14. Phones Go Both Ways
PHONES GO BOTH WAYS
WILL
After spending the day with Emma and her kids, I was kind of looking forward to kicking back at home with a beer while watching the latest Mounties game. I rarely get to watch them in real time due to the time difference, so I’ve been avoiding seeing the score all afternoon.
But my plans were derailed when Chris calls to see what I’m doing for the evening.
Given Chris is a far better cook than I am, when he offers to make dinner in exchange for me coming to help him with the girls’ bedtime routines, I figure it’s the least I can do for a meal I don’t have to make for myself.
Alfie follows me inside when I let myself in at Chris and Morgan’s, heading straight for the kitchen where they keep a food and water bowl for him.
I hear crying coming from the living room, which is never a good sign.
I follow the sound until I reach the door, finding Chris and Lucy in a tense stand-off over the stuffed dinosaur in Lucy’s hand, while Caidin screams blue murder from her playpen.
I quickly surmise that Lucy snatched the toy from her sister, and is now refusing to give it back .
I’ve long admired Chris’ ability to keep calm in the face of constant tantrums, especially since Caidin came along and Lucy was forced to adjust to being a big sister instead of an only child.
Lucy has definitely inherited Morgan’s fiery nature, which will serve her well as an adult, but often means she’s butting heads with her mother.
But it’s always taken a lot to shake Chris’s calm and easygoing nature.
“Lucy. You haven’t played with Bumpy in years. Please give him back to Caidin. He’s her favourite at the moment,” Chris says after giving me a nod in greeting.
“No!” Lucy stomps her foot, her little blonde curls bouncing with the force behind it. “I need Bumpy for the game I’m playing.”
“I’m going to give you until the count of three to give it back to your sister, or there will be no books before bed.”
Lucy shoots a glare towards her baby sister, whose face has turned red from all the crying, her little hands reaching towards the stuffed dinosaur. Chris counts very slowly while he stands with his arms crossed, prepared to follow through on his threat if need be.
Lucy waits until Chris is almost finished counting before finally giving in and stomping over to Caidin, unceremoniously tossing the dinosaur into her lap before continuing her stomping towards her bedroom. No doubt to sulk. Or possibly plot Chris’s doom. You can never quite tell with that kid.
Chris sighs and shakes his head before swooping down and picking up Caidin. She’s stopped crying now, but her little face is wet with tears, and he gives her a cuddle before handing her to me.
“That looked fun,” I say before blowing a raspberry on Caidin’s stomach to get her to smile, and am rewarded with an adorable laugh.
“She’s been in top form all afternoon. Morgan practically skipped out the door after going head-to-head with her several times,” Chris replies, leading the way into the kitchen.
I grab the highchair and get Caidin settled, taking the bowl of steamed vegetables from Chris to supervise feeding her while he starts cooking dinner.
“So where is Morgan?” I ask.
“She’s out with a friend for dinner. She hasn’t been out much since Caidin was born, so I figured I’d give her a night off. Hoping the girls go down soon, though. Caidin has been teething all week and Lucy has been a real handful. Really gotta admire Morgan for dealing with this on a daily basis.”
Chris works long hours as a senior partner at an insurance brokerage in the city. Morgan is still on maternity leave, so she’s often left to deal with the child-rearing duties on her own. I help out as much as I can, but Chris always puts his hand up to give her a break when he’s around.
“How much longer has Morgan got off work now?” I hand Caidin a piece of broccoli and she gives me a gummy smile before opening up wide and shoving it in her mouth.
“About a month, just after the camping trip. Caidin is starting daycare next week, so hopefully Morgan gets some time to herself a bit before she goes back.”
I shake my head. “Shit, that’s gone so fast.” It’s hard to believe my youngest goddaughter is just two months shy of her first birthday.
“Yep, I often feel like I blinked and suddenly I’m a dad of two little girls.”
I can only imagine how that feels. I’m still wrapping my head around the fact that pretty much everyone in our friendship circle is married with children.
It feels like only yesterday we were all graduating high school together, thinking we knew everything about the world.
Now here we all are, in our thirties and actual adults.
I’m still not sure if the whole happy family thing is for me, but I don’t know if it’s because the only woman I’d wanted that with disappeared from my life, or if I can see how hard it is for the others and enjoy my nice, calm life.
Once dinner is sorted and we get the girls through bath time, I sit down in the chair in Lucy’s room with her favourite book open in front of me.
She always gets me to read Dragons Love Tacos to her whenever I do bedtime, and it’s become our thing.
Lucy crawls into my lap and turns the pages while I read the book, resting her little head against my chest as she cuddles into me.
Once the book is finished, I tuck Lucy under the covers, turn on her sleeping music, and close the door. Judging by how hard she was struggling to keep her eyes open, I’m fairly certain she’ll be asleep within minutes. It seems being a tiny terrorist is hard work.
“Hey, you’re home early. I thought you’d be a few more hours yet?” I hear Chris say while I make my way down the hall.
“I had planned to be, but my boobs had other ideas, and I didn’t have my pump with me. Is Will here?” Morgan replies.
“Present and accounted for,” I say, entering the kitchen to see Chris handing Caidin to Morgan.
She presses her nose to Caidin’s head and breathes in deeply, closing her eyes.
“Lucy go off to sleep for you alright?” Chris asks, turning to look at me.
I shoot him a thumbs up. “Yep, she’s out for the count.”
“Thanks for that, mate. You ready for that steak I promised you now?”
I nod and follow Chris outside, where he gets the barbecue fired up.
We chat easily while he cooks our dinner.
I’d figured Morgan would eventually join us, but when I go inside to get us a couple more beers, I find her sitting on the couch with a book, having finished breast feeding Caidin and put her to bed.
“Hey. How was your night?” I ask.
She shuts her book, looking troubled. “It was really good, actually.”
I raise an eyebrow as I study her expression. “Really? You should tell that to your face.”
Her grimace grows. “Well, I feel bad that I had a good night. ”
“Why? Because you left Chris here with the kids?” I ask, confused.
She tsks and waves her hand at me. “Pfft, as if. Chris can handle the girls. No, I feel bad because I was with Annelisa,” she replies, and it all becomes clear.
She studies my face closely while I try to keep my expression neutral, even though the mention of her name has set off a range of emotions within me.
“When I got home and saw your car, I felt like I was being disloyal to you by having a good night with her,” she adds quietly.
I hadn’t even considered that Annie might be the friend that Morgan was out with.
I’ve been doing my best to avoid thinking about her too much, still trying to work out how to have her in my life without it being weird.
I wonder briefly if Chris knew and had avoided telling me on purpose, or if it had just slipped his mind in all the chaos when I arrived.
“You don’t need to feel bad, Morgan. I’m glad you had a good night with her. I know how much you’ve missed her over the years. My issues with Annie have got nothing to do with your friendship with her, okay?”
I never expected anyone to take sides after everything that happened with Annie and I. It had been her choice to walk away from everyone, not the other way around.
Morgan nods slowly while she continues to study me. “Okay.”
Although her response is short, I can tell from the look on her face that she wants to say more. I’m not sure I want to hear it, aware that I was most likely the topic of conversation for at least some of the evening.
Sure enough, Morgan lasts about ten seconds before she gives in to her need to say what’s on her mind. “She mentioned that you guys exchanged numbers but that she hasn’t heard from you.”
I raise an eyebrow. “Interesting. Well, phones go both ways, and I haven’t heard from her either. I don’t know how to start a conversation with her. But I don’t really want to talk about it. ”
As much as I love Morgan, I know she has a bit of a love for drama, and I don’t want to be drawn into it any further.
I’m impressed when she lets it go with a smile and a nod, so I leave her to continue reading while I grab the beers and head back out to Chris.
I don’t mention our conversation to him, and he doesn’t bring up Annie.
We pass the rest of the evening easily, finishing our dinner before playing a few rounds of pool in their games room before I head home.
It’s not until I’m climbing into bed that I bring Annie’s number up on my phone and stare at it for a while.
Taking a deep breath, I type a message before quickly deleting it and starting again.
Will
Hey, how’s it going?
I put the phone down on my bedside table before realising that sending my first message after ten on a Saturday night might seem more like a “hey, you up?” kind of situation.
I cringe when my phone vibrates, announcing an incoming message.
But it’s not Annie.
Taylor
Hey. You around?
Conflicting emotions war within me. I know Taylor is still holding out hope that we might rekindle our relationship, and I have no doubt that her message is exactly what I was worried Annie might think mine was.
Unsure of how to respond, I decide not replying is the safest way to go, so I put my phone on ‘do not disturb’ and turn out the light, hoping sleep will come easily.