“Hi! How are my girls doing?” she asks, all chipper.
“Good! Daddy’s taking us shopping!” Addison calls out, loud enough for Riley to hear.
“Sounds like fun!”
“What’s up with you today?” I ask my sister.
“Not much. I’m headed out to the mall myself to finish up my Christmas shopping.”
“When do you fly home?” I ask, knowing Riley plans to spend Christmas with our parents in Southern California, where we grew up.
“I fly out on the twenty-second and come home the twenty-seventh. So, just long enough to enjoy my time, defrost some, but not long enough that Mom and Dad drive me nuts.”
“The delicate balance of just enough time back home,” I say, laughing at the thought. “How’s the job going?”
“It’s going. Not great, but it pays the bills for now,” she says, not really her normal, bubbly self.
“Everything okay?” I ask, concerned something is wrong.
“I’ll be fine. I just think life in general is hitting me hard. I’m nowhere near home, I’ve got few friends here in Ohio. I’ve just got a case of home sickness, I think. So, I’m really looking forward to going home for Christmas,” she tells me.
“Sorry you’re feeling down. You know you’re always welcome here anytime you want to make the drive down.”
“I know, and I thank you for that.”
“I hate to cut our conversation short, but we’re pulling into the mall now. Can I call you later, and we can talk more when we don’t have two sets of ears listening in?”
“Absolutely. I was mainly just calling to say hi. But do call me back.”
“Sure thing, Ry. Love you. Tell Aunt Ry goodbye,” I tell the girls, and they happily oblige before we disconnect the call and I shut off my truck. “Ready to do some shopping?”
“Yes!” they both cheer as I climb out of the truck, then help both of them out behind me.
“What do you girls think?” I ask them a half hour or so later, as we stand in the jewelry store, looking at diamond stud earrings. Jillian had wanted a new set for a while, but I never got around to buying her a pair, so that’s changing now. The girls ooh and ahh over the sparkly gems in the display case.
“These ones,” Addison says, pointing at a large set.
“I’m not sure those are Mommy’s style,” I tell my daughter, nixing the idea of buying the largest ones they have in the case. Jillian has never been the flashy type. Hell, she’d never agree to allowing me to upgrade her wedding ring because she was too attached to the one I bought to propose to her. The one with a tiny-ass diamond, since that’s all I could afford back then. Now, I could probably buy every last piece of jewelry in this store and it still wouldn’t make much of a dent in my bank balance.
“How about these?” I point at a better set sitting in the very center of the display case. One of the sales ladies is finally free and comes over to help us.
“Good morning, can I help you with anything?” she asks, flashing me a flirty smile. I’m sure she’s recognized me from the way her eyes grew a little bigger as she takes me in.
“My girls here are buying a pair of earrings for their mom. I think we like these ones,” I tell her, pointing at the pair I’d just pointed out to the girls.
“She will just love these,” the sales lady coos as she opens the case and pulls them out. “This set is two carats, with white gold. The sales price on this set is six thousand,” she adds, before handing over the set for me to look at.
“We’ll take them. Can you box them up for us?” I ask, passing the earrings back to her.
“Of course, Mr. Smyth,” she says, confirming my suspicions that she recognizes me. Not that that’s not normal these days. I just hope my cover isn’t blown because she goes blabbing her mouth to a reporter, or snaps a picture with her cell phone to try and sell to the tabloids.
We get through the purchase and are on our way to the next store in the mall. I let the girls pick out some bath bombs in Lush before we make a stop at Bath & Body Works. I know Jillian loves the scented hand soaps they sell, so we go through and the girls once again help me pick out a handful of them for her.
“How about some lunch?” I ask my girls as we leave Bath & Body Works, my hands becoming full of our purchases so far this morning.
“Yes!” both girls squeal as they jump in excitement. I lead them to the large food court in the center of the mall and check out all the options.
“What do you want for lunch?” I ask them, as I’m still scanning the different places.
“Pizza!” Penny calls out.
“Chicken!” Addison says, most likely referring to the Chick-fil-A.
“Of course, you couldn’t make this easy on Daddy.” I laugh at my girls. “Let’s go get in line,” I tell them as I lead the way. Thankfully, the pizza place and the Chick-fil-A are side by side, so after going through the line of one, we hop into the other line. Once we’ve got all our ordered food, I let them lead the way to find a table, where we all dig in.
“Daddy, can we play after we eat?” Penny asks, pointing to a play area they have in the mall just off the food court.
“Maybe for a few minutes, but you need to finish your lunch first,” I tell her as I finish off my chicken sandwich.
“Okay,” she says, taking another bite of her food.
“Did you both get enough to eat?” I ask them a few minutes later as I start to toss all our trash onto the food tray.
“Yes,” they both tell me at the same time.
“Can we go play now?” Addison asks, batting her eyelashes at me.
“In just a second. Help me clean up our trash and I’ll come sit over there with you.”
They both do as asked, helping me get all our trash picked up and into the trash can. We wander our way through the maze of tables and over to the play area. I find a place where I can sit and watch them as they run and play, blowing off some much-needed energy.
I’ve already gotten most of the items on my list for Jillian. The last thing I wanted to get her was a new pair of her favorite pajamas, so with a game plan of one last store to go to, I sit back and let the girls play for about another half hour before we head for the last stop on our shopping adventure.
Twelve
Jillian
“Did you have fun shopping with Daddy?” I ask the girls as they come running into the kitchen.
“Yes! We bought lots of things that you’ll love!” Addison tells me.
“Don’t ruin the surprise now!” Derek says to the girls. “Remember, it’s a secret what we bought Mommy today. She’ll get to open her presents on Christmas morning, just like the rest of us.”
“Okay,” Addison answers, then runs off to go play.
“Did you get all of your running around done?” he asks me.
“I did. Thank you. Now, I just have to assemble the girls’ teachers’ gifts and can drop them off at school on Monday when I drop the girls off.”
“Do you have everything ready for the big gift?”
“I do. I’ve even got most of it all wrapped and ready to go for Christmas morning.”
“I can’t wait to see how they react. Are you going to record it?”
“That’s my plan. I know our parents, and everyone will want to see it, so I figured I better record it so we can show them.”
“Sounds good.”
We fall into a comfortable conversation as I work on the dishes while Derek sits on the stool across the counter from me. It’s nice when we have the time to connect like this. When nothing is being forced, there’s no pressure. Just him and me.
It’s finally Christmas morning and the girls are up bright and early at five a.m. I stumble into the kitchen and switch the coffeemaker on to get that going, then pull the breakfast casserole out of the fridge and start the oven so it is pre-heated when we’re ready for it later.
“Morning,” Derek sleepily says as he walks in, looking for a cup of coffee.
“Are you ready for this madness?” I ask him, knowing just how crazy things are about to get.
“I will be once I get that cup of coffee in me,” he says, yawning big as he runs his hand through his hair. It’s a little longer than he normally keeps it and my fingers itch to run through it.
“I hear ya on that one.” I pull a couple mugs down from the cabinet and fill them with hot coffee. I add a splash of creamer to my own. “Creamer?”
“No thanks, black is perfectly fine for me,” he says, accepting the mug filled with piping hot coffee.
“Can we open presents yet?” Addison whines from the doorway of the kitchen.
“Give us just a couple more minutes, but I promise you that it will be soon.”
“Okay,” she says, scampering off.
“I’ve already got trash bags set out for us to try and keep the mess to a minimum.”
“Sounds good. I’m ready when you are,” he tells me, holding up his cup of coffee, ready to go let the girls have the time of their life, opening presents.
“I’ll follow you,” I tell him, topping off my cup before following him into the living room.
“Who’s ready to open presents?!” Derek calls out to the delighted squeals coming from two very excited little girls.
“Okay, take a seat and Daddy will hand out a present to everyone,” Derek tells them. We all sit around the living room and he does just that, finding something for each of us to open up. The girls each open a new outfit, while Derek opens a travel toiletry bag I ordered for him from the girls, and I opened a box filled with soaps from Bath & Body Works.
We continue opening presents, Derek taking control of passing presents out, occasionally handing me one to open, always tagged as being from the girls.
It takes us over an hour for the girls to get through everything as they stop to play with things along the way. We finally get to the point when it’s time to open their Disney gift, so I step out to get the big box.
“We’ve got one last present that’s for all of us!” I tell them, carrying the box into the living room. I place the box down in the middle, then set my camera up to capture the reveal. “Okay, open!”
We watch as they pull the top off and pull out the Mickey and Minnie Mouse large stuffed animals I picked up. I printed off a large sign, announcing our surprise.
“What does it say?” I ask the girls, knowing they can’t read yet.
“Read it!” Addison says, shoving the sign into my hands.
“It says…” I start, and pause dramatically. “We’re going to Disney World!”
“Disney!” they both yell excitedly.
“We leave tomorrow morning,” I tell them a moment later.
“Tomorrow!” Penelope exclaims.
“Yep, tomorrow! Some of the outfits you opened are for our trip, so later today, you can both help me get your suitcases all packed. All four of us are going together.”
“Daddy gets to come?” Addison asks, a little hesitation in her voice. I know they’re confused as to what’s going on with everything, and I hate that for them, but I also love how things have been going lately. How much he’s been involved and present. It’s refreshing to see him making an effort to change and stick to his word since the divorce was finalized a few months ago.
“I do! I’m the one that convinced Mommy that we should go,” he tells them, flashing me a wink.
“Can we pack now?” Addison asks, bouncing with excitement.
“Maybe in a little bit. I’m going to go get breakfast finished up. I’m starving!” I tell her, tickling her belly.
“St-stop, Mommy!” She giggles as I tickle her a moment longer, then I head into the kitchen.
“Breakfast is ready,” I call out about fifteen minutes later. I’d snuck away while the girls were opening presents earlier to put the casserole in the oven, knowing that once we finished opening, everyone would be hungry.
“Smells good in here,” Derek states as he stops behind me. His body is close enough I can faintly feel the heat radiating off of him but can’t quite feel him, as we’re not touching. It wouldn’t take much to change that; just a half step or so and I could have my back pressed against his front. It’s so tempting, but I stop myself from making that small step back. I miss the intimacy we once had, the feeling of his skin against mine. The way he could so expertly play my body into such immense pleasure. “Need any help?” he asks, his breath on my skin as he talks lightly, directly into my ear.
“N-no,” I say, a little breathily. He must notice what his closeness is doing to me because he chuckles under his breath and blows air lightly on my neck. I can feel the skin pucker with goose bumps before his lips touch the place just under my ear he knows drives me crazy.
“Breakfast,” the bastard says a moment later. He stands to his full height behind me and reaches around me to grab one of the plates, and then the other to pick up the second kid plate I had already dished up. He carries them to the table and calls for the girls to come sit down and eat. With them settled at the table, he walks back over and grabs their milk cups and the bowl of fruit I’d pulled out of the fridge to place on the table, as well. “You coming to join us?” he turns to ask, a smirk upturning the edges of his very kissable lips.
“Of course.” I straighten my back and attempt to change my facial expressions to not give away just how much he’s affecting me. How close I am to saying fuck it and jumping him when the girls aren’t looking.
I take a seat at the table and do my best to ignore the smirk firmly planted on his face. The bastard!
“After breakfast, you can go play with some of your new things,” I tell the girls as they eat.
“When can we pack and go to Disney?” Addison asks, the excitement spilling out of her.
“We can pack this afternoon, and we don’t leave for the airport until the morning.”
“I wish we could leave today,” she says, blowing out an exaggerated breath.
“Sorry, baby girl, we can’t go until tomorrow,” Derek tells her, leaning over and dropping a kiss to the top of her head. “But I promise you that it will be worth the wait.”
“Can I meet a princess?” she asks, her excitement back.
“I’m sure that can be arranged.” He winks at me, as he knows we’ve already booked a character meal for one night with all the princesses.
“I can’t wait!” she exclaims.
“What about you, Penelope, are you excited?” Derek asks her.
“Minnie Mouse!” she says, with just as much enthusiasm as Addison had about the princesses.
“That’s right, you’ll get to meet Minnie Mouse,” I tell her.
We all finish up eating and the girls race off to go play with their new toys. I clean up from breakfast, and Derek helps, so it goes quickly. With the kitchen cleaned, I top off my coffee cup with the fresh pot I’d set to brew while we were cleaning.
“I’m going to go grab a shower while they’re happily playing,” I tell him, taking a sip of the hot coffee.
“That’s fine. Want company?” he tosses out offhandedly.
“No,” I deadpan.
“Oh, come on, you know it would be a good time,” he teases.
“Someone’s got to watch the girls,” I toss back at him. This slight flirtation is nice…weird…easy. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but it’s something and I’m not sure how I feel about it.
“You wound me,” he says, clutching his hands to his chest as if I just shot him.
“Nice try.” I smirk as I walk away and toward my room.
I slip under the hot water, allowing the heat from the water to relax my muscles. Knowing the girls are under adult supervision, I can actually take my time showering. When Derek isn’t here, I’ve gotten used to showering in under five minutes. But with him in the house, I savor the moment and let the water relax me. I scrub and shave and prep for the days ahead, knowing wearing shorts again is a possibility.
Once out, I lather myself with my favorite
lotion before pulling on a pair of yoga pants and a cozy sweater to keep me warm on this chilly Christmas Day. Once dressed, I take the time to actually blow dry my hair, leaving it down rather than pulling it up into my signature messy bun. I don’t have anyone to impress, but I just felt like doing it for me.
An hour or so has passed since I disappeared into my bedroom, but I find the girls just as they were when I snuck off, playing happily in the living room amongst the large piles of new toys and clothes and all the exciting things they received for Christmas. Derek and I were able to keep up with collecting the wrapping paper into the garbage bags as they opened things. Derek is stretched out on the couch, watching something on the TV as he watches over the girls.
“Feel better?” he asks, noticing I’m looking in on everyone.
“Yes, so much better,” I tell him honestly. “Felt good to have more than a five-minute shower.”
“I still think it could have felt even better if you’d have let me join you,” he teases.
I roll my eyes. “You’re incorrigible.”
“Only for you, babe.” He smirks at me once again, then pats the open space in front of him on the couch. “Come join me.”
“If I lay down now, I’d probably fall asleep.”
“Sounds good to me,” he says nonchalantly, which has me rolling my eyes at him once again.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” I tell him honestly.
“Why? Can’t resist being pressed up against me?” The cockiness is rolling off him in waves now.
“Oh, I can resist. Do you not remember the first few months after we met?” I ask, taking him back all those years.
“I remember perfectly. Blue balls for weeks.” He winces and shudders, exaggerating it for maximum effect.
I burst out laughing at his antics, thus gaining the attention of the girls. “What’s funny, Mommy?” Addison asks.
The Perfect Pitch (Indianapolis Lightning Book 1) Page 8
