Chapter 32
Chapter Thirty Two
Monty
Eight Months Postpartum
“Are you sure you have everything?” Josie asks as she places another sandwich into the travel cooler.
“I think so.” Doing a mental tally of everything that we need for the weekend. “I’m going to go toss the big cooler into the truck and do a last check over though.”
Heading to the back door I grab the cooler and make my way to Xavier’s truck.
The tailgate is open, so it takes me no time to load it up and push it further into the bed of the truck.
Placing my hands on my hips I do a quick once over of everything in the truck, making sure everything is all packed.
Satisfied we’ve got what we need, I close the tailgate and make my way back into the house.
Everyone’s in the kitchen when I get back. Clapping my hands together I announce, “Okay, I think we’re all set!”
“Yeah!” Shiloh cheers as he thrusts his fist into the air and takes off to the front door. “Let’s go!”
“Hold on buddy! We gotta say bye to momma, Evie and auntie Harps. It’s a boys' weekend, remember?” I tell him, trying to suppress my chuckle. Shiloh slides to a stop by the front door and turns running back into the kitchen.
One by one, Shiloh hugs everyone goodbye. Lingering a bit longer on Josie, when he pulls back I see the slight tremor on his bottom lip. She catches it too and reminds him about how much fun he’s going to have fishing just the boys.
When she jokingly says she wishes she could come too, Shiloh is quick to shut it down.
“No momma, you aren’t one of the boys.” His hand goes on her shoulder and stares at her intently. “If you miss me and daddy you can just call us.”
I run my hand over my mouth to hide the smile that’s fighting to escape and play it off like I’m running my hands down my beard.
“Don’t worry Loh, while we’re off catching fish on our guys trip, the ladies will be having a girls night.” Xavier tells him, as he leans down and says goodbye to Harper. He murmurs something to her which causes a smile to spread across her face before she quickly pecks his lips.
“Ew Uncle Xavy, there’s a kid here ya know.” Shiloh scrunches up his nose before giving Josie one more hug before he starts to head to the front door. “Come on da fishes are callin’”
Harper trails behind Xavier as they follow Shiloh out to the truck. Turning around, I look at the two women who are still sitting at the table. I close the distance between Josie and I quickly. Leaning down and pressing my lips to hers.
Her hand slides around the back of my neck and she deepens the kiss. With too much self control, I manage to pull myself away. “Don’t have too much fun without me, wife.” Sealing my statement with one last bruising kiss.
A breathy laugh leaves her, “No promises, you have fun with the guys and make sure to take pictures if Shiloh catches his first fish.”
“I wouldn’t dare.” I promise her, and then my eyes connect with the sassy blonde who has entered our lives. “Get over here little minx,” curling my finger, in a come here motion.
Looking in the direction of the front door quickly before she stands up and walks over to me. Her head tilts back as she connects her eyes with mine.
“Have fun… but not too much fun without me.” I tell her, cupping her face and dragging my thumb over her bottom lip.
An easy smile crosses her face before she nips at my thumb. “I make no promises.” She says to me, before rising up on her toes and places a quick kiss to my lips. Then takes a seat next to Josie, throwing her arm along the back of her chair.
I run my hand across my beard, scratching along my jaw line as I take in my women. I hope they take the time to get to explore one another, not only physically but intellectually as well.
“Make sure you guys go out or something instead of holing up in the house while we’re gone.” Reminding them to take that time, and as if on cue, Hayes begins babbling loudly pulling all of our attention to him in his play area.
“Da-da da-da” He says, holding himself up along the gate. My guy has been starting to say some words. Sure it’s da-da and mom, but those are some important words. We’ve been working on Shiloh and Evie, but those words are pretty hard for an eight month old.
“Hey little man, let da-da give you some love before I leave.” Walking over to him, I reach over the gate and lift him up. I spend the next couple minutes talking to him and throwing him in the air a few times.
“Now, you’re gonna be hanging out with the ladies this weekend.
” I tell him, after catching him and holding him at my side.
He gives the purest laughs when he’s free falling in the air like that.
His smile is huge as I continue what I’m saying.
“I want you to be on your best behavior for momma and Evie.”
“V-ee” He squeals, throwing his hands in the air, kicking his feet like he’s bouncing up and down.
I look at him in shock. He’s never said that before, my head snaps up and I see Josie and Evie with matching expressions of shock.
“Did he just…” Evie starts. The moment she speaks Hayes looks over at her and begins chanting “V-ee! Vee Vee!” Making grabby hands at her.
A smile breaks through on her face as she walks over to him. “Yeah buddy, that’s my name!” Holding out her hands she takes Hayes from my arms and begins to pepper him with kisses all over his face. Which just causes him to squeal with joy and I swear my heart grows two sizes at the sight.
The way she cares for the boys, and how much they clearly care for her.
Josie joins beside Evie and begins kissing the other side of Hayes’s face. “That was amazing.” She says when she pulls back. “You are so smart!” She tells Hayes, booping him on his nose before she looks at me.
“I can call my mom and see if she wants to come down and spend a day with us and maybe take Hayes for the night so we can go out for supper.” Josie tells me, returning back to what we were talking about earlier.
“Good.” I confirm with a nod of my head, leaning forward I place a kiss on everyone's cheek one more time before I say my final goodbyes and head out the door. They follow behind me, and once we’re all locked and loaded we drive away with everyone standing in the driveway waving us off.
The drive out to the cabin we rented takes us about three hours. Somehow we managed to make it through the whole trip there with minimal casualties.
Only a package of goldfish that Shiloh insisted he open which resulted in tiny cracker fishes all over the back of Xavier’s truck.
Uncle Xavy was of course a good sport and actually thought it was hilarious. Stating that we’ll just clean it up when we get there. My once closed off best friend is enjoying his life again.
“Have you ever thought of having kids with Harps?” I ask him, taking one of the duffle bags and bringing it to the back door. Shiloh has taken off and is exploring the cabin, insisting he needs to find a good bed to claim.
Xavier only pauses momentarily before answering me, “I have.”
Placing my hands on my hips I stare at him, waiting for him to elaborate. He just continues to unload things from the truck and doesn’t see that I’ve stopped in my tracks. When the cooler’s on the deck he turns around and notices my stillness.
“What?” He asks me, eye brown raised in question.
Throwing my hands up I scoff, “that’s all I get?” I ask in exasperation.
“Yes– you asked me if I’ve thought about having kids with Harps. The answer is I have.” He says matter of factly.
This mother fucker.
“Yes, we’ve established that.” I deadpan, getting more from him feels like I’m pulling teeth. “Have you and Harper talked about it? Are you going to be trying? When?”
I fire off the questions one after the other, because hell, why hasn’t he told me this? Am I so caught up in my current state of relationship that I haven’t made him feel like he can tell me these things?
“How about we do one question at a time, yeah?” He says hands up in a slow down position, “But let’s get everything inside first.”
Sighing, I look at the still loaded truck.
Grumbling as I unload another item because he has a point.
It takes us forty-five minutes to unload and get everything put away.
Shiloh insists we go swimming as soon as we finish unpacking, and since we were packed in a truck for a couple hours– I don’t think it’s the worst idea.
Of course with the change of task and swimming in the lake with Shiloh it’s not until much later when we’re around the fire, Shiloh passed out in his bed for the night that I remember our earlier conversation.
“Hey!” I abruptly shout, sitting up straight and looking at Xavier. His eyes widen slightly at my outburst but I continue on. “We weren’t done talking earlier. Don’t think you can just distract me with another task and I’ll forget.”
“Well, it was worth a try.” He jokes, placing his beer on the ground beside his camp chair. “What exactly do you want to know, Mont?”
I take a swig of my own beer, tilting my head to the side as I determine which question is best to start off with.
“So, you’ve thought about kids.” I say, “with Harper.”
“We’ve established that.” He deadpans.
“Alright, alright.” I tell him, “have you guys talked about it?”
“We have.”
“For the love of… can you give me a little more to go off of?” I ask, pinching my nose in frustration.
A low chuckle comes from him, and when I open one eye to look at him, his grin is spreading.
“This is killing you, isn’t it?” He laughs, grabbing his beer and taking a swig.
“No duh.” I grumble, crossing my arms across my chest and stare into the fire. I watch as the flickering flames dance across the burning wood. The warm colors intertwine with one another, no other sound than the crackling of the wood, and the chuckle of Xavier can be heard right now.