Our Little Wedding (The Spencer Brooks Diaries #3)

Ainsley

Spencer was leaving for Denver. I’d gotten him an early-morning flight and booked his hotel for three nights. Nikki and I drove Spencer to the airport, and we sat in the car watching as he headed to the front doors with his luggage.

“Bye, Daddy!” Nikki yelled from the backseat window.

Spencer turned around and waved at us. “See you soon,” he called.

We watched until he’d gone through the doors, then I hit the button to roll up the windows and turned on some music. I hadn’t told Nikki that she wasn’t going to school today. Instead, I figured I’d surprise her when I pulled into the mall parking lot.

“, am I going to be late for school?” Nikki asked from the backseat.

“No, babe, you’re not. We are on our way right now,” I said, glancing in the driver’s side mirror to make sure the lane was clear before I pulled away from the curb.

“, did Daddy tell you I want a pink blanket for my new room?”

“He did. He even showed me the picture you showed him. It’s really pretty.”

“Do you think you could get it for me? Then I could be like my friend Haley, who lives across the street. She has one just like it, and I just love it so much.”

I did my best to keep a straight face. “Well, what did your dad say? Did you ask him?”

“He told me to put it on my Christmas list, but I know that if you got it for me, he wouldn’t be angry.”

I smiled. “Well, I don’t know. I think maybe I should talk to him about it first,” I said and glanced in the rearview mirror just in time to see her pout.

“Okay,” she said, letting out a huff and crossing her arms in front of her chest.

I did my best not to laugh at her actions as I drove down the freeway and pulled off at the exit for the mall, coming to a stop at the lights before turning into the large parking lot. I drove around, finally finding a spot, and shut the car off.

“Where are we?” Nikki asked, looking out the back window. “This doesn’t look like school.”

“It’s not. We are at the mall. You and I are spending the day together. We are going to get some things for your room at the new house,” I said, climbing out of the car and opening the back door.

“Yay! Can we get my blanket, please, ? I promise I will be a good girl.”

“Well, I wanted it to be a surprise, but yes, we can,” I said, kissing her forehead as I helped her out of the back of the car.

Nikki pulled on my arm as we headed into the mall, excited to get her blanket. I wasted no time. We made our way into the bedding store and right over to the kids’ section. Within minutes, she’d found the same one her friend had, and she also found three others she liked. Now we stood before four sets of bedding, two of them pink, and two light purple.

I watched as Nikki walked around each bag, looking at each one repeatedly. I glanced at my watch. We’d been standing here for the past twenty-five minutes.

“I just don’t know, . I love this one…” she said, hugging the bag that contained the original blanket, “but I like the others too.”

“Well, sweets, you need to decide. You really seemed to have your heart set on the first one. I say we go with it, and perhaps we could also get you a new sheet set, only get that in purple. That way, you have a little of both colours,” I said, reaching up and pulling a set of purple sheets down from the shelf.

“Ohhh, I like that idea!”

“All right then. You take these sheets, and I will carry the bedding,” I said, winking at her, while I put the three other comforters back on the shelf.

I grabbed her hand, and we began walking toward the cashier when Nikki spotted a pink pillow. “Can I get this too?” she asked, letting go of my hand as we walked by to grab the heart-shaped pillow.

I took one look at her face. Her eyes said it all as she held the pillow to her chest. “Okay, fine.” I winked again.

We headed to the cashier where I paid for the bedding, then we took it all out to the car before continuing through the mall. Nikki walked beside me, talking a mile a minute about how excited she was to use her new bedding, and I had to remind her many times that she had to wait until we moved.

We walked the mall the rest of the morning, stopping at some of Nikki’s favourite stores. She showed me all the things she was going to put on her birthday list. She wanted me to make sure I knew what each item was because, according to her, Spencer had gotten the items wrong last year. I couldn’t help but laugh at her seriousness as I took a picture of a few toys she said she just had to have.

After lunch, we made our way back to the car. I now had a long list of items Nikki wanted for her birthday, and for Christmas. I pulled out of the parking lot and turned left, heading toward the bookstore.

“Can we get one of those special drinks at the bookstore?” Nikki asked as we made our way inside.

“What special drink would that be?” I asked, knowing full well she wanted a vanilla frappe.

“You know, one of those whipped-up drinks you bring home when you come here.”

“Ohhh, one of those. I think we can.” I giggled, pulling her close to me.

We stood in line, and when it was our turn, I stepped up to the counter and waited to place our order. Nikki pulled on my arm, wanting to show me something, and that was when I heard her voice.

“What can I get for you?”

I didn’t want to turn around. I wanted to grab Nikki and run, only it was too late. She’d already seen us.

“Well, well, well, if it isn’t the babysitter.” Brittany stood behind the counter staring at me, and then she noticed Nikki. “Why the hell isn’t Nikki in school?”

“Don’t worry, her father knows. Actually, allowing her out of school for the day was his idea. Now, we’d like two vanilla Frappuccinos please.”

She punched a couple of keys on the register with attitude and then looked at me. “Loading my child up on sugar, huh? Not a wonder why she always acts like a little brat when she’s home.”

“I highly doubt that I’m the problem.”

“Oh, my dear, how na?ve are you? You are the only problem that I see here. If you honestly think that by you ordering I am just going to drop the subject, you’re more na?ve than I thought.”

Ignoring her, I pulled Spencer’s card out of my wallet and handed it to her without thinking. I didn’t understand what her problem was. All I knew was that I wanted this confrontation to end and for us to be away from her.

She looked down at the card and then up at me and chuckled to herself, shaking her head. “Living the high life, are you? You’re living with him, fucking him, and also getting a paycheck from him. Why do you need his credit card, too?”

I felt my cheeks heat at her words.

“Oh wait, I know why. I mean, he was a mediocre fuck. He can only make up for it by padding your chequebook.”

I was about to lean over the counter and tell Brittany to fuck herself when I heard Nikki call out to her. “Mommy, oh Mommy, just wait till you see what got me.”

Brittany looked at me and rolled her eyes.

“She got me a pretty pink blanket for our new house!” Nikki cried with excitement.

Brittany completely ignored her and continued to glare at me.

“Nikki, not now,” I whispered as Brittany looked down at her. Once her eyes were off me, I closed my eyes and took in a breath. I just wanted out of here because I knew from here on things would not go over well.

“Is that so? Did you put it in on this card too? Perhaps I should call him and let him know I found his credit card, that some tramp stole it,” she whispered as she leaned over the counter.

I glared at her. “Brittany, you really should calm down before you get fired from yet another job.”

Brittany glared back at me and yelled out for two vanilla Frappuccinos. She ran Spencer’s credit card through the machine and handed it back to me. Then, in a huff, she disappeared behind the counter, saying nothing to Nikki, who looked up at me with tears in her eyes.

“Did I do something wrong, ?” Nikki asked me, a tear slipping down her cheek.

“No, sweetie, you did nothing wrong. It appears your mother is having a bad day.”

I occupied Nikki while we waited for our drinks, and I prayed Brittany didn’t return to the counter. Once I heard my name called, we took our drinks and made our way into the bookstore, where we headed into the children’s section to pick out a couple of new books for Nikki, when all I really wanted to do was go back home.

It was almost nine thirty by the time I crawled into bed. I’d put Nikki to bed at seven and read to her until she drifted off to sleep, then I sat down and caught up on work emails before taking a hot bath.

I then crawled into bed and snuggled down under the covers and turned on the TV. I searched until I found a show I’d been watching and then grabbed my phone to text Spencer. It was a pleasant surprise to find a message waiting for me instead.

RomanticAlpha42: I’m at the hotel. Call me.

I dialled his number and waited for him to pick up. “Hey, sweetie.”

“Hey, how did things go today?” his tired voice asked.

“Okay. We picked out her bedding for her room.”

“Good. Was she happy?”

“She was so excited. I wish you could have seen her face. I also have a wish list of items for her birthday and for Christmas.”

“I see.” Spencer chuckled. “Everything else go okay?”

“Yeah, I ordered pizza for dinner. After spending the day shopping and getting her bathed and ready for school tomorrow, I was exhausted.”

“That’s good. I am sure she enjoyed that.”

“Yes, she did.” I bit my bottom lip. I swallowed hard. I knew I had to tell Spencer about running into Brittany. What I didn’t want was her calling him and lying about things at the bookstore today. For all I knew, she would turn the whole incident around on me.

“What else did you do?”

“We went to the bookstore.” I grew quiet for a moment and took in a breath, “Oh, and we ran into Brittany today.”

“What? Where?”

“At the bookstore. Well, actually, at the coffee shop. Nikki wanted a Frappuccino, so we went into the coffee house there. Brittany apparently works there now.”

“And…”

“Oh, and she was her usual charming self.”

“Did she take a tone with you?”

“She was worse there to me than she was the night at the restaurant. However, it’s not me I’m worried about. It’s how she treated Nikki.”

“What the hell did she do?”

“Ignored her. Completely ignored her. I’m wondering if the acting out isn’t from that.”

Spencer was quiet for a few moments. “Perhaps I’ll make a call to my lawyer, you know, and add more to the custody case. She always wanted to fight me on this. What else did she say?”

“Well, it made her angry Nikki wasn’t in school. Then, without thinking, I gave her your credit card to pay for the drinks. She said she was going to call you.”

“Did you tell her to go ahead?” he questioned.

“No, Spencer, I just wanted to be done with her.”

“Are you sure you’re okay on your own there? I hate you being alone.”

“Spencer, please, don’t worry about me. Nikki is fine, I am fine. Also, remember, my father, who still isn’t speaking to me, is right next door. I know he would let nothing happen to us. I know he knows you’re away because I saw him watching Nikki and I through his front window when we were getting out of the car. He also kept coming to his kitchen window when we were in the backyard after dinner.”

“I know. It’s not the point. I should have brought you guys. It’s not too late. You can book a flight, and I will have you picked up at the airport.”

“Seriously, Spencer, we are fine. Carly is going to come over and spend the night tomorrow. If Brittany wants to stop by, she can deal with Carly.” I giggled.

The line went quiet for a moment, then I heard Spencer clear his throat. “Perhaps alone may be better. Is she still all for team breakup?”

“Probably. Who knows with her? Last I spoke to her, she told me she needed to limit the time she spent when you were around because you were growing on her. I don’t even know what that means.”

Spencer laughed. “I see. Perhaps I’ll be in her good books one day after all.”

“Did you speak to Max yet?”

“No, he doesn’t even know I’m in town. I wanted to get settled in. The flight was late, so I decided I’d pop into the office tomorrow morning instead. I’ll know more about what is going on after that meeting. I think I am going to treat him to dinner, just two brothers.”

“That’s good,” I said, yawning.

“You in bed already?” Spencer questioned.

“Yeah, what about you?”

“No. I’m still working. I went over a lot of stuff on the flight, but I wanted to prepare a plan for Max. You know, goals. So that is what I’ll be working on tonight.”

“Yes, you had mentioned that you were going to work on that.”

The line grew quiet, neither of us saying anything. As I lay there listening to him breathe, I wished Spencer were here beside me, holding me instead of being so far away.

“What are you thinking?” he asked, his voice low.

I didn’t want to make him feel worse than he already did. I knew he didn’t enjoy being away from us, and this time he was worried about us being alone, but I couldn’t help wanting to be with him.

“Just a little lonely. Wishing you were here is all.”

“Are you sure you don’t want to come to Denver?” he asked.

This was why I didn’t want to say anything. I sighed. “Yes, I am sure, there is no need for us to come to Denver.”

“Okay. I’ll be home before you know it. Why don’t you get some sleep and I will talk to you in the morning?”

“Okay, good night. I love you.”

“Love you too.”

I hung up the phone and lay in bed staring at the TV and thinking of Spencer. I felt like I’d upset him by telling him what had happened. He wasn’t acting like himself. Normally, by now, we’d have been hot and heavy into dirty talk, when instead he seemed to just want to get off the phone.

I arranged the covers partially over my naked body in such a way that would leave him wanting a little more and snapped a picture, which I sent straight to Spencer with the words ‘wish you were here’ attached to the message and hit send. It had barely been a minute when my phone vibrated, and I looked at the screen to see a crying emoji face. I couldn’t help but laugh out loud.

RomanticAlpha42: Just wait till I get my hands on you.

BabyGirl89: Cannot wait ;)