Chapter 19
Chapter Nineteen
CHELSEA
“Where are we going to put all this shit?” my sister eloquently asks as she falls onto the couch in the living room, surrounded by a ton of boxes.
“And this isn’t even everything! You still have a lot left in storage and I left half of my stuff at mom’s.”
I shrug, surveying the mess that is my house. And my life. They go hand in hand these days.
“Mommaaaa!” Dominic comes tearing around the corner, dragging his stuffed puppy by his ear behind him, then skids to a halt. “Whoaaa,” he says making me chuckle at his wide eyes.
“Hey baby boy, we sure have a lot of stuff, huh?” I scoop him up, plastering kisses all over his face as he giggles. He squirms, so I steady him on his feet while he takes off for the kitchen.
Dominic is a perfect child, sweet and loving, cute and funny.
But he never tires out. I’ve been doing it myself since day one.
Yes, I know, by my own choice, but I’m exhausted.
I don’t know any other way but mine. I wonder how I can adapt to letting someone help?
To letting Adam change the way we do things.
Or allowing Francesca to babysit. Will she be the cool aunt and want to give him candy before bed?
Adley has always respected my rules for Dom and follows my schedule with him to a tee.
I know I need to be a little more forgiving and bendable.
Children need structure but not rigidity.
I have to learn how to go with the flow.
Crash.
“Uh oh, Momma.”
And there’s the flow.
Sighing I walk into the kitchen and see the juice spilled on the floor along with the cup Dom was trying to fill. “Baby, you need to ask me to help you if you need something.”
“I sorry, Momma.” He looks at me with big eyes. I dry his hands with a paper towel and scoot him out of the kitchen so I can clean up.
“Go sit with Aunt Addy, I’ll bring you juice in another cup.
” I hear the front door open and shut, hushed voices and then footsteps.
Heavy footsteps. My heart speeds up because I remember those steps.
A construction boot appears in my view and then his face as he bends down to help me wipe up the remaining juice on the floor.
His electric blue eyes pierce me and my breath catches. Does he know how much he still affects me?
“I think there are cleaning wipes under the sink, otherwise you’re going to have a sticky mess here.” He grabs the soaked rag from me and tosses it into the sink, while I reach underneath, grab the wipes and swipe the floor quickly.
Standing, I try to avoid looking at him until I can get my heart under wraps. This is the first time I’ve seen him since our heated discussion, and I’m unsure why he’s here and what he wants to say next.
Just as I start to ask, Dom comes running back in.
“Momma, I thirsty!”
Smiling, I hand him the cup I just refilled with what didn’t spill from the bottle. “Here ya go, baby.” He takes the cup and then looks up at Adam.
“Hi,” he says softly.
Adam tenses but has a soft look on his face. He bends down, all six foot three inches of him, to appear smaller.
“Hey pal.”
“Juice,” Dom says, shoving his sippy cup into Adam's face.
He takes the cup and acts like he’s going to drink it but Dom shrieks out, “Dats mine!”
“Oh, sorry bud, I thought that was my cup.”
“Silly,” he replies but lingers a moment longer studying him. Can he see the resemblance? Then he squeals and runs from the kitchen.
Adam stands to his full height watching Dom as he leaves the room, staring for a long moment.
I take him in, I can see the longing on his face, wanting to follow his son. Wanting to just touch him, hold him.
“How do we tell him?”
My heart clenches and I know exactly what he’s asking.
“I think we just tell him in simple terms.” I swallow down the emotion that’s rising again.
“You and him need to spend time together. He won’t understand logistics, but he will understand once he starts seeing you often.
He absorbs a lot even if he doesn’t have much of a vocabulary. ”
He nods, it’s small but I see it. Dom comes skidding back into the kitchen again, shooting his empty cup into the sink like it’s a basketball.
“Hey! Easy on the house!” I half heartedly chastise him.
He turns to Adam. “You hoop?”
“He means do you play basketball?”
Adam smirks at my simple explanation then turns back to Dom with awe. “No, pal, I played football.” His eyes flick to me, then back to our son. “Would you like to learn?”
Dom nods with eagerness and then throws his arms up signaling for Adam to pick him up. He does with ease, and my heart squeezes tight in my chest at the sight of them. Two blond hair blue-eyed studs; two peas in a pod.
“I’ll teach you.” He glances at me again. “Don’t let Jackson near him, I get first dibs.” He gives me that smirk I fell in love with years ago, and it makes me happy to see him smile.
“I wouldn’t dream of it.” A wave of fire runs through my body and my palms begin to sweat as I feel the room become charged. “So, what’s up?” I inhale and let it out, trying to break the tension and calm my raging hormones.
Adam steels his gaze towards me now. “We should talk. Can we go outside real quick?”
I nod as he places Dom on his feet. “Ad, keep an eye on D please? We’re just going to step out back.”
“You got it!”
Adam is already out the door, so I follow, and we sit at the small bistro table.
“I want to tell my parents,” he blurts out. His eyes dart to me, then all around the yard. He looks nervous.
“Um, ok. I mean, yes of course. When?”
“The sooner the better. I’d rather they hear it from me than gossip through town.”
“I agree.” I pause. “How do you think they’ll take it?”
“They’re going to love him. My mom is going to cry. Dad too, probably.” He leans back in the chair and a small smile crosses his face.
I’m quiet. “And me? They’re going to hate me, if they don’t already.”
He sighs. “They don’t hate you. They hated the situation that I was left in. You know they loved you like their own, Chelsea.” He runs his hand through his hair. “Which is what makes this even more difficult for me to grasp. The why of it all.”
He’s not really asking a question, but all the excuses I’ve used for years run through my head on autopilot anyway. I’ve always needed him in ways I couldn’t explain. My days were dark and my nights long. Adam came into my life at just the right time, and it changed the definition of who I am.
But old habits die hard.
“We also need to come up with a plan, like visitation,” he clears his throat.
“I want to see him, get to know him, let him get to know me. But I don’t want to intrude, I don’t really know what to do here so I figured we should plan a schedule.
It's why I haven’t been here, I didn’t know, after our last talk, if I should just stop by. ”
Hearing the word visitation makes my pulse race. I search his eyes and only see vulnerability. Maybe a little fear. This is not the dominant Adam that I know.
He’s not going to take him from you, Chelsea.
“Adam, you’re welcome to come over anytime.”
“I don’t kno—”
“No. This is your house, even though Francesca thinks otherwise,” that earns a small eye roll, “and he is your son. I want you to see him, know him. So yes, anytime.”
He’s looking at me, eyes pleading for an answer.
Some type of help or explanation of where we go from here.
I can see it. I can see the despair on his face and the uncertainty of this situation.
Adam always had a plan of how things should go and if he didn’t have one, he quickly figured it out.
But this? Me? I can see he doesn’t have a clue and it’s making me realize how much damage I’ve actually done to this man.
“I don’t know how to navigate this. Us. Him. Are we enemies Chelsea? Like, what the fuck happened to us? How did it get so bad that you left? And took him?”
He’s getting agitated again and when I remain silent, he takes a long breath, and lets it out slowly. Then, a determined look comes across his face, like he’s just decided something and now it’s going to happen.
“I want to know him. I want to see him. So, you’re going to stay here, in this house so I can get to know my son.
” He glances toward the house, then back to me again.
His phone goes off, but he doesn’t check it.
“Right now? We’re going to head over to Mom and Dad’s.
Give them the surprise of their life. They can’t be kept in the dark anymore. ”
And just like that, a plan comes into place.
‘Take Charge Adam’ is back.