Bentley doesn’t understand the joke. I roll my eyes. It seems like just yesterday my little brother was a baby. He’d cry and take up all of Mom’s attention. He made messes everywhere and annoyed the crap out of me. Now he’s no longer the youngest person in the family. He’s growing up into an awesome dude and a proud uncle. It’s weird how life changes so quickly.
Jace gets released from the hospital the next morning. He has to have a ton of checkup appointments in the coming weeks, but for now, he’s all mine. I make a bed for him on our recliner since he needs to sit a certain way until his collarbone heals.
There’s no way I could sleep in our bedroom while he’s out in the living room, so I use the rest of the blankets on our couch to make it comfortable to sleep on. Jett hangs out in his bassinet next to the coffee table. We pick a movie we haven’t watched in a while and I dim the lights. Tonight, the living room is our own little campsite.
I try not to stress out about how I’m now taking care of a baby and a husband. I love both of them and I’ll do whatever it takes to keep my family happy. But this is starting to feel like it might me more work than I can handle all by myself.
The baby is hard enough. He wakes up every two to three hours wanting food and needing a diaper change. I haven’t slept in days, and that’s not even because of Jett. It was from worrying over Jace. Guilt rises in me as I curl up on the couch, pretending to watch the movie.
Am I cut out for this kind of responsibility?
Having a baby wasn’t exactly on our agenda, but we knew we’d be able to handle it if we set our mind to it. And raising a newborn is exactly as hard as I had worried it would be. But now I have no one to help me get up in the middle of the night.
“Babe?” Jace’s voice startles me. He had been sleeping just a few minutes ago.
I sit up, throwing off the blankets. “Are you okay, babe? What’s wrong?”
Jace’s head rolls to the side and a smile spreads across his face. “I’m fine. You’re the one who has something wrong.”
“What?” I ask, doing my best impression of being totally confused. “Nothing is wrong with me.”
He snorts. “Something is wrong. You’re doing that thing where your foot taps insanely fast.”
“I was?” I frown. I hadn’t realized I was fidgeting. I put the smile back on my face. “Babe I’m fine. I’m just tired.”
“Tired Bayleigh doesn’t tap her foot,” he says, running a finger down the side of my face. “Tired Bayleigh passes out the second her head hits the pillow and then she snores like crazy.”
I shove him lightly so it won’t hurt his broken bones. “I do not snore.”
“Mhm, sure you don’t.”
I roll my eyes. “You’re annoying.”
“You’re annoying.”
I balk. “Why am I annoying? I’m trying to take care of you, you know.”
Jace shakes his head. “You’re annoying because something is bothering you and you won’t tell me what it is.”
I twist the comforter between my fingers, suddenly unable to look my husband in the eye. “I’m just…” Words escape me and I just sit there, kneeling next to the recliner and clenching onto the blanket as if the harder I hold, the better it’ll make me feel. It doesn’t work though.
Jace watches me for a moment. “You’re just scared as hell about all the responsibilities that have been tossed on you.”
“No, that’s not it,” I say.
Jace narrows his eyes at me. “Okay, fine. Maybe that’s it. Just a little bit.”
“I’m sorry baby. I never meant for this to happen. Like you said, at least it wasn’t on a dirt bike. Then I’d really feel like a dick.”
“It’s not your fault. You could not have prevented that wreck, babe. And I know because I talked to the EMT who brought you to the hospital.”
That makes him laugh for whatever reason. His hand grabs mine and he leans over to kiss the top of my head. He winces in pain from the movement and I shove him back into place on the recliner. “Don’t hurt yourself,” I say with a tisk. I grab his blanket and pull it up over him so he stays warm. “You need to get all healed up as soon as possible,” I say, this time smiling for real.
“What’s that smile for?” he asks tentatively.
I give him a sinister wink. “Don’t think you’re getting out of your dad duties while you’re all broken. I’m keeping track of how many diapers I change and once you’re all better, I’m going to lay my lazy ass on this couch and let you take care of Jett all by yourself.”
“That actually sounds far,” he says. “When I get mobile again, you and Becca can go have a spa day and I’ll take care of Jett for you.”
I lift an eyebrow. “A spa day? That doesn’t really sound like me. I’ve never been to a spa.”
He shrugs. “There’s a first time for everything.”
Chapter 16
Three Months Later
Becca and I stand awkwardly in the parking lot, facing the tan building in front of us. It’s ten in the morning and we’re actually a little bit late because I got to sleep in. Sleeping in was a luxury that I hadn’t had in a very long time. Now that Jace is walking without crutches or a wheelchair again, he lets me sleep in every single day.
“I’m scared,” I say, looking up at the fancy letters on the front of the building. Even from the outside La Bella looked too elegant for someone who was wearing yoga pants and an Avengers tank top.
Becca nods. “I’m scared, too. You’re the one who had to practically beg me to get my eyebrows waxed that first time, remember? I’m not cut out for this.”
“Me neither.” I shake my head and take out my phone, opening a new text to Jace. “I feel like we’re not fancy enough for a day in a spa.”
I type out a text to him saying the same thing. He responds a moment later.
Jace:If anything, you two women are too good for a spa like that. Park agrees.
I roll my eyes. “Looks like we’re going in.”
Becca hooks her arm through mine and pushes her sunglasses up on top of her head. “Let’s go.”
The smell of garlic hits me when I get home at the end of the day. Jace has been experimenting with cooking in the last few weeks and he’s starting to get pretty good at it. We’re no longer one of those families who eats meals from a box or the freezer most of the time. We actually eat real food.
I set my purse on the coffee table and wander into the kitchen, following my nose to the smell of the world’s greatest stir fry on the stove. “Babe! That smells so freaking good, I’m about to eat it right out of the pan.”
“You’d probably get sick and die,” Jace says with a laugh as he stirs the mixture with a wooden spoon. “This chicken is nowhere near being cooked yet.”
“Fine, I’ll wait,” I say, turning around. “Where’s my baby?”
“I’m right here,” Jace says with a smile. He leans away from the stove to kiss me. I put my hands on my hips.
“I mean my little baby. Not my grown up one.”
“He’s sleeping,” Jace says. “Just went down about five minutes ago so we should get to eat together without any interruptions.”
I shake my head, striding up behind him as he stands at the stove. I slide my hands around his back, lacing my fingers together around his chest. “I don’t know how you get that baby to sleep so easily. You’re magic.”
“Nah, I just tell him how awesome sleeping is. Tonight I told him the story of how when you grow up and go to work and school all the time you’ll be wishing you got to nap. It put him right to sleep.”
“I think maybe you just bored him to sleep instead if instilling your great wisdom into his tiny little mind.”
Jace scoffs. “So mean to me! And I’ve been slaving over a hot stove and everything.”
I kiss him right between the shoulder blades, then I turn my head to the side and press my cheek against his back. “Thank you for everything you do for me.”
His hand reaches up and covers mine. “How
was your spa day?”
I pull away and face him, hovering my hands in the air so he can see my glorious manicure. Seriously, my cuticles have never looked so good.
“Ooh,” Jace says jokingly, fawning over my nails.
“You should see them in the sunlight,” I say, turning my hand around and admiring the shiny purple polish. “It sparkles like crazy. I almost wrecked my car because I couldn’t stop looking at them.”
“Seriously?” Jace asks, concern filling his gorgeous face. I roll my eyes.
“No, not like seriously, seriously. They’re just really pretty. I can’t stop looking at them. And my skin is smoother than Jett’s ass.” I look him dead in the eye when he laughs. “It’s not a joke. They did some peel on my face and I look awesome now.”
Jace flips off the stove burner and moves the pan of stir fry over to where he’s set out two bowls of rice. He fills our plates with food and I grab two forks from the drawer.
“Those people had the easiest day ever,” Jace says as we sit down to eat. “They spent all day pampering you with these silly procedures meant to make people look beautiful but you’re already insanely hot so, it was kind of pointless.”
I point my fork at him. “Keep saying stuff like that and you’re going to get a striptease before bed.”
Jace wiggles an eyebrow. “I’m sorry babe, what did you say? I couldn’t hear you because I was too busy thinking about how freaking gorgeous you are tonight.”
Our eyes meet and a tingle shoots up my entire body. I love every single thing about this man. All the pain and worry and late nights spent freaking out about him—it’s all been worth it, for the moments like these.
“I’m really glad I married you,” I say.
Jace winks. “Not nearly as glad as I am.”
###
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Don’t miss the spin-off series based on Bayleigh’s best friend Becca’s life! The Summer Series is available now:
Part 1- Summer Alone
Part 2 - Summer Together
Part 3 - Summer Apart
Part 4 - Summer Forever
About the Author
Amy Sparling is the author of The Summer Unplugged Series, The Devin and Tobey Series, Deadbeat & other awesome books for younger teens. She also writes books for older teens under the pen name Cheyanne Young. She lives in Houston, Texas with her family and a super spoiled rotten puppy.
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Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
About the Author
Winter Wonderful (Summer Unplugged Book 7) Page 6
