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I had a pang of wishing that Jason could be sharing in the fun day ahead, but I knew that wasn’t going to happen. It hurt, but I understood. I was a father too. I hoped I’d never be as terrible to Kayla as he’d been to Mary-Beth, though. Hearing the way he spoke to her yesterday had me questioning whether I even wanted the two of us to be friends anymore, however far back we went.
Mary-Beth had talked to him the day before, and she’d confirmed that we were together, and committed to one another. She’d invited him to our last push to get the apartments ready, and she’d asked for his blessing. She didn’t get it. Instead, she got a stream of self-righteous verbal abuse, and then he’d hung up the phone. I know this because I’d been there, listening on speaker. I’d wanted to support her. She’d needed me too – she’d been very upset afterwards, and angry.
I was ashamed to admit it, but in the past, I’d acted like Jason had, too. Just expecting to bulldoze through and get my own way, and one hundred percent believing that my perspective was right. Not just right for me, but right for others. Thinking I knew best. Now I could see how wrong I’d been. True love had come blazing into my life, shaken me up and shown me a whole new way of being.
This whole thing had made me see so many things differently, and that was still happening. Slowly, since Mary-Beth arrived with us, I’d been doing more listening to Kayla and less talking. I’d seen how much space that had opened up for her to relate with me. She was coming back from her mom’s today, for the apartment-finishing party, and I couldn’t wait to see her. Mary-Beth couldn’t either, and Maddy had picked up on the excitement. She’d been in a really great mood all morning, squealing and kicking her legs merrily as she’d bounced up and down in her door bouncer, while Mary-Beth and I did some military planning for the party in the kitchen.
We’d had three days to ourselves after the canal boat night. I swear, if we hadn’t had so much to do, we’d have spent all of it in bed. We just wanted to be together, and there was so much to explore. But at the same time, life demanded so much of us, with the online magazine to launch and the apartments to finish, as well as caring for Maddy and me getting in all my training and physio in.
I loved every single minute of it, though. All of it was different with Mary-Beth by my side.
And yes, I have to admit, we had a couple of sneaky daytime slips too, when Maddy was safely napping. A second round on the couch in the grand apartment for one thing… And a heated revisit of the kitchen counter scenario in 2A while we were supposed to be making a list for the fitters…
I reminded myself that we had time to enjoy every single thing we were doing together. Mary-Beth wasn’t going anywhere. We could let the whole thing unfold piece by hot, steamy, beautiful piece. I drifted into a memory of the night before – of black lace underwear and high heels on the bed… Gaaaad, that woman.
“Earth to Alex!” Mary-Beth called out brightly, breezing in with a folder in her arms. She was in her sexy painting gear – jeans and a soft jersey T-shirt.
I startled and came back into the present.
‘Where were you?” she said, smiling, wrapping her arms around my waist.
“I was reliving a very sexy moment where a beautiful woman was kneeling over me in high heels and some-“
“Shhh! Mads will hear!” she cried, swatting me playfully with the folder.
“I wasn’t going to say anything rude in front of Maddy!” I protested. I turned to the little girl, feeling my heart burst with love for her, and made a funny face.
She giggled and reached out her arms for me to pick her up. I went over and lifted her out of the bouncer, then went to answer the doorbell.
It was Clare, without Ralph. I didn’t say anything about that, but Mads and I gave her a big hug, and I hoped she felt my sympathies going out to her. They’d broken up. Mary-Beth had filled me in.
Then, I wondered why I was holding back. “Sorry to hear about you and Ralph,” I said, as I took her jacket and saw her through to the kitchen.
She turned and smiled into my eyes. “Thanks,” she said. Then in a sing-sing baby-happy voice suitable for Maddy, she added, “He turned out to be a mommy-and-daddy-special-cuddle place-where-poo-poo-comes-out.”
“What?”
“No being rude in front of Maddy,” Clare told me.
I laughed as I got that she meant fucking asshole. “Oh yeah!” I winked at Mary-Beth as we went into the kitchen. “She tells me off for that too.”
Mary-Beth rushed over and gave Clare a huge hug. “Are you okay?” she asked. “That didn’t sound good, about Ralph. Did he hurt you?”
Clare smiled shakily and sat down. “No, nothing like that. But as soon as I brought up that things hadn’t been working out between us, he showed a nasty side of himself. He got really angry and yelled at me, right up in my face. I’m just glad I’m out of it.”
I frowned. “Let me know if you need any help with that,” I told her. “Like, when he comes to get his stuff, me and Bryce could be there. Or if he gives you any hassle, just call.”
“Thanks so much,” said Clare. “That’s really kind of you, and I might take you up on it.”
I noticed a communication between the two women. Roughly translated, it was, yeah, your new boyfriend’s a good guy.
I’d never have offered to do something like that before. I’d have been too wrapped up in my own issues and world to even think about it. I was noticing myself changing before my own eyes.
Mary-Beth got some coffee going, and everyone started arriving after that. Bryce showed up with Julie and Tansy, and Kayla was close behind them. She gave me and Maddy the hugest hug, and Mary-Beth too. Then she took Maddy from me and went to chat with Tansy, whom she’d always looked up to.
She’d been dropped off by Clarissa this time. That was a shock, to see my ex-wife there on my doorstep, but of course, she’d never think to give me any warning about something like this. She’d never replied to my voice memo either.
“Can I have a quick word?” she said. It was more of a command than a question.
