Chapter 22
Chapter Twenty-Two
Sloane
Tonight has been so much fun. Everyone met us here, then we loaded the kids up in the wagon and took off around the neighborhood.
All five of the guys were troopers with dressing up and playing their part.
Amanda ended up canceling. Something about Ethan having to work and her not feeling well.
I’m not sure I believe it, but we all told her to feel better and to let us know if she needed anything.
I think her husband refused to participate, and she didn’t want to have to make excuses for him again. I could be wrong, and I hope that I am—not that I want her to be sick—but I do want her husband to make time for her.
“I can’t believe they thought the two of you were dressed up as yourselves.” Corie laughs.
We’re all back at Baker’s place after a night of trick-or-treating, talking about the night. We ordered pizza and wings and are waiting for them to arrive. “We were us,” Foster says, looking down at his jersey. “It’s not hard to be me.”
“What he said.” Baker grins. “You did well, babe. We had to put in minimal effort.” He chuckles.
“You’re welcome.” I grin up at him, and Foster holds up his hand for a high-five, and I slap my palm against his.
“I know, but they thought you were not the real you dressed as you,” Corie says, shaking her head.
“And what about you all?” I ask Corie. “That kid was all ‘Ma’am, your husband looks like Knox Beckett,” I tease.
“I know. I wanted so badly to tell him he was right, but I knew with all five of them there, we’d get mobbed.” She grins.
“It was nice,” Landry says, “to be out like that and have people think we looked like us, but didn’t bother us like they would if they knew that it really was us.”
“That’s… confusing.” Rowan sniggers.
“Well, my costume was the best. Not one person spotted me,” Reid boasts.
“It’s the cow ears, and that pink belly, my man,” Baker jokes. “No one is expecting one of the best, if not the best, tight ends in the league to be the head of a cute-ass cow family.” He chuckles.
“Best.” Reid smirks. “The numbers don’t lie, and I know. That’s why it was the best. I had a hassle-free night with my girls and my friends. We have to do this every year,” he says. “Halloween, we can be us, and no mob. We should have thought of this sooner.”
“Daddy, open,” Camden says, rushing into the kitchen and handing Baker a piece of candy he somehow managed to grab out of his bucket. I thought I put that up. I look up at the cabinet and sure enough, it’s there. It must be a straggler he had hidden or something.
“After dinner,” he tells him.
“Swoan, open.” He comes to me next, pulling on my cheerleader skirt.
“Daddy said after dinner,” I remind him. He huffs out a breath and surveys the room before rushing over to Landry.
“Una Wandry, open,” he says, and I can see on Landry’s face he’s going to cave.
Landry smiles down at Camden and doesn’t even glance our way as he opens the mini piece of chocolate and hands it back to Camden.
“Ank ooo,” he says, after shoving the entire piece into his mouth.
“You’re weak, Reynolds.” Knox laughs.
“You can’t give him everything he wants,” Baker tells him. He’s not mad; in fact, I don’t even have to look at him to know that he’s highly amused with Landry’s lack of willpower where the kids are concerned.
“I—Yes, I’m weak,” he says, holding his hands up in the air, and the room erupts in laughter. “He’s too damn cute. The struggle is real.”
“It’s okay, babe. At least you admit there’s a problem,” Rowan teases.
“How do you do it?” Landry asks Baker.
“It’s hard at times, but kids need structure. And if he fills up on chocolate, he won’t eat his dinner, and he’ll be bouncing off the walls and will be up all night with a bellyache. Then Sloane and I will never get any sleep.”
“So, this is what we have to look forward to,” Reid muses.
“We’re already there.” Bellamy laughs. “And you’re as weak as Landry when it comes to telling Coral no.”
“What? I am not,” Reid counters, but his tone and the look on his face tell us he knows he’s guilty.
“Yes, you are,” Bellamy fires back. “What about last night? She kept tossing her cheese puff to the floor, and instead of ignoring it or telling her no, you laughed, which meant she was also laughing, and she kept doing it to make you smile at her.”
“It was cute as hell.” Reid sniggers.
Camden comes rushing over to Landry and hands him another piece of chocolate. Landry looks pained, so I intercept as I step closer to him, lift Camden into my arms, and twirl him around, making him giggle. I manage to take the piece of candy and toss it to Baker, who shoves it into his pocket.
“Teamwork.” Baker winks at me.
Camden presses his hands to my cheeks and kisses me, and he tastes like chocolate. “Have you been eating more chocolate than we know about?” I ask him.
“Where are you getting those?” Baker asks him.
Camden points to the living room, and Coral’s bag is beneath his wagon, the one we used to haul them around the neighborhood. She was sleeping, so we wheeled it inside, and this little bugger took full advantage.
Her bag is on the floor, and sure enough, there are some empty wrappers. I want to tell him he’s been a bad boy, but I’m fighting my own smile, because he also told on himself.
“You little sneak,” I say, tickling his belly. That earns me a big laugh, and I twirl us around again. We end up bumping into Baker, who wraps his arms around us with a smile.
The doorbell rings. “I’ll get it,” Foster says, moving toward the door.
“I put the tip on the card!” I call after him, and he waves over his shoulder.
Once everyone has a plate, we move to the dining room and talk about some of the silly and even scary costumes we saw tonight as we walked around the neighborhood.
Baker finishes before me and tries to take Camden from Landry, but he’s stuck like glue to his uncle, who feeds him chocolate.
So instead, he leans back in his chair, stretches his arm out on the back of mine.
Landry smirks, proud as a peacock that Camden chose to stay with him, and offers Camden a piece of his wing he just tore off the bone.
Baker leans in close. “Today was one for the memory books,” he says, kissing just below my ear. “Thank you for this.”
I turn to look at him. “It would have happened regardless.”
“Yeah, but I wouldn’t have been as prepared, and chances are, not dressed up, and wouldn’t get to walk around with my favorite cheerleader and the best referee in Tennessee,” he jokes.
“It was fun. I took so many pictures.” I make a mental note to upload them to get developed. Over the last several months, my camera roll is pretty much the Camden show.
“Good. We’ll have to top this next year.
” He winks, and my belly flops at his words as excitement washes over me.
It’s the kind of excitement that makes you want to jump headfirst with your eyes closed, hoping for the best. However, it’s too late for that.
My heart is already split in the middle for the two of them.
Father and son stole it, and I don’t want it back.
Thinking that far into the future gives me hope.
Things are going great with us. I still haven’t told him that I love him.
Not because of how I think he’ll react, but I just…
I don’t know if I’m being honest. We’re just us right now.
We’re enjoying life, time with each other, and time with Camden.
We’re in a good place, and I don’t want to risk rocking the boat, even if I don’t think that would happen.
It took us a good while to get Camden down after everyone left. We gave him a bath, which he loved, and I think it was the fourth story before his eyes finally closed. He was fighting it. He had such a fun time tonight, I think he was afraid he might miss something else.
Baker hits the switch next to the gas fireplace in the living room, and the room lights up in a warm glow. After turning off the overhead light, he sits next to me on the couch and pulls me into his arms.
“Today was perfect,” I whisper into his embrace, my voice melting into the warmth between us as the firelight dances across the wall.
“It was. The kids enjoyed it.”
“You mean the big kids, right?” I ask him. “We all had a blast.”
“We did,” he says, leaning in to kiss my temple. “I haven’t dressed up for Halloween since college.”
“I don’t think I have either.” My eyes glance around the room. “Where do you put your Christmas tree?”
“What?” He chuckles.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to change the subject, but it’s that time of year, and I was just curious where you put it.”
“Well, since Cam was born, I pay a company to come in and set up a tree, and I usually have them put it in that corner.” He nods to the right of the fireplace. “They come and take it down after the first of the year. Before that, it was just me, and I didn’t bother with putting one up.”
“What?” I sit up to face him. “Really? That makes me sad.” I can just picture a single, lonely Baker in this big house without a tree.
Reaching out, he tucks my hair behind my ear. “Don’t be sad, baby. I was in my condo all alone and gone so much with the team. Then Cam was born, and I bought this place. I knew I needed it for him, both the house and the tree, but I was exhausted all the time, so it was easier to hire it done.”
“So, you don’t own a tree?”
“Nope.”
“Decorations?”
“No again,” he replies.
“Some of my favorite memories are decorating for Christmas with my parents. We’d put on Christmas music, bake cookies, and put out all the decorations, including the tree.”
“Yeah, we did, too. My mom always had a Christmas movie playing on the TV.”
“Yes! You have to have the Christmas movies.”
He smiles softly. “We should do that. I think Cam would love it.”
“Really?”
He chuckles. “Yes, really.”
“Can I help?” I ask, bouncing in my seat.
“Baby, I said we. We should do that for Cam. That’s you and me.”
“When?” I ask.
“You have my card. Buy whatever you think we need, and we’ll pick a few nights or a weekend when I’m home and we’ll get started.”
“Eeep! This is going to be so much fun. I know my mom has some Christmas cookie cutters I can borrow.”
“Just buy us some.” He rests his palm against my cheek. “We’re making traditions, right? We’re going to need them again.”
Leaning forward, I press my lips to his. “You just made my entire year,” I tell him. “Camden is going to love this.”
“I think my girl is going to love it, too.” He grins.
I shrug unapologetically. “Maybe.” I wink before settling back against his chest. “My grandparents—my dad's parents and my mom’s parents—have passed. They’d come over and spend the night on Christmas Eve, then be there to open presents Christmas morning.
I was an only child, so I was spoiled. By Santa, of course. ” I smirk.
“That’s cool. We should do that, too.”
“I’m sure your parents would be thrilled.”
“What about yours?” he asks.
“What do you mean?” I sit up again so that I can see his face.
“Do you think they’d come over and spend Christmas Eve with us to be here Christmas morning?”
Instantly, tears fill my eyes. “Really?” I don’t know why including my parents has me so emotional.
No, that’s a lie, I do know. I love that little boy as if he were my own, and Baker sees that.
He sees it, and by inviting my parents to join us, he’s acknowledging it and telling me that this is us.
Our story, our traditions—we can do whatever we want.
“Yes, really. Cam loved meeting them. I think it would be fun. We’re starting new traditions, right? Besides, we have the room. I’ve been meaning to move back to the first-floor primary bedroom now that Cam’s older. We can move our stuff in there and have the three extra bedrooms upstairs.”
“You want me to move all my things into your bedroom?”
He chuckles. “Baby, most of it's already there. We’re just going to move it all back downstairs. Cam is old enough now that he can do the stairs on his ass, both up and down, even though it still worries me. We’ve got all the gates with high latches in place. It will be fine.”
“I don’t know if I like that idea,” I tell him. “Maybe one of us should stay up there with him.”
“I’m not sleeping without you. I do that shit while we’re on the road for games. I’m not doing it at home, too. If you want to stay upstairs, we will. We can still move all of your things into our upstairs room, and have two extras for our parents.”
I part my lips, but no words come out. Swallowing back my nerves, I try again. “Okay.” That’s it. One word is all I can come up with in this monumental moment for us.
“Maybe while our parents are here, we can take the downstairs bedroom. It’s more private,” he says, leaning in for a kiss.
“We’ll just have to abstain while our parents are here.”
“Babysitters, two sets, under our roof. They’ll be upstairs. We’ll be downstairs. An entire floor between us, that’s prime time, baby.”
“This isn’t football,” I joke.
“No, this is you and me and a golden opportunity. I mean, unless you don’t think you can stay quiet.”
“You know I can.”
“Then Santa and Mrs. Claus need to celebrate the season,” he says, making himself laugh at the corniness of his own joke.
“Let’s play it by ear. Santa might have gifts to assemble, so there will be no time for extracurriculars.”
“There’s always time, Sloane. And when it comes to you, when it comes to us, we’ll make the time.” He kisses me, and one thing leads to another.
I’m lying on the couch with him hovering over me as he kisses me. He makes no move to take things further. Just kissing. Okay, and a little groping, but it’s nice just to be here. To be together and talk about our past and what we want for our future.
This really was the most perfect day.