Page 67 of The Blessing

She blushes at my words, a smile playing on her lips as she looks down at her menu. We’re so excited to eat something that’s not a bag of Bugles, that we end up ordering an appetizer, two salads, and two giant entrees: the Butch Cassidy and a Black Dragon. Ronnie laughs at the entrée names, looking more relaxed than I’ve seen her all day. I know the car ride made her anxious—even though I was on my best behavior and going no more than five miles over the speed limit the entire way. Driving like that had been annoyingly painful for me—since I’ve been speeding everywhere since I started driving. As soon as we get our food, we immediately dig in. It’s absolutely incredible, especially on an empty stomach. Grey isn’t as satisfied with his dinner, and stares at my barbeque ribs as if they were the Holy Grail.

“You don’t like your dinner, buddy?”

I know it’s shit. I tried his baby food out of curiosity one time and couldn’t stop gagging. Feeling bad as he reaches for my food, I scoop up a small amount of mashed potatoes and let him eat them. As soon as he’s finished, he rewards me with a huge smile. I can’t help but laugh. I kiss him on the forehead before returning my attention to Ronnie. “You want to order dessert, honey?”

I’ve never called her “honey” before, but she must like it because a pretty smile lights up her face as soon as the word leaves my mouth.

“I’m stuffed,” she responds with a giggle and puts her hands on her stomach as she emits an exaggerated sigh. “I’m ready to go to the hotel and pass out.”

“Well, why don’t you take Grey out to the car and I’ll grab the check.”

“You’re sure you don’t want to split it?”

“Honey, you’re paying for the hotel room tonight, so let me buy dinner.”

She shrugs and gives me an appreciative smile before sliding out of her side of the booth and coming to my side to retrieve Grey. She takes him and his diaper bag and gives me a quick peck before taking the keys and heading out. I quickly pay—leaving a generous tip since I’m in such a great mood—before heading to the car myself. We don’t have much trouble finding our hotel. River Terrace isn’t too far and as soon as we’re parked outside we can finally breathe a sigh of relief. The hotel is definitely a vast improvement compared to the ones I became accustomed to staying at in California. As soon as we make it to our room, I set our luggage down and fall onto the bed. It feels like heaven to stretch out after hours of being cramped up in a car traveling.

“Aw, baby. I didn’t know you were so tired,” Ronnie coos as she comes to stand beside the bed to gaze down at me. Grey’s nearly asleep in her arms, but he keeps bobbing his head around as he tries to stay awake. “You want to go get ready for bed?”

I cringe at the idea of leaving this mattress.

“You can go ahead, I’ll just wait for you right here.”

I hear Ronnie giggle at me before she places Grey on my stomach and walks off to the bathroom to get ready for bed first. All of a sudden, Grey’s wide awake and bouncing on my stomach. I guess he’s just excited to see me. This is what usually happens when he naps during the day—so I can’t imagine I’ll get much sleep tonight. He crawls up my body until he’s right by my face and reaches out to pat my cheeks.

“Dada!” he squeals with a loud laugh. “Mama!”

My eyes widen in surprise. He’s finally fucking said it! He said “mama”! I taught him a new word! My excitement dulls as I wonder what Ronnie will think of this. Hopefully, she doesn’t freak-out. I wonder if my decision to teach him a new word was poorly planned considering the fact that we’ll be meeting his birth mother’s parents tomorrow. If he calls Ronnie “mama” tomorrow, it might not be a good thing. Even if Mae and Lincoln don’t freak-out over it, it’ll still be incredibly uncomfortable. I say a silent prayer for smooth sailing tomorrow. This is the first vacation for us as a family, and I want it to be as enjoyable and stress free as possible. Too bad, nothing in my life ever seems to work out that way.