by Nikki Ash
Liz gives Kayla a sad smile. “Things have changed; jobs have changed, living arrangements have changed, nothing can stay the same forever. I am sad that you guys won’t be here but I need to stay here and make sure Bella’s schedule is stable. I don’t want her to get confused. It will suck going trick-or-treating without you guys but I will send pictures. I promise.”
Of course she won’t drop everything, take Bella out of school, and travel to Boulder with us. Why not? It’s simple. Liz is a damn good mother and puts our daughter first, always. Just like my mom tried to do every time my dad traveled but look how that ended. The question is how long will she put up with me being gone and missing important family moments like taking our daughter trick-or-treating? How long until she feels lonely like my mom did and she seeks comfort in another guy who can be at all those events?
* * *
Liz
I can tell something is bothering Cooper but I don’t want to ask him in front of Kayla and Hayley so I let it go for now. I check the time and see I need to leave soon to go pick up Bella from school. I promised her we would go get her costume today so we will see if she sticks to the Elsa costume.
“Alright, everyone. I need to go pick up Bella and take her costume shopping. I just spoke with my mom and they are about to board their flight, and should be in tonight around dinner, so don’t forget about the barbeque Sunday.” I walk over to Cooper and give him a quick kiss and say, “And I will see you tonight.”
He grabs me by my arm looking conflicted. Something is clearly bothering him and I need to make sure we get time alone later to talk about it after Bella is sleeping so I can find out what’s going on.
“Can I go with you to get Bella? It’s bad enough I am going to miss her trick-or-treating. I would like to at least be there to help her pick out her costume.”
Oh, this man. My heart swells every time he says stuff like this.
“Well, I don’t know how much helping you are going to be doing since our sweet child has a mind of her own when it comes to all important decisions such as which costume to get but you can always join us, Cooper; you never have to ask.” I lift my hand up and rub it down his cheek. His face gets brighter and he tells me to give him a few minutes to go shower and change, and then we can leave together.
After he exits I notice both of my friends are staring at me.
“What?”
Hayley is the first to comment. “Nothing, he is just so sweet. I want a man like that.”
Kayla nods her head up and down and adds, “I don’t want a man like that because we both know I don’t want a man at all, but I am glad you have a man like that; you deserve to be happy.”
I debate on how to reply to Kayla’s comment because it drives me nuts that she never wants to be in a relationship just because her parent’s marriage is loveless.
“Hayley, you will find your man. I didn’t think it would ever happen to me but I am glad I waited, and you…” I mock glare at Kayla. “…Need to stop. Just because your parents chose to have a marriage of convenience doesn’t mean all couples choose that. If you never let a guy in you will never see how different it can be and trust me it can be amazing.”
Both girls wave me off and we all exit the office heading to the front. Hayley heads to her office and Kayla stands with me in the front as we discuss our plans for the weekend. I would like to take my parents and brother out to dinner tomorrow night. I hate that they are only here for a short time but I am so excited to just see them. Kayla mentions us going to get mani’s and pedi’s in the morning with my mom.
Cooper and Bentley walk up at the moment and Cooper chimes in before I can respond.
“Why don’t you guys schedule a full spa day and I will watch Bella and hang out with your dad and brother? Bentley can even come over and chill. We can invite Caleb and Kaden as well and do a guys day.”
Kayla is getting excited at the mention of a full day at the spa but there’s no way I am spending that kind of money. Yes, I am working and I am pretty sure Cooper is paying me more than he should be, and yes, I do have a home to live in and I don’t plan to move out but I need to start saving just in case. I am never going to be in the position I was in when our apartment caught fire with no money in the bank and nowhere to go.
But before I can say anything, Cooper gives me a raised eyebrow telling me he isn’t going to let me argue and then proceeds. “And it’s all on me. I have been meaning to add your name to the account so I will do that today when we get done at the costume store. Kayla, I know Liz, and I am willing to bet she won’t book it. So, you are going to need to book it. Make sure you include whatever you ladies want and I got it all covered.”
And with that, he grabs ahold of my hand and stalks off dragging me behind him not leaving any room for argument. I can hear Bentley and Kayla laughing behind us. Damn this man. This is just another example of why I can’t help but love him.
We leave my car at the gym and take Cooper’s Rover. He refuses to take my car anywhere we don’t have to and he keeps complaining that my car needs to be thrown into a junkyard but I continue to ignore him. I am hoping to save up enough in the next year to buy a newer used car.
We get to Bella’s preschool and when she sees her dad she comes running over to him jumping straight into his arms. After she shows him her cubby and desk, we say goodbye to her teacher and head out.
“Daddy! Are you here to go with mommy and me to pick out my costume?”
Cooper smiles wide and gives her a big kiss on her cheek. “You betcha, princess.”
“Mommy never gets a costume. Do you want to get a costume with me so you can go trick-or-treating with me?”
Cooper’s smile fades instantly and I think I am starting to understand why he was upset earlier. He is going to be missing his first holiday because of work. It’s part of his job and I won’t let him feel guilty over something out of his control. He works hard to provide Bella and me with everything we could want or need, and he last thing he needs is to feel like he has done something wrong by making a living.
“Bella, unfortunately daddy is going to be working on Halloween. He has to go away for a few days and one of the days he will be gone will be on Halloween. But we will take a lot of pictures and I will text them all to him, and when he gets home we can show him all the candy you got; does that sound good?”
Bella’s look of disappoint mirrors her father’s and they both look so cute pouting.
“No, that doesn’t sound good. That doesn’t sound good at all! That sounds bad, really bad.”
Whoa! I knew she was disappointed but I didn’t expect her to get so angry over him not going trick-or-treating with her.
I take her out of her father’s arms and set her on her feet and then I kneel down so I can make eye contact with her.
“Well, I am sorry that doesn’t sound good but that’s the way it has to be. I will be with you and you will have lots of fun.”
She pouts some more and then says, “Will Auntie Kay be with us?”
Oh Lord, this conversation is going downhill fast.
“No, you know how mommy and Auntie Kayla work with daddy now? Well, when daddy travels sometimes Auntie Kayla has to travel, too, so she will be gone with daddy. It will just be us this year.”
Bella stomps her foot and crosses her arms over her chest in full-blown temper tantrum mode. “Then I don’t want to go trick-or-treating. This is stupid. Can we go with daddy and Auntie Kay where they are going?”
“First of all, Bella.” I say in my mom voice that seems to just make her even madder. “We don’t say stupid. That isn’t nice, and no, we cannot go away with them. They are working and you have school. I am sorry you are upset but that’s the answer. Would you like to go get your costume, or go home and take a nap? If you keep it up you will not be going trick-or-treating.”
She huffs and puffs but finally relents. “Ok, I guess I will go get my costume.” My poor baby looks so defeated it breaks my heart.
I look over at Cooper and he looks just as defeated as our little girl. These two are going to be the death of me. I can’t have them ganging up on me.
When we get home from the costume shop Bella takes her costume up to her room to put in her closet. Luckily once we got there her mood improved and after almost an hour of debating she decided on the Elsa costume. Of course, Cooper bought her every matching accessory that goes along with the costume, most likely out of guilt, but I didn’t stop him. He tried to be upbeat for Bella but I could still see the sadness in his eyes.
I glance at the clock and see it’s almost time for my parents and brother to arrive. I do a sweep through the house to make sure everything is clean. Because we don’t have any guestrooms they will be staying at a hotel nearby but they will be coming here after they check-in to have dinner with us and meet Cooper.
I look around for Cooper and notice he has disappeared. I search the house for him and find him in the office rummaging through files.
“Hey, handsome. What are you up to?”
He looks up and with sadness in his eyes says, “Nothing, just looking at a couple of work emails. What time will your family be here?”
I want to speak to him about all this but we don’t have the time. My family is due to arrive soon. So instead I move in between the desk and him to sit up on the desk wrapping my legs around his body and my arms around his neck pulling his face towards mine.
He knows what I am after and he doesn’t disappoint. His lips meet mine as his hands move to my ass and he pulls me closer to him until my body is almost one with his.
“Mmm, baby girl. I needed that. I am sorry about my cranky mood. I will try to shake it off before your parents get here. I don’t want them to think I am an ogre.”
I laugh at his comment and go in for another kiss, this time deepening it. He pulls back too soon and I frown.
“Hey, now who’s the one pouting? We both can’t be cranky.” He runs his thumb along my mouth to straighten out the frown on my face.
“Cooper, there’s no reason to feel guilty. You have to work. There will be plenty of holidays in the future. Don’t let this get to you and ruin your day.”
“Liz, did you see how upset Bella was? Of course I am going to be upset and feel guilty. I don’t want to miss important shit in her life. This is exactly why I said…”
I cut him off because I know exactly where he is going and I am not going to let him go there.
“Oh no, you don’t. Don’t start. Missing a holiday doesn’t make you a crappy dad or boyfriend and it doesn’t mean you don’t deserve to have us in your life. So just get those thoughts out of your head. You hear me?”
“Yeah, baby” he says but I can still hear the sad undertone in his voice. I am going to need to come up with a way to make this right. I can’t have him beating himself up every time he has to go away for work.
I hear a knock on the front door and I hear Bella yelling that my parents are here. We head to the door and let Bella open it.
She squeals in glee as my mom and dad both take her in their arms for a hug and then move on to me. My brother lifts Bella up into his arms and gives her a huge hug as he carries her into the living room.
“Mom, dad, Mathew, this is my boyfriend, Cooper. Cooper, this is my mom Macy, my dad Randy, and my brother Mathew.”
Cooper shakes everyone’s hands and says it’s nice to meet them. Bella watches the entire exchange and then has to join in the conversation.
“Umm, you forgot to tell them the best news ever. Cooper is also my daddy! And the bestest daddy ever.”
Everybody laughs. My family might live long distance but we talk almost every day and they know all about Cooper. Bella runs right into Cooper and latches on to his legs giving him the cutest leg hug.
My mom looks at me and her eyes are glossy like she is about to cry from the sweet exchange. I understand completely. We decide to order Chinese food to keep it easy and Bella drags everyone upstairs to show off her room. She spends the entire time until the food arrives explaining every toy and movie her dad has bought her.
I nudge Cooper and nod towards our daughter. “See, one Holiday isn’t going to change how she feels about you. She loves you.”
The weekend passes by way too fast. On Saturday Kayla, Hayley, my mom, and I, all spend a wonderfully relaxing day at the spa. I invite Ashley to go as well but she is heading out with Tristan to visit her parents. When we get there it is clear Kayla has booked us for everything! An hour massage, facial, mud wrap, and of course mani’s and pedi’s. I didn’t realize how much I really needed this kind of pampering. Saturday night we all go out to dinner at a yummy Italian place, and Sunday everybody comes over for a backyard barbeque. I’ve noticed that while Bentley joins us for dinner and the barbeque, him and Kayla are completely avoiding each other. I really need to ask her how her living arrangements are working out.
Now it’s Monday and Cooper is dropping Bella off at school on his way to the gym so I can see my parents and brother off on their flight back home.
“Oh, mom, dad. I am so glad you guys came. I miss you so much.” I give my mom and dad a huge hug. I love where I live but I also wish I could be close to my family.
“Sweetheart, I am going to miss you, too. But I am so happy for the love Bella and you have found. Cooper is a great man and father, and I feel so much better leaving knowing he is here taking care of my girls.” My dad says through glossy eyes.
Next I give Mathew a hug goodbye. “Don’t be a stranger.”
“You never know. Maybe after I finish my two years I will decide to transfer to ULV.” He says with a wink.
“Don’t even tease me!” I shout and people walking by stare at me.
We get to the security entrance and since I don’t have a ticket I can’t go any further. We exchange a few more hugs and they are gone.
Chapter Eighteen
Liz
After seeing my family off I head straight to the gym to get caught up on some bookkeeping. Cooper is already there, training with Kaden. He catches my eye and gives me a wink. God, I love that man.
Kayla comes bounding into my office before I can even sit down.
“Aghhh!!! I swear that man is trying to drive me insane!”
I have a feeling I am about to hear all about Bentley. “Who?”
“Oh, give me a break, Liz. You know whom I am talking about... Bentley!”
And it’s as if she beckoned him over, the man of the hour comes walking into my office. So much for getting any work done.
“Hey, Liz.” Bentley addresses me when he walks in and it doesn’t go unnoticed that he just completely ignored Kayla. I look over at her and she is shooting daggers at the poor man.
“Hey Bentley, what can I do for you?”
Kayla huffs and when nobody acknowledges her she does it again more loudly.
“I just wanted to see if there’s anything else I need to do before the fight next week.” I have to contain my laugh because it’s obvious he is going out of his way to ignore Kayla yet he looks so uneasy doing it. I just want to hide him under my desk to get him out of her line of attack.
Now Kayla is boiling. I can almost see her visibly shake and before I can answer him she boils over. “Excuse me, mister. I know you think the world revolves around you but Liz and I were talking first. So you are going to need to get in line. As a matter of fact you can go wait outside.” She is practically shouting by the time she makes it to the end of her sentence and then she is up, out of her seat and pushing him out the door.
Bentley looked terrified. Seriously? This is a grown ass man and a fighter. What the hell is he afraid of Kayla for? She weighs like one-twenty dripping wet.
Before the door shuts I yell, “It’s all covered Bentley. I handled everything.”
And he may have responded but the door slams shut and I can’t hear anything through it.
Kayla sits back down and takes a few deep breaths trying to calm her self down.
“So, care to explain why you just lost it on your roommate?”
“Liz, he is so maddening. I seriously need to find a new place to live. The problem is I actually like living there. Caleb is awesome. He’s barely home and when he is, he’s totally chill. Bentley on the other hand is driving me up a damn wall.”
“Driving you up a wall because you like him?”
Kayla sputters out a “No!” but her face goes a shade of pink and that tells me she is full of crap.
“Anyway,” she continues. I am here not to talk about Bentley but to tell you that we were supposed to go get our shot almost two weeks ago! You always make the appointment. Can you make it for us, please?”
“Yeah, I will call tomorrow. I completely forgot. Ever since the fire, it’s been crazy.”
“Yes, it’s definitely been crazy lately. I better get back to work. Don’t want the boss to fire me.” She says with laughter in her voice as she gets up and walks to the door.
“You know, eventually you will talk to me about Bentley.”
“Yeah, yeah.” And with that she’s out the door.
Two o’clock rolls around and I head out to get Bella. Cooper texts me that he will be working late at the gym and to please save him dinner. I smile at that. Before I moved in with Cooper I didn’t do a whole lot of cooking and it definitely wasn’t healthy. Because Cooper is a fighter, he is a health freak and has to eat a certain way. He has been teaching me about eating healthy and we have been cooking together. With him at the gym so often I have started to find recipes and surprise him with dinner when he gets home. He seems to really love my cooking and it makes me want to cook for him more often.
Eight o’clock comes around and I am tucking Bella in bed after I finish up reading her The Giving Tree. She’s eaten, completed her daily reading, watched some television, and is showered and in her pajamas.
“Mommy, can I please stay up and wait for daddy? Please!” She begs like she does most nights when Cooper isn’t here to tuck her in. We are lucky that he has a flexible schedule so if needed he can be home any time. With the fight coming up and him the owner of the gym he’s been staying late to help with Bentley’s training and such. Bella and I both miss him but I try to bring her by the gym as much as possible to see him if I know he is working later. However, today Bella had a play-date so we weren’t able to stop by. I want to let her stay up because I know it’s important to her to say goodnight to him but Cooper can be there extremely late and she needs to get her rest plus if I say yes once she will continue to ask, so I never let her wait up. The problem is my consistency doesn’t deter her from continuing to ask every single time Cooper isn’t home on time. I make it a point not to tell Cooper; he has this crazy notion that he must spend every waking moment making up for lost time or he will burn in hell. If he knew Bella begs for him on the nights he isn’t here he would just feel even worse.
