AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“My pleasure, baby.” With my hand on the small of her back, I walk her to her car. I steal a kiss—okay, I steal two—before opening her door for her and waving her off. Once I can no longer see her taillights, I climb into my truck and drive around the block and park in the staff parking behind the gym.
“Finally,” Gina says as soon as I walk through the door. “I’ve been waiting all day with these.” She holds up a swatch for paint.
“Gina, let me make something clear. My wife and my unborn child are my priority. Not paint samples, unless it’s Gwen asking for suggestions. When I tell you not to bother me unless it’s an emergency, I want the gym to be on fire. Got it?” I know I’m being a dick, but I can’t seem to find the will to care.
“Sorry, I just know you’ve been moving full force ahead on this project, and I w
anted to make sure that I wasn’t the delay.” She says the words, but her body language tells me something different. She’s not sorry. She’s just telling me what she thinks I want to hear.
“Thank you. You’re not, and I appreciate your effort, I do, but nothing comes before them. If she calls you, find me. I don’t care who I’m with or what I’m doing. You find me and tell me it’s her. If she shows up here or any of the locations, you find me. Send her back to where I am. I don’t give a fuck who I’m training or who I’m in a meeting with. Gwen trumps all.”
“Got it.” She nods her acceptance.
“Now, what has to be done today? I’m leaving here at five.”
“That’s only four hours from now. We have paint for the Lakeview location, reception, and office furniture, plus signage.”
“We’ll work through what we can today and finish the rest tomorrow.”
“I thought we would just order in some food and work through it all.”
“You thought wrong. I have plans with my wife this evening that I don’t plan on breaking.”
“Surely, your wife,” she says it as if she has a bad taste in her mouth, “understands that you have a job to do.”
“She does. Gwen is very supportive of the gym, and my commitment to the gym. However, I am supportive of her and our baby and my commitment to them. I lost her because I didn’t have a good balance. I won’t let that happen again. I’ll sell this place first.”
“You can’t be serious.” She gives me a look that tells me she thinks I’m insane. Maybe I am, but I’m owning that shit.
“Very,” I confirm. I don’t know why I’m explaining myself to her. She works for me. I guess it’s my innate need to tell the world what Winnie and our baby mean to me.
“You’d just give all of this up?”
“You make it sound like this is the be-all end-all of life. Sure, I’ve worked my ass off to make All Fit what it is, but you have to understand something, life isn’t anything without her by my side. So, yes, Gina, if I have to choose between my wife or this gym, she wins every time. Hands down.”
“Are you going to propose?” she inquires.
“That’s none of your business, but since I love Gwen and couldn’t give a fuck who knows, yes, I am.”
“Oh.” She looks as if someone just kicked her puppy.
“Now, paint, let’s start there,” I say, not wanting to go any deeper into this conversation with her than I have to. We spend the next four hours going over paint and furniture.
“That’s good for today,” I say, glancing at my phone. “I’m heading out, we can wrap up the signage in the morning.”
“If we don’t get it ordered today, it’s going to add another week to the install.”
“Why would you not tell me that four hours ago?”
“You said you wanted to start with paint.” She shrugs.
“Fine. Since you failed to tell me all the necessary information when you knew I had to leave, you can handle pushing the opening back a week since we won’t have signage.”
“What? That’s going to take days.”
“Not my problem.”
“Harrison.” She stomps her foot like a child.
“Gina, you knew I was leaving, and I’m not staying because of your mistake. You fix it.”
“But you wanted to open in four weeks.”
“It’s a week,” I remind her. “Not the end of the world. We open when it’s ready.”
“But I have vendors scheduled, and refreshments ordered.”
“Reschedule them.”
“An hour tops,” she says.
“Not happening. I’ll see you in the morning. Oh, and I want a report by the end of the day tomorrow where we are with rescheduling everything.”
“What if I walk?” she asks, crossing her arms over her chest.
“Are you?” I counter.
“You didn’t answer my question.”
“We’re all replaceable, Gina. All of us. You want to walk? I’m not going to stop you.”
She steps close, too close. “You could let me go that easily?” she asks, her voice dropping low, almost as if she’s trying to be sexy. It might work for some guys, but not on me. She’s not my wife.
“Yes.” My one-word answer is not what she wanted to hear. I can see her eyes grow dark as anger takes hold. “If you’re here tomorrow morning, I’ll see you, if not, I’ll mail your last check.” I turn and walk away from her
“Harrison.” I hear her stomp her foot again. I don’t have the time or the energy to deal with her bullshit today. She’s running on thin ice. She interviewed well, and she’s a friend of Gabby’s, but I’ve had about all I can take.
“I told you I’m leaving at five. It’s three minutes after,” I call out, not bothering to turn and look at her.
“Fine,” she calls out. “See you in the morning.”
I wave over my shoulder and keep on walking. She can try to play games all she wants. It’s not going to work with me. The drive home is short, and as soon as I pull into the driveway, my mood brightens. I make a mental note to get the rest of my clothes from my apartment this weekend, and let it go. I’m exactly where I need to be. Climbing out of the truck, I make my way to the house, pushing open the front door. “Honey, I’m home!” I yell out.
I hear laughter, more than just Winnie’s, and I follow it. I find her and Gabby sitting at the kitchen island, Winnie’s laptop open between them. “How are my girls?” I ask, bending to kiss Winnie on the lips.
“Not your girl,” Gabby fires back.
“Good thing I wasn’t asking about you, now, was I?” I reach over and give her a one-armed hug, and she doesn’t protest—that’s progress.
“What?” she screeches. “You’re having a girl and didn’t tell me?”
“No,” Winnie rushes to tell her. “Harrison just thinks we’re having a girl. We find out at our next appointment.”
“You.” She pokes me in the side, causing us all to laugh.
“What are we doing here?” I ask Winnie.
“Registry. Well, kind of. We’re making a list.” She points to the notebook paper in front of her.
“I tried to get her to let me register her online, but she said you were taking her.”
“Babe, you do it however you need to. If online is easier, then we’ll do that.”
“No, I like the idea of going to the store and strolling up and down the aisles.”
“We going tonight?”
“Yes.” Her eyes light up with excitement. “I wasn’t sure if you’d be home early enough,” she comments.
“Told you I would be.” I know it’s going to take some time for her to get used to this, to get used to the fact that she can trust my word, and I hate that. I never once stepped out of our marriage, but not keeping my word is just as bad in my eyes.
“Can I go?” Gabby asks.
“That’s up to you, Winnie. I’m going to go grab a quick shower while you ladies figure it out. We’ll grab dinner while we’re out.”
“Harrison,” Winnie calls, and I stop in my tracks turning to look at her.
“Welcome home.”
“No place I’d rather be.” I race upstairs and strip out of my clothes while the water heats. I rush through the shower and dress in shorts and a T-shirt. My feet thunder down the steps to find my wife and sister-in-law waiting by the door. “Ready?”
“Yes.” They both clap their hands and wiggle around as if they are toddlers and I just told them that I was taking them to Disneyland.
“I’m so excited,” Gabby says as we make our way to my truck.
“This is really happening,” Winnie says, stopping at the passenger side door.
“Peanut will be here before we know it,” I add, placing my palm over her small bump.
“I never thought I’d see the day,” Gabby quips, pulling our attention from one another to her.
“See what day?” Winnie asks, reading my mind.
“The day
Harrison and Gwen were… you again. This is how you were before things got bad, and it’s inspiring. I want a love like that someday. One like the two of you, and Mom and Dad. You two finding your way back to each other gives me hope that there’s someone out there for me.”
“There is.” Winnie leans into me, and I wrap my arms around her. “You’re going to find him, and then you’ll understand,” she says softly, her gaze meeting mine.
“Understand what?” Gabby asks, but Winnie’s eyes stay on me. Green orbs shining with happiness and love, all directed at me.
“Understand that when you give your heart away, when you truly find the one, you’ll never get it back. No matter the circumstances.”
“I love you.” I bend and press my lips to hers.
“Come on, you two, we’ve got a baby to shop for.” Gabby pulls open the back door of my truck, and climbs inside.
The girls chatter back and forth during the drive about the items on the list, and everything a baby needs. From clothes to bottles to diapers, they cover it. I chime in when I can, but I’m content to just be here with them. Soaking up all the baby information that I can. Soaking up as much time with Winnie, and hell, even Gabby, as I can. She’s always been a big part of our lives, and I missed her too. She’s been a little sister to me. I lost my second family, not just my wife.
The girls insist on the baby store first, so that’s what we do. Aisle after aisle, we scan so many items it’s hard for me to believe one tiny human needs so much. Then again, some of it I know is overkill. Like the jazzed-up swing I scanned. That thing has like fifteen functions, and the reviews online said it was the best. Yes, I checked. I’m that dad who stands in the middle of the aisle checking safety and parent-approval reviews online before scanning. It’s my job to keep Peanut safe, and I’m taking it seriously.
