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“Stuff!” Charlie announced and pointed at the stalls ahead.
“Yep, stuff it is.”
It took us about two hours to get everything Jeremy asked for. Not that they didn’t have it, but I also spent some time hunting for something special for Frankie. It was my birthday, I could get her a present if I wanted. What the birthday boy wants, he gets.
That rule had not changed in all the years we’d known each other. So, what I wanted was to give her something that would make her smile.
One of the things I loved about this particular market was the quality of the homemade goods. There were soaps here that Frankie loved. Candles. Bath bombs. Decorative pieces. But nothing that was just…
“Pop!” Charlie waved his arms, demanding my attention and I glanced down at him, then over to where he was pointing.
“Oh, look what you found,” I murmured as I pushed us in that direction. I was pretty sure it was the wind chimes with all their crystals and metallic pieces that caught his attention.
What I wanted was just on the other side of them. The lady working the booth was very helpful, especially when I explained what I wanted. She said she could have it ready in an hour.
So I took Charlie to find lunch and when we came back, it was ready to go. I also got him one of the wind chimes so we could hang it on the patio where Frankie liked to take her coffee when the weather was agreeable.
“For Mama,” Charlie said. “And me.”
I laughed. Yes, for Mama and him.
Josh and Jeremy were home by the time I got there, and Charlie was asleep. I let them unload the car while I put him down for a nap. Then Josh gave me a minute by minute breakdown of soccer and how fun it was and everything he learned.
Jeremy clarified the points he missed out on. Then I left Jeremy to wrangle dinner and keep an ear out for Charlie while Josh and I took Maxie and Murray for a walk. By the time Izzy was ready for pickup, Archie and Jake were back so Archie headed out to grab her.
I’d showed them what I got for Frankie and Jake had laughed at the narrow-eyed look Archie wore as he examined it. After he left, he clapped me on the shoulder. “You know, you just fired shots in a new competition.”
I snorted. “If it means a competition for spoiling her, I don’t mind that in the slightest. I just need her to feel better.”
“Yeah, I get it.”
Then Josh was back and Charlie was up and we decided to build a blanket fort. Once Izzy and Archie were home, we had dinner, then baths for all the kids, then time for a movie. Saturday nights we let them stay up late, cause most of the time it meant they slept in the next morning and that was nice.
Most of the time.
Tuesday morning I was at JFK early. I put my car in parking for the week and boarded my flight with just a carry-on. I didn’t need much. They were in Seattle this week. In fact, based on their schedule, I was going to get in before them.
Bubba had given me the heads up on the hotel they were staying as well as the fact he’d booked a suite ahead of time. They traveled with the band. The tour bus was coming up from Northern California.
My flight landed close to ten local time. They weren’t due in until one. Plenty of time to get there, check-in, and be waiting in the hotel suite. Bubba had approved the plan, and he was going to send Frankie up on her own while he took care of some things, then he’d join us later.
My birthday was technically the next day. But I liked early presents and my brother-husbands were the best.
Even with the flight arriving a few minutes late and taking forever to get to a gate, I was still at the hotel a good ninety minutes ahead of time. Once in the suite, I studied the layout and debated how I wanted to do this. It needed to be perfect.
One glance at my watch and I sent a message to the guys to let them know I was at the hotel. Then I sent a second one to Bubba to check on her. How was she feeling?
His response was swift. The fatigue was better, but she was definitely missing them. The original plan of two weeks on, one week off, hit a snag when they had to leave earlier then spend ten days in the recording studio, which turned into two weeks. That meant they were there for a couple of local events before they got on the road. It was going to be closer to four weeks gone before they got back.
Thus, my plan to surprise her and give myself a present at the same time.
No nausea still. Excellent…
I ordered up lunch, a few of her favorites, a few of mine. Plenty of water and it turned out the hotel offered an herbal iced tea. It was orange blossoms, but she might like that. Once the meal and the flowers I’d ordered ahead of time were delivered, I checked the time.
Fifteen minutes.
Bubba said they were in the city, just making their way through traffic.
