The job paid well and Hawk expected it to last a month so I had a reprieve. More time with Creed in Denver. More time to get my shit sorted. A couple more weekends with his kids before I moved in completely.
But I had to tell Charlene. She had to prepare.
And I had to prepare to lose her and the kids.
“Creed and I are trying for a baby,” I repeated what I’d said two seconds before.
Charlene blinked at me.
Then she turned her head to the window and stared blankly out of it.
I turned my head that way too and saw Creed’s tee drenched in sweat, the ends of his hair wet and curling around his neck. He had mirrored shades on and they looked really fucking good on him.
My mouth started watering.
“It’s been three weeks, honey.”
Charlene’s words came at me and I looked at her again.
“I know,” I replied.
She shook her head and reached out to curl her hand around my leg. “I get this. I get him. He’s a good guy. I get that. I get your history. I get it all, but, Sylvie, listen to me. A baby is a big deal.”
“I know that too, Charlene.”
“It changes your whole life. It changes the whole world.”
I put my hand on hers, leaned in and repeated, “I know, Charlene.”
Her hand turned and her fingers curled around mine. “I know you know but I also know you don’t. A baby changes your body. It changes your relationship. It changed the rhythm of your day. You have a child, you can’t drink as much as you do. You absolutely can’t smoke. He’s got two kids. They’ve met you once. They –”
I cut her off, “Creed loves them and they love him and they like me. They’ll be cool. He’ll take care of them. We both will.”
Her hand gave mine a squeeze. “You haven’t even settled into there being a you two again. Nine months, ten months, a year, most of that pregnant, you won’t be able to do that.”
She knew, I explained after we had our drama and got back together that Creed and me were, well, back together. Charlene was Charlene, she said little except she was happy for me.
But, right now, she didn’t get it so I explained, “There was never a time when we weren’t settled into the two of us being the two.”
Her head tipped to the side. “What?”
I leaned closer, lifting her hand and holding it to my chest. “This is Creed.”
“I know, but –”
I shook her hand before I pressed it to my chest. “Charlene, babe, this is Creed.”
She held my eyes as her lips parted.
She was getting me.
So I helped her get the rest of the way. “There’s no one but him. No one. I want our future, the one that was stolen from us. I want it for me and I need to give it to him. He was…” I hesitated, having shared a bit but not entirely and deciding not to, for Creed. “I can’t say. What I can say is that I explained it all came out and we worked it out. What you can guess is, we’re together so the reason he disappeared was understandable. So understandable, there’s not even anything to forgive.”
She sucked in breath.
Yeah, she was getting me.
I went on.
“It’s debatable who suffered worse,” I told her and she closed her eyes. She opened them when I continued, “And now that’s done. I want his baby growing inside me. I want a home. I want a family. I want to let Creed give that to me because Creed needs to give it to me. It’s what we’d planned. It’s what we’d dreamed. It’s what we went through hell for and it’s what we’re gonna have and we’re not going to wait. Not a month. Not a year. Now.”
“Your Dad did something to him,” she whispered her guess.
“My Dad did something to him,” I replied.
She licked her lips and turned her face back to the window but she held my hand tight. This time, I watched her face work instead of looking outside to watch my man work.
It took some time but finally she said quietly, “You should move to Phoenix. He should be close to his kids and your baby should be close to his or her brother and sister.”
See?
So totally told you that Charlene would want that for me.
“I am,” I said quietly back and her eyes came to me, they were stunned but they were also assessing. “It’s decided. Creed’s going to transfer his admin to you so you won’t feel that financial hit and –”
I stopped talking when her eyes filled with tears.
Then I started talking fast, holding her hand still to my chest, I leaned close and said gently, “I’ll come up. So will Creed. I mean, he can’t come up every two weeks to mow your yard but we’ll come up. Take the kids so you have time and –”
Charlene interrupted me.
“You’re happy.”
I blinked and asked, “What?”
“I didn’t see it or, I should say, I didn’t believe it.” She swallowed. “Now, I see it.”
“Charlene –”
She yanked her hand from mine but then grabbed me by the shoulders, pulled me close, wrapped her arms around me and gave me a hard hug.
I felt her body jerk with her sob as her voice broke with it when she said, “Always, I saw it, that hurt in the back of your eyes. Like you were lost in a way you couldn’t get found.” She gave me a squeeze. “Now it’s gone. You’re found and I’m so happy you’re happy, Sylvie.”
God, friends… freaking… rocked!
Suddenly she pulled back but her hands framed my face and she yanked mine close to hers. “I want you to make lots of babies. Lots and lots of them. You’re so cute and pretty. He’s so handsome. They’ll be beautiful. They’ll be brilliant. They’ll be loyal. They’ll be funny. They’ll be fabulous.”
Shit, I was so over this. Now Charlene was gonna make me cry.
“Charlene –” I started, my voice sounding hoarse but that was all I got out before she pulled my face even closer to hers, her wet, shining eyes were all I could see.
“Make him give you lots of babies. Make him, Sylvie.” It sounded like she was begging.
I didn’t think I would have a tough time convincing Creed to do this but still, I gave her what she wanted.
“I will, Charlene.”
She let my face go so she could throw her arms around me again and give me a deep, sweet, close hug.
I held her back just the same.
She did it sobbing quietly.
I did it breathing deeply.
We kept doing this until we heard shouting from outside, “Who the fuck are you? That’s my lawn, asshole.”
We both shot away from each other, our heads turning and I stared as I saw Douchebag Dan stalking toward Creed.
I reacted faster and moved quicker than Charlene, who was sitting frozen on the couch, staring outside, her mouth hanging open.
My eyes went back to the window to see Dan advancing on a Creed, who’d stepped away from the lawnmower and turned his not unscary attention on Dan. I grabbed Charlene and shook her firmly but gently.
“Kids,” I hissed and looked down at her to see her tear her eyes away from the scene in the yard to bring them to me. “Keep them in the back. Don’t let them hear their Dad.”
“But, Danny’s back. I should go out –”
“Kids, Charlene. Now.”
She held my eyes a second before seeing the wisdom of my instruction and nodding.
I took off.
I hit the front door just in time to see Dan, for some Douchebag Dan reason, rearing a fist back and aiming a punch on Creed.
A second later, I stifled a laugh but not my smile when Dan ended this maneuver on his belly in the turf with his arm yanked up his back and Creed’s knee in his spine.
“You can’t assault me on my lawn!” Dan yelled.
“I can defend myself when you try to assault me, moron, and if you don’t shut the fuck up and calm the fuck down, I’ll show you what assault actually is,” Creed returned.
This exchange went
down as I was making my way to them and it ended when I stopped three feet away.
“What are you doing here, Dan?” I asked and Dan twisted his neck, yanking it back in a way that looked kind of painful since he hadn’t quit struggling so Creed hadn’t loosened the pressure.
He looked up at me.
“Who the fuck is this guy?” he snapped.
“Charlene’s new boyfriend,” I lied and Dan’s eyes widened to huge and his mouth dropped open.
“Sylvie,” Creed rumbled.
I grinned at him with him shaking his head, his lips twitching.
Then I looked back at Douchebag Dan to inform him, “She traded up.”
“Get him off me,” Douchbag Dan demanded, still struggling.
“Uh… just a reminder. He did tell you that if you shut the fuck up and calm the fuck down, he’d let you up.”
“He told me he’d assault me if I didn’t do that.”
I shrugged. “Tomatoes, toe-mah-toes.”
Dan scowled at me as best he could, seeing as his face was mostly in grass.
Then he said, “Okay. Whatever. I’ll calm down. Tell him to let me up.”
I looked back at Creed who was still fighting a smile. “Although you aren’t deaf, just in case you missed it, he says he’ll calm down. You can let him up.”
Creed’s grin broke through and he waited a full five seconds before he pushed off and straightened away from Douchebag Dan. This, incidentally, made me love him more and I already loved him a whole fuckuva lot.
Dan struggled to his feet, swiping at grass clippings on his clothes as he took a healthy, and wise, step back from Creed while glowering at him.
“Are you seriously seeing my wife?” he asked.
“Yeah,” Creed lied. “She’s hot,” Creed did not lie.
Dan looked to the house, muttering, “I don’t believe this shit.”
“I don’t know what’s not to believe, Dan,” I stated. “Life goes on. Bills need to get paid. Women need to get laid. Lawns need to get mowed. Bonus for the kids, Tucker here,” I indicated Creed with a swing of my hand, “actually likes them.”
I saw Dan blanch even as his eyes narrowed on me.
“That wasn’t cool, Sylvie,” he said quietly.
Oh shit. I was getting mad.
I knew Creed knew it because he took a step toward me but I didn’t tear my eyes from Douchebag Dan.
“Are you kidding me? That wasn’t cool? You left them,” I reminded him.
“Maybe my head was screwed up but she’s fuckin’ another guy!” he shot back. “I’ve only been gone two months, for fuck’s sake.”
I leaned toward him. “Two months and a week, Dan,” I clipped. “You won’t know this because you didn’t do fuck all while you were here, so let me educate you. That extra week is a lot when you got three kids to take care of, one a toddler, one special needs and you got a lawn to mow, storm windows to take out, faucets that leak, a mortgage that needs to get paid, a car that needs fixed and a second job to get so you can try to make ends meet. You didn’t even leave her the new TV so she could hock it and maybe buy groceries for a couple of days.”
“I wasn’t gone long and she had the savings,” Dan returned.
“She had half the savings, Dan, and no word from you. She had no idea you’d come back. Hell, you didn’t even give her a head’s up you were going.”
“Then she’s blind and deaf, Sylvie, and you’re her best friend so you fuckin’ know it,” Dan shot back.
I hated to admit it but he was right even though the action he took wasn’t.
“So that’s okay, your nonverbal, man communication shoots by her because she’s got three kids to take care of and a full-time job? She should have known something was wrong and fixed it? That lets you off since Charlene didn’t make the effort to drag it out of you?” I threw an arm out. “Jesus, Dan, if you’re serious about that crap you’re more of a douchebag than I thought and I thought you were the King of Douchebags.”
“You don’t get how it is,” he retorted.
Oh yeah. He was pissing me off.
“Clue in, Dan,” I ground out. “I’ve been over here nearly every morning since you took off. I only have forty-five minutes a morning of it but I still know how it is. I also know your wife does not complain. She loves those kids, that house, her family, her life and she used to love you. You fucked up, asshole, huge.”
“Sylvie, go inside. See to the kids. Get Charlene out here.”
This was Creed ordering me around and, in doing so, we’d discovered a time when I wasn’t real fond of him being bossy.
Therefore I replied, “No way.”
“I’m not moving and if I don’t like how it goes down between them, he’s gone and she’s inside. Yeah?” Creed returned.
I took in a big breath and countered, “How about if you figure I won’t like what goes down, he’s gone and she’s inside?”
“Sylvie, just go get Charlene,” Creed kept being bossy.
“Creed –”
“Woman, there is no way in fuck I’m gonna let this motherfucker who walked out on his wife and kids pull shit on her,” Creed declared before he stressed, “No fuckin’ way. You know that. You know me. You got nothin’ to worry about. Now, baby, go the fuck inside, get Charlene and see to the kids.”
“Baby?” Douchebag Dan asked at this juncture and I controlled my blood pressure by looking at him which didn’t exactly help.
“I forgot to mention, he’s my man, too. We do three-ways. They rock. See? You totally missed out. You hung around and acted like a decent guy, who knows what would have happened?”
After delivering that, verbally marking my score at the look of shock and hunger that cut through his features, I ignored Creed looking to the sky and shaking his head and stomped into the house.
I found Charlene, guided her away from the kids and held a low-voiced conversation with her in the living room.
“Right, you go out but Creed is not leaving and, Charlene, I love you, he loves me, he cares about you and those kids, so he’s not gonna leave you alone with Dan in order that he can be close to see to you. You listen to what Dan has to say but, warning, if Creed doesn’t like his bullshit, it’s done.”
“But he’s back and –” she started and God, God, God she needed to clue in!
I grabbed her by either side of her neck and gave her a gentle shake. “Trust me. Trust Creed. Dan says his head was screwed up and maybe he’s not lying. If that’s the case and he’s got his shit sorted, Creed will get that and roll with it. If it’s not, Creed will sniff it out and Dan will be on his way.”
She held my eyes.
I held hers back.
She said nothing.
I didn’t either until this lasted awhile so I whispered, “Babe, trust us.”
She licked her lips before she nodded.
I squeezed her neck and let her go.
She was walking away when I called her name and she turned back.
“Uh… FYI, Dan thinks Creed’s your new boyfriend, he’s mine too and we do three-ways.”
Her mouth dropped open as her eyes went huge.
I grinned at her then went to find the kids.
* * * * *
Adam, Theo and Leslie were strapped into their car seats in Creed’s truck and I was making goofy faces at them through the windows. Once I got big smiles, I stopped doing that, rounded the hood and went to Creed’s open window.
“You got them?” I asked quietly.
“I got them, you get her,” he answered quietly.
I nodded before saying, “Love you, babe.”
“Back at ‘cha,” Creed replied, I smiled at him, slapped the side of his truck with my hand and stepped away.
Creed pulled away.
I moved to Charlene’s house.
I found her in her bedroom, the drapes pulled, the room dark. She was face down on the bed and she’d already been through a half a box of Kleenex, the tissues rumpled and strewn all over
the bed and the floor.
Suffice it to say, Douchebag Dan had not got his head screwed on straight. Even Charlene cottoned onto the fact that Dan was home because Dan had underestimated what it would cost to set up a new life without the ball and chain of home, spouse and family. He’d run out of money and had nowhere else to go. This being the case, Creed didn’t send him packing. Charlene did.
When I arrived in her room, I climbed right into bed with her, shifting until my front was flush with her back and I wrapped my arm tight around her waist, holding her close.
“We’ll get you through this,” I whispered.
“He’s a dick,” she whispered back, her voice trembling.
“Yep,” I agreed. “He’s also gone. You feel this for a while then you move on.”
Her body bucked against mine with her sobs but I just held on.
We lay together silently for long minutes before she asked softly, “What if he’s my Creed?”
Seriously?
I loved her but she had to clue in.
“He isn’t your Creed and I know this because the true Creeds of this world are out doing things like my Creed is doing, taking your kids for lunch and ice cream and to a park so you have time to get yourself sorted. They do not take off, shirk their responsibilities, come home after over two months and not even ask to see their kids. He isn’t your Creed, babe. Maybe there’s one out there for you. It just isn’t Dan.”
I heard her stuttering breath before her head moved on the pillow indicating she was nodding.
“I’ll stay until your shit’s –” I started but stopped when she turned in my arm and wrapped hers around me.
“You won’t. When you’re ready to go, you’ll go. I’ll be okay. You be happy.”
“Helping you out makes me happy,” I informed her.
“Not as much as being with Creed.”
That was the truth.
“Charlene, girl –”
She shook my body with her arm. “You aren’t going tomorrow, right?”
I grinned at her through the dark and confirmed, “Right.”
“When my eyes don’t feel puffy and my stomach doesn’t feel funny and my heart doesn’t hurt so damned much, we’ll talk. We’ll plan. We’ll figure it out. I’ll find my way and I know you’ll help me. It doesn’t feel fine now but it will be. It always is.”