. That sound like a good deal?”
Savannah nods. Sydney wipes away her tears as I unlock the car and open the door for the backseat. Listening to them was nice, but now, all I can think about is what kind of bathing suit Sydney is going to pick. Is she going to wear a bikini? A one-piece? Or a different kind of two-piece that covers her body more? When Savannah is all buckled up and Sydney turns to face me, I can’t help but ask.
“What are you going to wear?”
She smiles. “Wouldn’t you like to know.”
“Evil, gorgeous. You’re pure evil.”
She kisses me quickly. “I’ll make it up to you tonight.”
Now, that is what I like to hear.
“Damn, EJ, you look like hell,” Zane says as we’re walking out to the parking lot after practice.
“Bree cries a lot at night and she doesn’t want to sleep,” he explains.
“Isn’t your mom there to help you?”
“Yeah, but that doesn’t mean she’s doing all the work. She’s mine to take care of,” he snaps. And she is. He had a test done to confirm that he’s actually the father.
“Hey, we get that,” I break in. “But you still need some sleep.”
“I’m not putting my kid off on my mom.” EJ glares at me. “Besides, she’s going to cry either way and that wakes me up.” He shakes his head. “I don’t understand how someone so cute and adorable can be so cranky and upset all the time.”
Scott laughs when he hears this. “She’ll get better, EJ. How long is your mom staying?”
“Forever?” That cracks us up, but EJ adds, “At least until the season is over. Thank god she’s retired. I’d be lost without her helping me.”
“Let’s have lunch,” Scott says. “You need it.”
EJ hesitates. “I don’t know. I told Mom I’d be back.”
“We can go to your house. Maybe Bree is crying because she’s tired of seeing your ugly ass,” Z jokes with a grin.
EJ shrugs. “If that’s what you guys want to do.”
So, we go our separate ways in the parking lot to follow him to his house. I check my phone and find that it’s dead. How the hell did that happen? I’m pretty sure I charged it last night. I plug it into the car charger, and when I get to EJ’s, I leave it in the car to continue to charge.
“Damn, man. This house is nice.” Zane whistles as we walk inside. It is a nice two-story house that sits in a subdivision.
“Yeah. I kind of went overboard, but,” he shrugs, “having all those bedrooms is incredibly useful right now.”
“Elias James?” a woman calls.
“Yeah, Ma. It’s me. Some of the guys are with me,” he finishes as an older lady enters the foyer with little Bree in her arms. “Ma, this is Zane, Scott, and Ian. Guys, this is my mom, Alice.”
“Nice to meet you gentlemen.”
EJ snorts as he takes Bree from her. “They aren’t gentlemen, Ma.”
“We most certainly are,” Scott defends us. “We came to give y’all a mini-break and play with the baby. Hand her over, Elias James.”
EJ glares as he nods his head toward a room on the left, the living room. We take a seat on the couch, and EJ does actually hand Bree to Scott, but it’s only because he’s going to help his mom with lunch.
“Man, I forgot how much I love babies,” Scott murmurs. “It’s been forever since Stella and Stephanie were this little.”
“You could always have more kids,” Zane says.
Scott just shakes his head and talks to Bree instead. “And your daddy said you’re a fussy baby. He’s crazy, isn’t he?”
She blinks and jerks her hand. We take turns holding the baby and EJ takes her once it’s time for lunch. I don’t really know much about him, but it’s clear that he wants to take care of Bree and that he loves her. If I don’t know anything else about EJ Bertuzzi, I know that he’s taking the dad role seriously.
“I thought you said she cried all the time?” Zane asks. “She hasn’t cried once since we’ve been here.”
Alice laughs. “She’s taking a break. She had just calmed down from a crying fit before you got here.”
Really, all she’s done is sleep, but it doesn’t sound like she’s sleeping at night, so she has to catch up at some point. Her schedule is backward. For EJ’s sake, I hope they get it turned around soon. We thank them for lunch and head out, so we can get our own nap in before we have to be at the arena. When I get into the car, my phone is on.
There are dozens of missed calls from Sydney and even more texts. Before I can press the buttons to call her back, there’s another incoming call from her.
“Hey, ba—”
“Where the fuck have you been?” she whisper-yells. “I’ve been calling and texting for over an hour, Ian! You can’t just not answer! We have a kid! You always have to answer me! What the fuck have you been doing while I’ve been over here losing my mind?”
“What is going on?” I ask, my heart hammering in my chest at how upset she sounds. “My phone died and it was charging in the car while I was at EJ’s to see the baby and have lunch. What’s wrong?”
“Well, that’s fucking great! I’ve been in the hospital with Savannah while you’re socializing! You can’t do that, Ian! You—”
“What happened to Savannah?” I interrupt. Thank god I haven’t pulled out of EJ’s driveway yet. I’d have to pull over.
Sydney takes a deep breath. “I got a call from the daycare. They were outside since it was warm today. She fell, broke her arm, and hit her head. They had to call an ambulance. So, I’m here with her. She wants her fucking daddy, and I can’t get up with him! She has to get stitches, Ian. And a cast for her arm. And you were nowhere to be found!”
“I’m on my way now.”
She scoffs. “Why?”
In the background, I hear, “Ms. Jarvis?”
“I have to go.” She hangs up without another word.
Fuck! I read her texts, see she’s at the county hospital. Before I can leave, EJ is jogging out of the house.
“Hey, Marco just called me to see if you were here. Sydney has been trying to call you because—”
“Yeah, I know. Thanks. I gotta go.”
What are the odds that the one time I don’t have my phone with me, something happens to Savannah? Sydney didn’t sound like she’s going to cool off any time soon either.
When I get there, they let me into the back to see Savannah. She’s screaming bloody murder, clutching to Sydney with one hand. They’ve already put the cast on her arm in the time it took for me to get here. Sydney looks like a wreck, and the guilt starts eating away at me for not seeing if EJ had a charger so I could bring my phone inside to charge at least.
“Savannah, come on. They have to do it so it won’t hurt.”
“No! No! No!” she screams.
“Hey.” It seems like a terrible way to announce my presence, but it gets their attention.
“Daddy! Save me! Please! Please!” Savannah reaches for me. With her head away from Sydney’s neck, I see the patch of gauze on her forehead.
I pick her up, rubbing her back. “What’s going on?” I ask Sydney, but the doctor is the one who answers me.
“We need to stitch up the gash on her head, and that means a shot.”
“No! No! No shot!” Savannah screams as she bursts into tears again, wiggling in my arms as if she could escape that way.
“They already tried giving her something to calm her down,” Sydney says. “It’s not working, or else it’s just taking a really long time.”
“I go home,” Savannah whispers to me. Her body is suddenly lax in my arms like she’s given out and she has no more fight in her.
“I know, but the doctor has to fix your forehead first. Mommy and I will hold your hand, okay?”
“No!” She wiggles in my arms again. “It hurts!”
“For like one second.”
“Ian!” Sydney chides immediately.
“What? I’m not going to lie to her.” It makes Savannah cry more, though. “Savannah, look at me.” She lifts her head. “Daddy’s had stitches before.” Her eyes widen. “The shot for stitches? It’s not like normal shots. It feels like this.” I give her a small pinch for half a second. “That’s all it hurts. You’re a brave big girl, aren’t you? Can’t you handle that? I think you can.”
Her lips tremble, a few more fat tears fall, and she shakes her head.
“Please? We’ll take you to the store and you can pick out any toy you want.” Bribing can’t hurt at this point, can it?
She takes a good two minutes to think about that. “You hold me?” she asks.
I glance to the doctor. “You can lie with her on the bed.”
“That work, little Miss?”
Finally, she nods. I sit her down on the bed and sit next to her. She lies down, I do too, and she looks at me as the doctor tells her to. I take her hand. She squeezes it as hard as she can.
“You have to stay still, okay, Savannah?” the doctor says.
“We can do that, can’t we? We’ll have a staring contest. Can’t look away from my face, Savannah. If you win, you get cookies after dinner tonight.”
“Okay,” she whispers. “Mommy?”
Sydney stands. “I’m right here, buttercup.”
The doctor is about to give her the shot, so I say, “You know, now you have a cast like Lo-Lo.”
“Ow!”
“That part’s over,” the doctor reassures.
“Maybe Lo-Lo will draw on your cast like you drew on his,” I continue.
Savannah and I talk until the stitches are in. Her eyes are dry by the time it’s over. Soon, she’s discharged. She wants to ride home with me, and Sydney doesn’t put up any fight at all. In fact, she doesn’t talk to me unless she has to. On the ride home is when that medicine seems to finally kick in and make Savannah sleepy.
Sydney looks exhausted when I get to the apartment, carrying a nearly asleep Savannah.
“Lay her on the couch,” Sydney says softly.
I check the time. Damn it. I have to get ready to leave for the arena. We were at the hospital longer than I thought we were, and I was at EJ’s longer than I thought I was. “I have to go soon.”
“I know.” She lies next to Savannah and closes her eyes.
“Are you going to talk to me when I get home?”
She shrugs a shoulder. Damn it.
“Need anything?”
“Sleep.”
“Babe,” I start.
“Go away, Ian. Get ready for your game and go away.”
For a few moments, I stand there, waiting to see if she’ll give me something, anything, to soothe the building unease, but nothing happens. I leave for our bedroom to change into a suit. Sydney is asleep when I come back into the living room. She’s pissed, but I don’t care. I lean down and kiss both of their foreheads before I go. What happened was a simple mistake. She can’t stay pissed at me forever.
Right?