Annie sighed. “I’ll see what I can do buddy.”
“If you were scheduled to work, consider yourself approved to take off. ” I ruffled Gabe’s hair as I walked passed hi m to pick up Londyn.
“Um…thanks?” It sounded more like a question than an actually thank you but I ’ll take it.
“The game is on the fourteenth. Starts at seven thirty. I will have my car pick you up at your house. I ’ll get you a hotel room for the night. My car will bring you home Tuesday afternoon.”
“I am perfectly capable of driving there and back. It’s only a couple hours. We don ’t need to stay at some hotel when we have a house that I pay for.” She tossed a towel into her beach bag and pulled her sunglasses down, covering her eyes.
“I don’t want you driving that late at night, Annie. Think of your son and how tired you will be while trying to drive. Just accept my offer and make your son happy. ”
“Humph. Gabe, you’re so lucky I love you as much as I do. Fine. What time should I expect your car? And, by car you mean something normal like a Honda Civic and not some giant limo, right? ” She looked cute when she was aggitated.
Gabe high fived me and I laughed. “See, how hard was that? ”
Annie rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest. “What kind of car, Gage?”
“I will make sure it’s nothing too flashy. No pink streched Hummer ’s, okay? ” This girl was hell bent on making things difficult.
“Whatever.” Annie scoffed. She bent down and kissed Gage on the cheek. “Love you buddy. Be good for Uncle Jase and remember what mommy said about Tristan. I will see you in the morning. ”
“I know. Stay away from Tristan. Love you mommy. ”
Annie came over to me and rubbed Londyn ’s cheek. “Bye sweet girl. Maybe we can play again, another day.” Londyn giggled and reached out for her. “Sorry, sweetie, I have to go to work.” Grabbing her tiny hands, Annie kissed them before turning and trekking her way back through the sand.
“OK, little man. I also have to go to work. I will see you in a few days though, okay?”
Gabe nodded. “I will talk mommy into getting me one of your jerseys so you can see me at the game. ” Little did he know during a game I couldn’t see anyone in the stadium. I smiled and said, “I will get you one and I will sign it for you. I will give it to your mommy to give to you. ”
“Maybe you could get her one, too. ” Gabe raised his eyebrows, looking hopeful.
“Do you think she would wear it?”
Shrugging he answered, “Probably. She always complains about not having clothes to wear. Now I won ’t have to listen to her complain.”
“Ok. Then I will get a jersey for her, also. I ’ll see you in a few days, buddy.”
“Bye, Gage.”
Walking back to were Jenna was sitting in the sand with Evie I had a smile on my face.
“She’s cute,” Jenna said bluntly.
Setting Londyn down beside Evie I watched the two small girls dig into the sand. “She is. I like her, but she won’t give me the time of day.” I shouldn’t care. But, I did. I was attracted to her.
“She seemed good with Londyn. Was that her little boy?” Jenna asked.
“Do we have to do this? I don’t want to play twenty questions. I like her and I shouldn’t. Five months, Jenna. That ’s it, but there is something about her that keeps drawi n g me to her like bess to honey .”
“Why shouldn’t you? Gage, look at me. ” Jenna put her hand on my arm, and I looked at her. “ She would want you to be happy. There is no time frame for mourning. You can still miss her and be sad. That doesn’t mean you have to pause your life for a certain amount of time. ”
I guess we were going to do this. Much to my disapproval. “I do miss her, everyday. But, there is something about Annie that makes the pain a little less. I ’m still trying to figure out what’s going on with her and her son. I know that today, spending time with Gabe, I felt the best I have in months. It felt right, like I was exactly where I was supposed to be. ”
Jenna had tears forming in the corners of her eyes. “Maybe, that’s because you are where you’re supposed to be. Watching you today, I saw the old Gage. I haven’t seen him in a long time. I loved seeing you smile and laugh.”
“This afternoon I was happy. Playing football with Gabe felt natural. Seeing Annie holding Londyn seemed like it should be an everyday thing.” I brought my eyes to my eight month old daughter. She was the spitting image of her mom. “’I asked them to the preseason game on Monday.”
“Well, are they going?” Jenna asked, excitedly.
“Yep. I’m having a car pick them up and drive them home. I’m also having her stay the night in New Orleans.”
Raising an eyebrow she asked, “With you?”
I shook my head. “No. I don’t even have a place there. I have just been staying at The Roosevelt when I need to. I’ll get them a suite for the night.”
Jenna slowly nodded. “Just take it slow, okay. I don’t want to see you get hurt.”
“I’m not looking for a relationship, Jenna. Hell, I would take her being my friend. I married Cobie, that’s it for me.”
“Don’t use her either, Gage. I know what you become when you’re hurting. I’m not a blithering idiot. I know exactly what you did a few years ago. It’s my fault. I should have never said yes when you asked me to marry you. I was in love with Larkin. Deep down I always knew we would never get married. But, you sacrificed so much. I didn’t want to let you down. Then, I did. I chose Larkin. You shut me out, and drank like a fish, screwing anything that would drop her panties and spread her legs. Don’t go back to that.”
I knew my reputation as a man whore had gotten out. I didn’t know Jenna had blamed herself. I was waiting for the sting in my chest to come. Nothing. Not even a dull ache. I loved Jenna, always would, but I had moved on. “It wasn’t your fault. I knew you would chose him. I fooled myself into thinking that you were in love with me. And, for a little while I actually thought we would be a family. All it took was the look on your face when you saw Larkin holding Evie to know how wrong I had been. I wanted you to be happy and I knew that wasn’t with me. It hurt, I won’t lie. I handled it wrong. But, if I hadn’t then Londyn wouldn’t be here.” I curled a piece of her hair around my finger. “Cobie and I only wanted one night. It turned into so much more and I am so thankful for that. If it weren’t for Londyn,”- I sighed and shut my eyes- “If it wasn’t for her I don’t even want to think about the kind of person I would be today. She saved me. She changed me.”
Jenna rested her head on my shoulder. “Our pasts aren’t pretty, but that’s what makes us who we are today.”
She was right. I couldn’t change my past. Even if I could I wouldn’t want to. I couldn’t keep living in the ‘coulda, woulda shoulda’s’. I had to move on from the past. But that meant moving on from Cobie. I still wasn’t sure if I was ready for that. Cobie gave me the greastest blessing in life and my life saver. I opened my eyes to look at Londyn. She had a mouth full of sand, giggling. She made my past worth every bit of hurt and anger I went through. She was worth more than anything. I would spend the rest of my life making sure she knew how much she meant to me. To her mom. To us.
Annie
What the hell did I agree to? Groaning, I opened my closet. What would one wear to a football game that she didn’t want to be at? Sweatpants and an old ratty tee shirt?
“I thought you didn’t care about this ‘stupid’ game?” Leigha asked from my bed
“I don’t.”
“Then why are you so worried about what you’re going to wear?”
“I’m not. Just trying to decided between my Van Halen shirt or my Pink Floyd shirt.” I held both shirts up and watched as my best friend wrinkled her nose. Lydia was sitting beside Leigha and shook her head.