Thrive - Side 2

The rest of dinner went perfect and so did our evening of fun in the bedroom; to say it was something we needed would be a complete understatement. The following morning, Abby was snuggled into me and I loved it. I slid my hand down her leg and she made a sound of contentment.

“Abby.”

“Mmm...”

Then, her alarm went off and she groaned into my chest.

“No...”

I laughed.

“We need to get up.”

She didn’t respond; she only shook her head.

“Have you forgotten that we need to pick up our daughter?”

Her eyes jolted open.

“I haven’t. I’m just comfortable right now. Obviously, I do miss her.” she sighed.

She sat up slightly and looked up at me. I pulled her up toward my face and kissed her.

“I love you.” I said against her lips.

“I love you, too.”

Soon, she was completely on my lap with me running my hands up and down her back.

“Alex... we don’t have time for this. You know that? I know you miss her, too.”

“I do. Let’s go.” I said, kissing her once more.

“That does feel good, though.” she whispered.

She climbed off my lap and made her way off the bed. She walked to the bathroom, turned on the water and hopped into the shower. I was grabbing a towel out of the bathroom closet when she stepped out.

“Hey, Handsome.” she said.

“Hey, Beautiful.”

Ten minutes later as she was drying her hair, I came out of the shower.

“I have a suggestion about something.” I said.

“About what?”

“How does going out for breakfast sound after we pick up Scarlett?”

“Sounds great. Breakfast out as a family.” she said with a smile.

Twenty minutes later, we were out of the house and on our way to Abby’s mom and Tyler’s house. She got out of the car as soon as we pulled out front and shut the door, not bothering to wait for me.

“Abby! Wait up!”

She paused for five seconds until I caught up; thus, began our short walk to their house. She leaned into me after she knocked on the door; Tyler answered the door instead of her mom.

“It’s so good to see you.” she said, hugging him.

“You too.”

“How was Scarlett?”

“A little fussy as I would expect her to be without her mommy and daddy, but other than that, wonderful.” her mom said from across the room.

Abby smiled.

“That’s a relief. I was more worried about her being more emotional.”

She walked into the house to see her mom holding her granddaughter; Scarlett smiled the second she saw Abby. Her mom handed her over and she lit up.

“I missed you so much baby girl.” she said, rocking her.

I came up from behind and wrapped my arms around her.

“Hi, sweetie. Daddy missed you, too.”

I lightly touched her cheek causing her to giggle. Abby looked up to the sight of her mom putting her phone away.

“What were you just doing?” she asked.

“You’ll see.” she said with a smirk.

“What are you talking about?”

“I told you.”

“Whatever you say, Mom.”

“It’s a good thing. Trust me.”

“Ok. Well, thank you guys for watching her. We truly do appreciate it.”

“We loved having her.”

After maybe five more minutes, we were out of their house and into my car. I got into the driver’s seat, not realizing Abby was on her phone.

“Look.” she said, smacking my arm.

“Ow! What?”

She shoved her phone into my hand.

“I love your mom.”

It was a picture she took just moments ago of Abby, Scarlett and me.

“Says she wants us to post it. I gotta find the perfect caption for it.”

“That shouldn’t be too hard.”

“I agree.”

“Could she get any cuter?” Abby said, placing her in her wrap.

“I don’t think that’s even possible.” I said, touching the fine hair on her head.

She stayed asleep; I smiled.

"So, what else do you feel like doing today?" I asked.

"I don't know.”

She shook her head and sighed.

“Something’s on your mind. What is it?”

“I can return to work in the next couple of weeks, but I cannot bear the thought of leaving her. How do you do it? I know it’s different, but...”

I placed my hands on top of her clenched fists and she put on a small smile.

“I think about the fact that although I’m not physically there, I can see and talk to her every day. It’s definitely not easy.”

She nodded and glanced over to our princess. It pained me to see her like this; there was no right answer and I couldn’t tell her what to do.

“I may have to cut my hours if I can. Before her, I worked till eight or nine. Now, that’s past her bedtime.”

"You'll figure it out. I know you will and I'll support whatever decision you make."

She leaned across the table to kiss me.

"I love you so much. You know that? Right?"

“I love you, too.” I said, after kissing her.

A smile was back on her face as she found the perfect caption for that picture. She slid it to me for me to look at before she posted it.

"How about this?"

Family is everything. Big thanks to my mom for taking the candid pic! #family #love

"It's perfect. I love it."

Breakfast went better as it was less emotional but still quite enjoyable; Scarlett didn’t make much of a fuss since she is usually a dream when we’re out and about. Once breakfast was over, we decided to go out and have a day as a family.

"So, where shall we go, M'lady?" I asked when we got into the car.

She laughed.

“To the park, Sir.” she said with an accent.

“You are terrible when it comes to accents.” I said, laughing.

She pushed me.

“Doesn’t stop me though.”

“Nothing stops you from doing anything.”

“You’re seriously too much sometimes. You know that?”

I shrugged.

“With hardly any effort also.”

It was my turn to blush.

We headed to the park and made it there within ten minutes. She wrapped her arms around my middle like yesterday and rested her head against my back when I opened the door to retrieve Scarlett.

“What’s the hug for?”

“Just ‘cause.”

She stayed there for a few more seconds before she unraveled her arms from me. Once we got her out and into her stroller, we made our way to the track at the park and I pushed her in her stroller. This was one of my favorite days as we need to spend time like this out-and-about and never take it for granted.

Notes