I pull into her driveway and see that Jake the Snake’s car is still there.
So, I make the kids walk in first and then follow them in. “Mommy, Asstin came to have ice cream!” Rachel shouts as soon as she gets into the house.
We find them in the kitchen sitting at the table. Lauren sees me, and her eyes light up with a smile to match. “Hey, you,” she says as I walk to her and lean down to kiss her softly.
“Hey. I thought I would surprise you and the kids.” I look at Jake and nod. “But if you’re busy—” I stop talking, because she holds up her hands.
“No, that sounds like a great idea. Jake was just leaving anyway.” She looks at him, giving him a smile that he has to recognize is fake.
Jake slaps the table and gets up. “Yeah, I was just leaving. Gabe, Rachel, come give Dad a hug and kiss!” he calls for them.
They come back into the room and give him hugs and kisses, and he asks if they want to come over that weekend. “I know it’s not my weekend, but I can take them if you guys have plans,” he addresses us both. Lauren has now stood up and is standing next to me, and I’ve got my arm around her shoulder.
“Gabe has hockey on Saturday afternoon,” Lauren says to him, “so maybe after that.”
“I have hockey!” Gabe shouts with glee.
“That’s right, dude. I didn’t get a chance to tell you, but I spoke with Craig and he can start you on Saturday.”
“Yes!” he cheers. “Mom, I’m going to go and tell Jesse.” He runs out of the house.
“Well,” Jake says, “I guess I’ll just be going.”
Rachel runs over and jumps into his arms and kisses his cheek. “Bye, Daddy.”
He says a quick good-bye to both of us and walks out the front door.
Rachel looks at Lauren. “Are we still going for ice cream?”
“Sure, go grab a sweater.” She doesn’t have to ask her twice. Rachel rushes out of the room looking for her sweater.
“Are we going to discuss what happened here?” I look at her, asking about the elephant in the room.
“There really is nothing to discuss. He came crawling back. Telling me how him leaving was a mistake.” She shrugs her shoulders, while my heart stops, my stomach drops.
“What does that mean?” I try not to freak out.
“It means exactly what you think it means. He fucked up. I mean, did it hurt me? Yes. Did I want to go all Beyonce on his ass? Fuck yeah. But it’s over. I’ve moved on.” She comes over to me. “I’m hoping that you are on the same page as me?” She kisses me on my neck.
“We are exactly on the same page. I will say,” I tell her while I look down on her, “he gets a pass for today, because he got fucked over. But”—I push her hair behind her ears—“this is the last pass he gets. Next time, I’m going to tell him exactly where to go fly his kite.” I smile at her. “If you know what I mean.” I kiss her nose watching her smile.
“I know what you mean. Now, can I have some ice cream?” She puts her hands on her hips. “It’s Thursday, it’s spin class day.”
“Really?” I’m surprised I didn’t know this.
“Really. I take spin classes on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and sometimes on Saturdays. Usually, I drop Gabe off at soccer practice and then hit up the gym where Rachel goes to the play area.”
“Baby, if you want to work out, all you have to do is tell me. You can ride me all night long,” I whisper to her while taking her in my arms.
Her hands curl around my arm while she picks off invisible lint. “Oh, I’m going to ride you all night long”—she moves her hands around my neck, pulling my ear to her lips—“as soon as you buy that ball gag.” I feel the huff of her laughter across my cheek as I turn my face to kiss her lips.
“I found my sweater!” Rachel yells from somewhere in the house, her footsteps coming closer. I wait to see if Lauren will drop her hands, but she doesn’t, so I bask in this second victory tonight. The first being her obviously negative reaction to Jake’s presence there and whatever it was he wanted to talk to her about. “Asstin, can you carry me on your shoulders?” She comes into the kitchen as she tries to pull on her sweater. “Are you strong like Noah?” She pets her sweater.
Lauren puts her hand in front of her mouth to stop the laugh from escaping, while I glare at her. “I’m a thousand times stronger than Noah.” I grab her and toss her in the air and then catch her and flip her upside down while she giggles.
I finally put her on my shoulders, and we start walking toward the ice cream parlor. Gabe sees us walking down the street and runs to catch up to us after saying good-bye to his friend Jesse.
The four of us walk down the street, me holding Lauren’s hand, while Rachel sits on my shoulders, her feet tucked under my arms, and Gabe holds Lauren’s other hand as he talks non-stop about hockey.
We eat the ice cream and then make our way back home, almost the same way we came, except now Rachel is telling us all about how she needs a cat, because everyone has a cat, everyone.
When we walk back into the house, Lauren starts issuing orders for bath and homework. They both go to their respective rooms, while Lauren looks over at me and says, “I have to do the dishes. Come sit and talk to me.” She walks to the kitchen, rolling up her sleeves as she starts cleaning the dinner dishes and putting them in the
