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FourYearsLater
"Smile! Hey guys, look at me!" I stick my tongue out and cross my eyes, hoping at least for a sympathy laugh, at least from the assembled group, but none of the kids are paying even the slightest attention to my futile attempts to get a halfway decent picture. Despite their parent's career paths, none of the Lowell or Adler kids are even the slightest bit interested in cooperating in front of a camera.
"Give it up, baby." Phillip chuckles, pausing on his way to deposit a plate of pizza pockets on the table to steal a kiss that makes me wish our relatives would come pick up their kids already so we can put ours to bed. Usually, babysitting for everyone is my very favorite thing. I love the chaos, the noise, even the mess.
Would it be too much to ask foronepicture where everyone is looking at the camera, though?
Apparently.
"Phillip," I whine as the plate hits the top of the coffee table, and all six kids are off the couch, descending upon it like they didn't just eat mac and cheese an hour ago.
My husband chuckles, moving around me to wrap his arms around my middle and drag me back into his chest. "It was never going to happen anyway."
He's probably right, but a girl can dream.
After years of traveling back and forth, we officially moved to Philadelphia just a few months ago. The days of Enflamme's months-long tours are long over, though they still play pretty regularly. Normally it's only a few days, and I get to sit in the empty audience with our daughters during soundcheck, holding them back from running on stage and disrupting a multimillion-dollar production setup. Phillip thinks it's funny, but the personal assistant in me is horrified by the thought of messing with the schedule.
"You know." Phillip muses, nipping at my neck. "I think it's time to call in all those babysitting favors."
"It's not a favor if it's family." I remind him, smiling as our youngest and Daisy's race off in the direction of the playroom, holding hands. Once upon a time, I was alone, and now I have more family than I know what to do with. I spend my days wiping noses and changing diapers for my own kids and our family's when they need me to, helping Penn and Daisy at their arts organization, and loving on my husband. It's chaotic and stressful sometimes, but I'll never take a single minute of it for granted.
Against my back, Phillip's big chest shakes with silent laughter. "You have the biggest heart of anyone I know, baby girl."
I really don't. I just appreciate what I have.
"Why would we need a babysitter? You don't have anything coming up, do you?"
"Actually,wedo." He leans forward to kiss my neck, and my stomach performs the little flip-flop it always does when Phillip makes it clear he has plans for me whenever the kids are in bed. "I thought it was finally time you got a honeymoon."
My eyebrows shoot up, and I turn in his arms, staring up at him in surprise. "A honeymoon? We've been married for four years! Besides, we did have a honeymoon, remember? The hotel suite in New York?"
When Phillip proposed to me, he hadn't meant we'd get married in a few months like a normal person. Nope, the next morning, we'd driven back over to Cash and Noa's house and got married in their backyard with only our closest friends and family as witnesses. He'd still been right in the middle of an international tour, so there hadn't been time to do more than lock ourselves in a hotel suite and have sex on every conceivable surface for two days straight. After that, it was back to real life, except I was on tour as Phillip'swife, not his assistant.
He chuckles, and I know he's also thinking about those two days. "Better late than never, and that doesn't count. Stevie and Quinn are old enough to spend a week with their Uncle Cash and Aunt Noa. I've already got it set up with them and got the trip all arranged. All you have to do is show up and bring that little black bikini I love so much."
Of the two of us, I'm definitely the organizer. We've taken a few vacations as a family of four, and with all the traveling between Philly and LA, I was the one who booked the flights and packed the clothes, and got everything in order. Phillip taking charge and doing this is unprecedented, and I feel my eyes burning as my chest tightens with love for the man I'm married to. He's come such a long way since we met, and he still finds ways to become a better partner, father, and friend.
"I'm so lucky to have you." I blubber, turning in his arms to press my face into his warm t-shirt.
Phillip presses a kiss to the top of my head. "That's my line."
"Where are we going?" I ask with a laugh, leaning back to look at him, smiling so big my cheeks hurt.
Wiping away the remnants of my tears, Phillip shakes his head. "It's a surprise, but I should probably tell you that we leave on Monday."
"That's tomorrow!" I half laugh, half cry, shaking my head in disbelief. "Oh my god, that's why Daisy and Noa were so pushy about getting me to go with them for a mani-pedi this morning! You're all insane. How long have you been planning this?"
Phillip is beaming, clearly thrilled with my reaction to his surprise. "A while." He kisses my forehead. "You do so much for everyone around you, baby. Let me do something for you. Let me take care of you."
If someone had told me this was how my story would end, I wouldn't have believed them. I was never the girl who was going to get a happily-ever-after or win the heart of the man of her dreams or become the center of a big, loud, loving family. Nobody actually gets that lucky, right?
As my kids dash over, squealing with excitement when Phillip tells them they're going to spend a whole week with their cousins, and Daisy bursts into the house, apologizing over and over for her lateness while pressing a loaf of the bread she baked this morning into my hands, I'm one hundred percent certain that I am the luckiest person in the world.
Thank you so much for reading! If you enjoyed this story, please take the time to leave a rating or review, it is such an enormous help for indie authors like myself and I genuinely love hearing people's thoughts on my work!
- Cleo
Teaser for Mixed Up
