Caden examines the piles of broken dishes and raises his eyebrows to us. “Any left?” he questions, and I search the box, finding one small saucer.
“Here.” I toss it to him, and he catches it. He places his keys in his pocket, smiles at Jen and then throws it against the concrete. Shrugging his shoulders, he walks over to Jen and bends down to kiss her.
“How’s my gorgeous wife?” he asks, and she beams at his words.
“Tired,” she softly replies, melting into his lips as they meet one more time.
“Well, then, I should take you to bed,” he drops his black bag and swiftly picks her up out of the chair. His hand rests on the doorknob before he tosses his head back my way. “You got this, right, Kailey?”
“Yeah. I think I’ll take Drew over to Trey’s for a bit. Girls are on a play date until five.”
“Thanks,” he sincerely acknowledges.
“Any—,” I say and the garage door shuts before I can finish.
Don’t people say not to wake a sleeping baby? Well, those people don’t have a dying sister who desperately needs to spend some quality time with her husband. Drew is a ball of sweat when I pick him up, but he nuzzles into my neck. We get to the minivan and I buckle him up. Thank god, he actually stays asleep. Oh how I envy him right now.
When we pull up, Trey’s car is in the driveway. I should’ve called or texted him to tell him I was coming, but I was in such a rush to leave Jen and Caden it didn’t cross my mind. Drew stirs and wakes up as soon as I unbuckle him out of his car seat. “Tr, Tr,” he asks.
“Yep, Trey’s house,” I tell him, pulling his hand out of my hair again. I think I’ve forgotten what my hair looks like not thrown up in a ponytail and actually brushed with a comb instead of my fingers.
“Kailey, hi,” Sadie opens the door and greets me. “Hi, Drew,” she says, tickling his stomach. He smiles widely at her. She immediately grabs him from my arms.
“Thanks,” I say.
“No problem. Come on in. Jessa and I are just doing the favors for the wedding.” I follow her into the living room. Small pieces of silver wrapping paper along with white and black ribbon and little boxes of chocolate occupy every inch of the floor.
“Oh, maybe Drew and I should go somewhere else,” I automatically worry. This would be his dream to tear all that paper up and ruin everything they’re doing.
“No way, we can figure something out. In the meantime, you can take my place while I take care of this adorable little man.” She scrunches her face into his, and he giggles before locking his hands into her hair. “Ouch,” she yells.
“I’m sorry, Sadie, let me have him.” I quickly rise to my feet to take him, but she shifts her weight not allowing me to.
“Really, Kailey, it’s fine. My fingers are numb from all the ribbon tying anyway.” She laughs good-naturedly, and Jessa narrows her eyes at her.
“Sit down, let’s chat,” Jessa calls me over, patting the ground next to her.
Sadie props her feet up on the table and positions Drew so he’s sitting on her stomach. She plays with his hands, clapping them together.
“How’s it going?” Jessa asks, handing me the supplies to wrap the small chocolate box. The one thing I love about this spunky blonde is she never gives me the sympathy look. As though she understands how much my situation sucks, but she’s not going to continuously remind me.
“Okay. I saw Trey’s car, is he home?” I ask, not because I don’t enjoy girl time. I crave it most days, especially with Jen being so sick recently.
“I think he walked today. I guess there was some luncheon at Filgrees.” Sadie informs me while raising Drew up in her arms and bringing him back down to her as he grasps for her face.
“Filgrees? That’s nice,” I mention completely envious that Trey gets to eat at some five star restaurant all the faculty usually dine while I ate cold macaroni and cheese right out of the pot.
“I know, he really nailed it with this job.” Jessa smiles brightly, holding the box with the ribbon around it. “Can you hold your finger here?”
I place my finger on the box to secure the ribbon while she starts knotting it. “Be careful, Kailey, she’ll tie your finger if you don’t snatch it away fast enough,” Sadie jokes.
“She just has slow reactions. That ring weighs it down,” Jessa whispers and laughs.
“What did she say?” Sadie turns her head to see us. “What did you say, Jessa?”
“Nothing.” Jessa shakes her head back and forth, pursing her lips together to harbor her giggles.
“I swear, if you weren’t getting married...” Sadie doesn’t finish because the girl knows nothing except how to be nice to everyone.
“Oh!” Jessa places the box down and excitedly pats her legs. “I almost forgot, Sadie and I are planning a spa day, and we booked you too. Trey said he’ll cover the kids for the day. I think Dex is going with him. Too bad it won’t be me, since I’m an awesome babysitter, right, Drew?” She’s rambling so fast, and Drew obviously doesn’t respond, but she keeps going. “So, it’s next Saturday. We already booked you, so you’re going.”
“Geez, Jess, give the girl some breathing time,” Sadie chimes in, but Jessa waves her off.
“Kailey, you need the break, and I really want you to come with us. It will be so much fun. Believe me, Trey is like Mr. Mom over there. He’ll have it under control.” She begs me, and I just nod, knowing I could always cancel with them later. I desperately would love to go, but guilt quickly supersedes my excitement that Jen can’t. We’ve always done stuff like that together, and she would’ve loved to come. Maybe a few weeks ago, but no way now. “Great!” She ends the conversation and grabs another box. I think she’s on some kind of high from the upcoming wedding. I’d probably be on one too if I was marrying Trey. Speak of the devil. I hear his voice carry through the front door.
He must be on the phone, and I spring to my feet, eager to see him. I’m at the edge of the door when a girl’s voice chimes into the conversation. My stomach drops and my movements abruptly stop. Sadie looks my way with Drew in her arms. Her expression isn’t anything but curiosity. Jessa, on the other hand, rises to her feet and stomps into the foyer.
“Hi,” I hear her say to the girl. “I’m Jessa, who would you be?”
“I’m Sara,” the small soft voice answers.
Jessa disregards her and turns her attention to Trey, “Kailey and Drew are here,” her voice stern and noticeably annoyed.
“I saw the van. I’m just getting something for Sara. Where are they?” he casually asks her.
I finally reveal myself and stand in the doorway with my hands clasps together in front of me. What the hell am I doing? I should be fighting for him. Letting this Sara know that he’s mine, and she needs to back off. His eyes light up when he sees me, and I’m in his arms in point three seconds.
“Hey, baby, why didn’t you tell me you were coming?” he asks.
“It was unexpected,” I answer.
“Where are the girls?”
“Play date,” I answer all his questions, and then turn my head to look at Sara.
She’s a mousy little girl with short red hair and hazel eyes. From the way she’s shifting her feet from side to side and staring at the ground, her discomfort in this tension filled room is clear. By now Sadie appears in the doorway with Drew in her arms.
“Drew!” Trey hollers, and the little guy reaches for him. Not thinking twice, Trey grabs him from Sadie and walks us over to Sara. “Sara, this is my girlfriend Kailey and her nephew Drew.”
“Hi.” Her hand lifts slightly, but you can tell she’s uneasy, most likely from the way Jessa ran in here and the tension radiating off of me.