His Choice, Her Decision

by Williams, D. C.

  Walking into the kitchen, my mom has both babies on the island talking to them in baby gibberish and they both seem to be enjoying it. They don't do this with me, hmm. Oh well, it must be a grandma thing. "Morning mom, I see you're entertaining the babies."

  "Yes I am," she says in baby gibberish to me.

  Going to stand beside her, I tilt my head to the side with my brows raised and respond, "okay," in the same tone and both babies look in my direction with a smile on their faces. Wow, that is one of the sweetest things I've ever seen them do, with me that is. I've got to do this more often.

  "So, now that grandma is here, why don't you get out of the house and get some alone time in before I have to return home."

  Return home, today? "You're not planning to return home today, are you?"

  Smiling at me, "heavens no but I've been a young mom once to more than two babies and I know how fast time flies when you finally get a break. Now make sure that you have plenty of milk pumped and ready in the fridge and go have some fun."

  Leaning down to kiss the babies and then turning to hug my mom, "you don't have to tell me twice, I'm outta here."

  Literally running into my bedroom, the first thing I'm going to do is hit the gym and then I'm going to have lunch and then I'm going to shop! Walking into my closet, I change into my gym clothes. I've lost most of my weight, with the exception of my hips and I still have a tiny, tiny pudgy stomach, probably only noticeable to me. Grabbing my gym bag, I pack a t-shirt and blue jean walking shorts with sandals to put on after my workout. I can't wait! Pulling my hair into a ponytail, I grab my gym bag, purse and keys before heading back into the kitchen. Kissing the babies, "thank you mom, I won't take too long."

  Smiling at me, "take your time, we'll be just fine."

  "Again," you don't have to tell me twice." Getting into my new Audi Q7 SUV, compliments of Aiden, I quickly pull out of the drive headed straight for downtown to the fitness center. Glancing in the backseat, I realize that I've never been in this truck alone, I always have the babies with me. Finding a parking spot, I grab my gym bag from the passenger seat and head into the gym.

  "Sharon, hey Sharon, is that you?"

  Turning around, I see Terrance jogging in my direction dressed in workout shorts and a sleeveless shirt. "Hey, Terrance, how are you?"

  Looking me up and down, "I'm great and you look gorgeous, I can't believe you just had twins."

  Why is he just standing there staring at me? “Looking around at everyone passing by, "thanks, they're three months old now."

  "Yeah, I know." He's looking around too, like he's just as uncomfortable.

  "Sharon, I want to apologize for what happened between us. I was wrong for my actions and the things I said were way out of line. I feel like you were my friend and when you needed me, I wasn't there for you."

  We were associates, not friends. And, I didn't need him. Whatever! "Don't worry about it. It's water under the bridge, right?"

  Smiling at me, "that's right!" Holding the door to the gym open for me to enter, "maybe we can work out together."

  Not what I had in mind but I guess it wouldn't hurt. "Sounds good to me."

  After a two hour workout with Terrance, I feel so much better. Just being alone for a change feels good but I really miss my babies. Leaving the gym, Terrance is walking me back to my truck.

  "What are you smiling about?"

  "My babies, they are so sweet!" I've never bragged about them to anyone before, how odd now that I think about it. Probably because I'm always with them but now, I find reason to brag. "Would you like to see a picture of them?" Using my key fob to unlock the door, I place my gym bag in the driver's seat and reach inside for my wallet.

  "Sure." Leaning over my shoulder, "they're beautiful Sharon, of course, they look exactly like Aiden."

  Looking up at him, "I know, right?"

  Laughing out loud, "so, where are you headed?"

  Taking a long sigh, "I was going to get a bite to eat but I think I'm going back home. My mom is here visiting."

  "Oh, I see. I was going to suggest that I take you out to lunch to properly express my apology."

  "Terrance, you don't have to do that. Really, it’s okay, you don't owe me anything."

  "But I really want to, please. I really would like to hang out with you for a while."

  The voice in my head is telling me to take my ass home but of course, I don't listen. "Okay, I can hang out for a little while."

  Chapter Forty Four

  About two hours later, I'm headed home. Hanging out with Terrance wasn't so bad. We had a really nice lunch at the deli on Elm and walked around the park while he talked about his new girlfriend and the threat of possibly being traded to another team. Pulling into the garage, I have this strange feeling that something is wrong. What, I don't know but I get the feeling that I'll soon find out. Entering through the laundry room from the garage, I hear my mom on the phone talking to someone. "Aiden, here she is, she just walked into the house."

  Taking the phone from my mom, "Aiden, what's up?"

  "Where in the hell have you been?"

  "Excuse me, what is your problem."

  "Excuse my ass, where have you been?"

  Going into my bedroom, I don't want my mom to hear what I know is going to be a cuss out, drag out argument. "First of all, I don't have to answer to you and secondly, why do you need to know where I've been?"

  "So your mother comes to town and you just abandon her to take care of our responsibility for what, four hours?"

  "So what! I was gone for four hours. What's the problem?"

  He is ranting and raving over the phone. Apparently, someone has entered his trailer because he's yelling at them. "Now back to your ass, who were you with?"

  I’m not feeling this right now. "Aiden, what is your problem? Is something wrong?"

  "Yeah, something is damned wrong. You are not single anymore and you need to remember that shit. You can't just up and leave the babies because you feel that you need a break and stay gone for four hours."

  I have a feeling that there is more to this argument than me being gone for four hours. I wonder if someone saw me out with Terrance. No, that can't be it because he would have already said that.

  "Are you listening to anything that I've said?"

  Taking a deep breath, "yes Aiden, I'm listening."

  "So where did you go?"

  "I went to exercise."

  "Did you go alone to exercise or did Camille go with you?"

  Frowning at the phone, "I went by myself. Why?"

  Hearing him let out a deep breath, "just asking."

  "I need to take a shower. Is that the only reason you were calling?"

  "Do I need a reason to call?"

  "I guess not but you said that I was gone for four hours, my mom wouldn't have told you that."

  "She didn't, I just called four hours ago and a few times after that."

  "Why didn't you call my cellphone?"

  "I did. By the way, why didn't you answer it?"

  Damn, my purse is in the kitchen. "I didn't hear it ring."

  "Oh, I see, so your mom is home with the babies and you were doing your thing and didn't feel the need to have your phone close by for emergencies? That makes a lot of sense."

  Rolling my eyes to the ceiling, "I should have had my phone. Listen, I need to take a shower and go relieve my mom of the babies."

  "If you were at the gym, why didn't you take a shower there?"

  "What is this? Forty questions? Goodbye, Aiden. I will call you later."

  Chapter Forty Five

  I can't wait to get home today. For some reason, it's been really hard being away from Sharon and the babies this time around. Although, I don't like the fact that her mom is there helping out, I know she needs the help. But come to think of it, had her mom not been there, she wouldn't have participated in phone sex. Oh yeah, that was fun. Glancing over at the clock, I have about three more hours before I head out to the airport
. Hearing the phone ring, it's probably Sebastian returning my call, "hello."

  "Aiden, what time is your flight scheduled to arrive?"

  It's Sharon. "At eleven thirty. Why?"

  "My mom is still here so I was thinking that I would leave the babies here when I come to pick you up."

  Why would she leave the babies with her mom? "Why can't you just bring them with you?"

  Hearing her sigh into the phone, she says, "because it takes too much time to load them into the car and my mom doesn’t mind."

  "How hard can that be, it takes what, ten minutes?"

  "I don't know how long it takes, Aiden. And neither do you since you’ve never had to do it by yourself. I just don't want to have to load them into the car if I don't need to. Besides, my mom is here and wants to spend more time with them."

  "You need to bring the babies with you, I want to see them." I know she's pissed at my comment which is why I didn't want outside help, the babies are our responsibility and I don't like the fact that she's leaving them for someone else to take care of.

  "Don't tell me what I need to do, you can see them when you get home. You know what, maybe I should bring them with me because I'm taking you back to your place from the airport."

  "No you're not, why would you want to do that?"

  "There is absolutely nothing wrong with me leaving the babies here. Do you not think that I need a break?"

  "That's all you've been doing since your mom has been there is breaking. The babies are our responsibility, not your mom's."

  "Well, if that's how you feel, then you need to only accept local jobs so that you can be here to help take care of our responsibility!"

  "Look, just bring the babies with you, okay."

  "No, I'm not going to bring the babies with me," she says in a sassy manner. "And when you get here, I'm taking another break so that you can see how hard it is to take care of the babies by yourself and then you talk to me about needing a break."

  I'm about to light into her ass when I hear my phone beep, signaling another call. Taking a deep breath, "do whatever you want, okay, I'll see you at the airport." Clicking over to answer the other call, it's Sebastian.

  "Hey man, what's up with you?"

  "Just hung up with Sharon. Man, she drives me crazy. Get this, her mom is here and all she's been doing is leaving the babies for her to babysit while she's out running the streets."

  Hearing him laughing, "Sharon, running the streets? I don’t see that at all.” Clearing his throat, "what, you don't think she needs a break?"

  "No, she needs to take care of the babies. She can break when I get home."

  "Aiden, man have you ever kept your babies for an extended amount of time?"

  "What kind of question is that? Of course I have."

  "No, I mean for longer than an hour or two?"

  "Yeah, well, not exactly."

  "Exactly, and your babies are spoiled as hell. Especially, Maddison."

  "Maddison, she's not spoiled. She's just well loved."

  Laughing into the phone again, "just another way to say spoiled. Look man, Sharon didn't even like kids before and now you're leaving her alone to care for two demanding babies without any outside help, that's crazy!"

  "She's not alone all the time and it's not like I'm not here for her."

  "This discussion is hopeless. I just think you need to see this from her point of view before you criticize her for trying to maintain some level of sanity. I'll be the first to admit that SJ can be a handful and he spends more time with Camille than he does with me. I can't even imagine how Sharon must feel, she's twenty four and taking care of two babies. Two babies. You need to ease up."

  "Yeah, okay, I'll think about that." Running my hands through my hair, Sebastian is full of shit, he just recently agreed to let SJ start attending daycare. Camille is in the background talking to Sebastian. "Hey man, I’ll talk to you when I return home."

  "Ah man," I hear him say, "Aiden, you haven't been watching any smut television this morning have you?"

  "No. Why?"

  "You might want to turn on the television before heading out to the airport."

  "What is it?"

  "Man, just turn on the television.”

  Grabbing the remote from the nightstand, I don't see anything of great concern. "What, this is typical crap."

  "Keep watching," he says with warning in his voice.

  Rubbing my hand down my face, I hear it before I see it.

  "Get this, Sharon Wen is seen leaving a fitness center with Terrance Scott today and later, they have lunch." Jenson Clarkson is saying. "Didn't she just have twins? Damn, she looks good." Matt Benson, Jenson's co-host, is now talking.

  I'm too pissed to hear what else is being said, I can't believe Sharon would do this shit.

  "Aiden, are you still there? Hey, don't get all upset until you talk to Sharon, I'm sure it's not as bad as it looks. You of all people know how they can turn a story upside down."

  "No, it's worse. I can't believe this shit!" Getting up from the bed, I'm pacing back and forth. "Sebastian, I've got to call you later." Hanging up from Sebastian, this is exactly why she should have kept her ass at home. I am livid! What was she doing meeting up with him in the first place? Was this why she needed a break? Leaving my babies at home with her mom so she could meet up with Terrance Scott, of all people. And to think, I asked her who she had gone to work out with and she didn't even answer. Punching the wall, I can't believe this. I should call her ass to see what she has to say. Going into the bathroom, I need to calm down, taking a shower, I hear my cell phone ringing but right now, I need to ignore it because it's probably her with some lame ass excuse. Stepping out of the shower, I hear the phone ringing again. Looking at the phone, I have ten missed calls. Serves her right. The hotel phone is now ringing, "what is it?"

  "Aiden." Sharon's mom is yelling in the background that she should be ashamed of herself. "Okay mom, I know. It's not what it looks like, it was completely innocent." They are going back and forth with Maddison crying in the background. "Mom, stop yelling, I'm trying to calm her down." She must be in her bedroom because I hear the door being slammed. "Aiden, it's not what it looks like, I promise. I went to work out, I didn't know he would be there."

  Sitting down on the corner of the bed with a towel wrapped around my waist, "why didn't you tell me that when I asked who you went to the gym with?"

  “Maddie, please stop crying.” Hearing her take a deep breath, "I didn't go there with him, he was there and we just ended up working out together."

  "And eating lunch together," I say in a dry tone.

  "That was just a coincidence, we worked out together and had lunch."

  Maddison is still crying. "Maddison, please stop crying. Aiden, I know you're mad at me and honestly, I don't know what I can say."

  Closing my eyes, this is not how I planned my day. "Sharon, there's not much of anything that you can say to make me feel any better or worse. Listen, just calm the baby down and I'll see you at the airport."

  "So you're going to just hang up? Remember all the times in the past that I forgave you, even when you were at fault. This was innocent. I didn't do anything wrong."

  "Calm the baby down, I'll see you at the airport Sharon. We'll talk about this then."

  Chapter Forty Six

  My flight has finally landed and I'm heading out to passenger pick up. Spotting Sharon's SUV, I take long slow strides to reach her. I can tell that she's not sure what to expect and honestly, I'm not sure what I should say to her. Getting out from the driver side, she bypasses me to get in on the passenger side. Looking into the backseat, I should be pissed that she didn't bring the babies but it's probably a good idea that she didn’t.

  "Decided not to bring the babies, huh?"

  "I told you that I wasn't going to bring them," she says her flat tone.

  Snapping on my seatbelt while adjusting the mirrors, I cast a stare in her direction, she's beautiful. I'm so pissed at
her right now and yet, I've missed her so much. I know for a fact that she didn't do anything but still, she had no business being in Terrance's company. "How long is your mom going to be here?"

  Looking at me, "why?"

  Taking a deep breath, "I just think we need to talk about this in private."

  "Talk about what, I already told you that it was a coincidence that he was even at the fitness center. Okay, we had lunch but it was an innocent lunch."

  Glancing over at her, "we still need to talk." Changing lanes to exit the highway, "think about how I feel, you preach to me about needing a break and when you get one, you meet up with the enemy."

  Frowning at me, "what enemy? Terrance." Rolling her eyes at me, "where are you going?"

  "We're going to my place so that we can talk."

  "There is nothing to talk about, either you believe me or you don't."

  Looking at her, "I never said that I didn't believe you, I said that we need to talk."

  Turning into my subdivision, I sense her anxiousness. "What time is your mom planning to leave?"

  Shrugging her shoulders as she opens the passenger side door, something that she knows I hate, she looks back at me, "I don't know, I told her I was picking you up and would be back."

  "And you couldn't wait for me to get the door from you, huh? Laughing to myself, "this won't take long, I promise." Entering the house, I drop my bag at the door. "Let's go into the bedroom so that we can talk."

  Standing with her hand on her hip, she's pointing towards the family room. "Why can't we talk in here?"

  Grabbing her by the hand to lead her into my bedroom, I'm just noticing the short, shorts that she's wearing, something else she knows that I don't like. Looking back at her, "like the shorts."

  Glaring at me, "we could very well talk in the family room Aiden."

  Pulling at her wrist, "what difference does it make where we talk, as long as we talk?" Entering the bedroom, I turn around so that we're face to face. Planting my hands on her hips, I pull her into a hug while wrapping my arms around her waist. Kissing the side of her neck, "I missed you so much babe, I really don't want to fight." Before she can come back with a smart remark, I start kissing her. Sucking on her bottom lip, I lick the rim of her lip one good time before capturing her tongue. The moan coming deep from her throat lets me know that she wants me as much as I want her. "Did you miss this? Did you miss how I make you feel?" Nodding her response, I move my hand down to cup her butt to squeeze while grinding my erection into her center. Reaching down between us, she starts to undo my jeans. "You did miss me." Taking the hem of her t-shirt in my hands, I pull it over her head. After releasing her ponytail, I reach down to lift her, lying her flat on the bed. Slowly moving down her body, I start at her neck. Moving down to her breast where I pay extra special attention. Feeling her squirming around beneath me.