Chapter 37
Chapter Thirty Seven
Monty
Eleven Months Post Partum
“Are you sure you don’t want to come with us to my parents for dinner?” I ask Evie again, while guiding one of my arms into my jacket.
She smiles at me softly from where she’s crouched in front of Hayes helping get his winter boots on.
“Yes, I’m sure.” She assures me, “I stayed up late last night playing around with some different kinds of editing variations on the photos I took for Barks and Recs. They are wanting to upload the new photos after Thanksgiving.”
Evie has really flourished in her photography, while she missed the sign up for the classes at the community college.
She found a group of photographers that she meets with weekly and they go out with a different theme and technique that they work on.
Then a couple weeks ago, I was doom scrolling through my Capture feed when I saw that the local animal shelter was looking for a volunteer to take photos of the current animals in the shelter.
I sent it over to Evie and she called them the next day to offer to take the photos. She’s been working so hard through the day here with Hayes and Shiloh, then at night if she’s not with us she’s at her computer working on the newest photo or project.
After Halloween, Evie has spent every night in our bed. She still leaves before the boys wake up, or we get up with the boys while she sneaks out. The boys are none the wiser and it’s good to have her in our bed with us. She’s exactly where she’s meant to be.
We’ve been talking about what comes next, with Harper and Xavier knowing and being so supportive we want to be able to share with everyone.
Evie still wants to wait a little while longer before we go public however, and Josie and I want to respect her wishes.
Even if I want to growl ours at every man, woman and non-binary who checks her out.
“Those photos are going to turn out amazing because you took them. I’m sure they won’t need much editing.” Josie tells Evie as she walks over to the coat hangers and grabs her own jacket. “Just hang out and relax, we’ll make sure to bring you home something to eat.”
“Oh, don’t worry about me. I was just going to make some ramen and probably go to bed early.” Evie says as she walks over to the pantry and pulls out two packs of cheap noodles.
We say our goodbyes, load up the boys into the SUV and are off to my parents.
The drive is about two hours away. With young kids it’s not the most ideal to travel that long, but the boys have been getting better in the car recently.
When my mom called to invite us over, and gave us a reason not to cook in our own home I couldn’t say no, especially when she sweetened the pot by telling me she was making my favorite dessert.
My mouth begins to fill with saliva at the thought of my mom’s pumpkin pie cheesecake.
Between listening to nursery rhymes and Shiloh’s constant questions, I internally cry with relief when my parents driveway appears ahead of us.
My mom is already standing outside on the front steps as we pull in. Sure enough she followed us on her phone since I shared my location with her. It saves from the phone calls I’ve gotten in the past asking where we were.
“Nana! Pa!” Shiloh screams as he leaves the SUV.
Running straight into my moms arms. When she releases him, he runs to my dad who picks him up and spins him around.
My parents are in their late fifties, my mom works as a receptionist at the local dentist office, while my dad just retired, he was my right hand man at the business.
He was our main consultant when I wasn’t available for the last couple of years, then he had to get a knee replacement and couldn’t work the same way he used to.
He’s enjoying his free time, though he still shows up to the shop once a week to check in, I know it’s because he doesn’t know what to do with himself most days.
“Hey, Mom.” I lean down and peck my mom on the cheek.
“Hello Monty boy, how was the drive?” She asks, while taking Hayes from my arms and peppering him with kisses which causes him to giggle.
“It wasn’t bad, Shiloh had a whole repertoire of questions to ask us on the drive up.” I tell her just as Josie arrives at my side with the diaper bag. I wrap my arm around her shoulder and bring her to my side, dropping a soft kiss to the top of her head.
We follow my parents into the house and get settled.
Josie follows my mom into the kitchen to help her out with whatever’s left, and I head to the basement with the boys and my dad.
About a month after he retired he renovated the whole basement into a man cave with a side designated for the kids play area.
He came across a post online about turning space underneath your stairs into a kids size general play store.
Shiloh absolutely loves it, while Hayes is just starting to show interest in the fake food.
We take turns being customers in Shiloh’s store, looking for the craziest items. Hayes joins in, talking in equal parts gibberish and English. Slamming a fake broccoli on the check out counter chanting “fee, fee, fee!”
“It’s not free Hayes! That cost two dollars.” Shiloh huffs, hands on his hips. I try to hide my chuckle as the two of them try and figure out how to play together with such an age gap. “It’s seriously not funny dad.” he whines at me, “Hayes isn’t playing right.”
“Buddy, I get that you want your brother to play the way you want him too, but he’s still a bit too young to understand that.
” I walk up behind Hayes who has continued to slam the fake vegetable on the counter and pass Shiloh one of his fake bills.
He grumbles a thank you while I lead Hayes off to the side so he can continue to ring his pops through.
“Come on up!” My moms voice filters its way down the stairs, letting us know dinner is all set.
“Okay Loh, let’s get this place tidied up and head up for some supper.” Clapping my hands I help him clean up the toys while Hayes and my dad head upstairs. We clean everything in record time, and race up the stairs to join everyone else.
Dinner was delicious, and no one spoke as we ate and enjoyed the food. I help my mom clear the table while Josie and my dad bring everyone to the living room before dessert.
My mom stands at the sink and begins washing, but I quickly move her out of the way and take over. Instead of leaving me to wash the dishes she sidles up beside me with a dish towel and begins to dry what I clean.
We work in silence and as I’m placing the last of the dishes into the sink my mom speaks. “Where is Evie? I thought she would come join us tonight.”
“She was going too, but she was feeling a bit run down. She decided to stay back and take it easy, and maybe head to bed early.” I respond, rinsing off the next dish and passing it to her.
She hums in acknowledgement but doesn’t say anything right away. I continue with the next dish, and it isn’t until I’m emptying the sink and wiping things down that she continues.
“Evie is a nice girl.” She states, pulling the cheesecake out from the fridge and placing it on the counter.
“She is.” I agree with her, “She’s been a huge help since Hayes was born. I don’t know exactly how we would have done it without her.”
“The boys seem to be very taken with her too.” She says, passing me a slice of the cheesecake.
I take it cautiously, little warning bells start to go off.
My mom is fishing for information, this isn’t the first time I’ve been a victim to Sloane Montgomerey’s subtle third degree.
She’s flawless and you don’t realize what’s happened until you’ve already spilled the beans.
“You know my cribbage girlfriend, June?” She continues to place slices of cheesecake on each plate.
I slowly bring my fork to my mouth and take a mouthful of my dessert before I muffle my answer, “Yes. You meet every Friday night and you play crib.”
“Yes. Well, she was telling me the other week about how her husband’s cousin and his wife just came out that they had added another person to their relationship.” She says, with her back still in my direction.
I stop chewing and stare at the back of her head, trying to figure out where exactly she’s going with this. “Well, that’s an interesting little piece of gossip.” I respond, unsure of where to really take this.
“That was my thoughts too.” She pauses and turns to face me.
“Then I thought about it, and our society has changed so much since your father and I were young. There are a lot of different dynamics that have come out into the public eye that never would’ve happened before.
I may not understand these things as much as I would like too, but I’m always open to learning more. ”
The fact of what she’s hinting at hits me right in the center of my chest. We haven’t told either of our parents of our dating habits throughout the years, because they were never serious enough to broach the subject.
I don’t know what it is about hearing my mom saying that on top of how much she adores Evie. It settles something in me, and further confirms that what Josie and I feel toward her is something that is worth it.