AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Macturnsonthe outdoor fans that are lined along the side of the house on the back porch. The heat in August can be brutal, but it never deters us from eating on the porch on Sundays. We always make it work.
I collect silverware while he grabs chairs and places them around the long wooden table, taking up a small part of the large deck. There’s only five of us today, so I keep us on one half of the twelve-seater. Instead of placing Matt or Mac at the head of the table, I put Mac and Haley on one side, and Matt, Charlotte, and me on the other side. Sadly, Beau called to cancel some sort of emergency at work.
Haley sits at the other end of the concrete deck, book in hand, curled up on an outdoor couch. “When is your interview in Boston?” Mac asks as he sits across from her. She closes her book and looks up at him.
“I have a phone interview tomorrow. If it goes well, they’ll try to woo me. It’s all very romantic. They’ll send me a bunch of goodies and perks, and invite me to tour the hospital sometime next month. Andi, I think you should come with me. They’ll put me in a five-star hotel. You can shop during the day, and at night, we can go exploring.”
I shoot her a dirty look and round the table to head back inside for the pitchers of orange juice, water, and lemonade. “No. Why can’t you stay here?” I scowl. I don’t give her a chance to reply and hurry past to get into the kitchen.
Since it’s just a few of us, I toned down the meal. Usually, I make a spread of breakfast meats, eggs, and waffles. I’ll make sausage gravy, and homemade biscuits, cinnamon rolls, and a salad, and some other lunch meat, like a roasted ham, and heavier sides. I’ll spend the morning in the kitchen, and we eat around 12:30 in the afternoon. But today it’s just waffles, store-bought bagels, some spreads, and leftover roast beef from last night. I didn’t slave in the kitchen. Instead, I spent the morning with Haley.
Haley leaving the Army was supposed to be the greatest day of my life. We had it all planned since we were kids. She’d move into my house, build her own on the property, and we’d live together forever, as badass boss babes. But she seems to have forgotten about that. Now she’s looking for jobs on the East Coast.
She is on my shit list, along with Dom.
I push the backdoor open, and set the tray with the pitchers down in the center. The sound of footsteps hitting concrete fills the area. Charlotte runs towards me from the side of the deck and wraps her tiny arms around my waist, squeezing me as hard as she can. I inhale her lavender shampoo and bend down to kiss her head.
Being apart from her is the worst feeling ever, and I hate myself for leaving Matt every time she returns. Matt rounds the corner and waves awkwardly at me as he approaches.
“Hey, Matt,” Haley says.
Charlotte hears Haley’s voice and pulls away from me. She glances around me and smiles widely when she sees Haley. “Aunt Haley!” She shrieks.
Charlotte runs towards Haley and jumps into her arms as she continues her cheering. “I missed you!” She cries, and Haley plants kisses all over her face.
Matt clears his throat. “Can we chat while she’s occupied?”
I give him a polite smile. On paper, we were perfect together. Matt is good looking, tall, toned, and has dimples. He’s a smooth talker, and he was good to me. And he was closer to my age than Dom.
“Yeah, let’s go upstairs.”
He follows me inside and upstairs to my room. Maybe it wasn’t the most appropriate place to have a discussion, but it was the only place to keep our conversation private.
Matt sits on the edge of the bed, rubbing his palms on his jeans as he glances around the bedroom we once shared. “You didn’t change it,” he says, taking in the gray walls with paintings of flowers, pictures of me dressed in formal wear, and some of Charlotte as an infant.
I clear my throat and choose to sit on my reading chair across the room. “No.”
“So, I’ve been seeing someone. Her name is Lisa, and she met Charlotte this weekend. I want you to meet her, too. I want to continue our Sunday brunches on the weekends that I have Charlotte, but I want Lisa to feel comfortable.
“I don’t want her thinking we’re over here playing house while she’s out in the dark. I want her to understand we have a co-parenting relationship, only.”
We haven’t set ground rules for this sort of thing, but I definitely think I should have met Lisa before he went and introduced Charlotte to her. There’s no sense in arguing with him about it now, though. The damage is done. I learned a long time ago not to push back on him. He doesn’t take constructive criticism well.
I agree. “Of course. I would love to meet her. If you want, maybe she and I can grab dinner on Wednesday, while Charlotte is with you? I can drop her off and pick up Lisa.” I pause, shaking my head. “Is that weird? What are the rules to this? Maybe we just meet at your house while Charlotte plays?”
Matt’s eyes light up and I think he is surprised. “You would really be okay with that?”
“I would. I want her to feel included. Will she join us on Sundays?”
Matt pauses, his face stern as he contemplates it. “I honestly didn’t think you would want her to.”
“If Charlotte is happy, that’s all that matters. And I’m so grateful you continue to come over and make these memories with us. I wouldn’t have it any other way. Lisa is always welcome, so long as she loves Charlotte. How did their meeting go?”
“I wanted to tell you first, but we didn’t have the time.” He is defensive. “We all went bowling. As friends. I didn’t explain who she was beyond that, and they hit it off.”
“I don’t think there’s a person in this world that can’t love our girl.” I smile. Charlotte takes after me, making friends anywhere she goes.
Matt nods, smiling as he stands up. “I’ll talk to Lisa about Wednesday.”
