We Just Need Us (Second Generation Book 5)

Chapter 7

CLEMMY

“Can I stir the ‘ghetti sauce, Mommy?” Vivienne stands next to me on her step stool as we prepare dinner. I spent so much time growing up in the kitchen with my mom and Grandma Tracy, but I am ashamed to admit that I didn’t pick up many of their skills. Spaghetti sauce was one of the things that I was able to cook. Over the years I have modified the recipe a bit, but the basics are still the same. Using store-bought canned tomatoes is allowed, but the sauce is best when I use some of Grandma’s canned tomatoes that her garden produces every year.

I try as much as I can to involve Vivi in the cooking process. These are the memories I have from growing up and I want her to have them too. “You can stir, but remember to do it gently. We don’t want to make a mess of our clothes.” I hand her the wooden spoon and she carefully stirs the sauce around while I drain the pasta in the sink.

“Vivi, do you think we should add the sauce and meatballs together or put the meatballs on top?”

“Hmm,” she says while tapping her pointer finger against her chin, “Maybe just on top. That way we can save extra meatballs for sandwiches for lunch!”

“Good thinking, baby girl,”

I place the pot of spaghetti and sauce on the table and then bring over the meatballs. Vivi carries the salad bowl over as well. She sets it on the table, proud of her hard work, and then we both hear the front door opening. Vivi gets a huge smile on her face and then runs towards the front door, crashing her body right into the visitor.

“You made it just in time!” She exclaims. Patrick laughs at her shenanigans and picks her up, settling her on his hip.

“Of course I made it in time. Your mom said six and I made sure to leave the office at 5:45 for I’d be here right on time. It smells amazing in here, did you do all the cooking?” Patrick carries her into the kitchen and sets her down on the chair that is hers.

“Of course not, silly. Mommy did most of the work, I just helped add the ingredients to the sauce and I ripped up the lettuce for the salad,” she says to him with a smile as big as the sun.

“I bet you did a really awesome job, V.” Patrick comes to me and wraps his arms around my waist, and kisses my cheek. “Hey babe, how was your day?”

I smile and look up at him, “It was good. I had back to back appointments all day, but they were all regulars so they tipped well.”

Patrick and I started dating about two years ago, shortly after he moved back into town. He was a few years old than I was, but I knew him for a bit in high school. He moved away for college, but when he graduated he moved back to town to work at his dad’s dental office. He isn’t a dentist himself, but he manages the office and financial side. We ran into each other when Vivienne was in there for her check-up and started as just being friends.

I wasn’t ready to jump into a relationship. I was still trying to manage being a single mom and I had just started my career. We were both living at home at the time and more than anything I just needed a friend outside of my family. Patrick gave me that. The trips to get coffee eventually turned into lunches and finally, he officially asked me out on a date. It took some time for me to open up, but Patrick was patient and understood that I had been burned and broken.

My biggest worry when it came to dating was how Vivienne was going to react, but she took to Patrick right away. He’s really goofy with her and is willing to sit down and watch princess movies with her. He even dressed up in matching Halloween costumes with her last year. Getting Vivienne’s approval was big, but what I didn’t expect was that he’d get my parent’s approval.

It took a really long time for Dad to get over his initial disappointment in the pregnancy news. Thankfully, the first time he held her in his arms, all of the fighting and arguing that we endured was moot. That didn’t mean that once I brought a “boy” home for the first time post-Robbie, that he was going to take it easy on the guy. Patrick took it all in stride though. The same way he was patient with me, he was patient with my dad and before you knew it, they were getting talking about football and organizing golf trips.

“Hey, V, guess what?” Patrick said while digging into his pasta.

“What?” She exclaimed.

“I picked up the Disney on Ice tickets today.”

Vivienne let out an excited scream and started hopping up in down in her seat, clapping her hands. Patrick and I both laughed at her reaction. I reached over and put my hand on her lap to calm her down. “Don’t get too crazy on be, Baby Girl. Remember that we have to be super grateful to Patrick for getting the tickets.”

She slid off her chair and ran around the table to give him a hug. My heart ached but in a good way. She needed this. Sure, she had a lot of really amazing men who loved and cared for her, but they weren’t her dad. I wasn’t willing to jump too far ahead and let Patrick “be” her father, but to see a man so lovingly care for her because he WANTED to, not just because they were family, was monumental.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!” She said over and over again.

“I’m just excited that we all get to take a little trip. Maybe I can convince your mom to let me buy you some cotton candy while we’re there.” He glances over at me and winks. He knows that I probably won’t say no to a fun treat at the Disney on Ice performance, but on a normal day, I would never let her have that so it is a treat for her.

The excitement dies down and we finish dinner. While I get Vivi in the bath and ready for bed, Patrick takes care of cleaning up the kitchen and putting the leftovers away. After I tuck her in for bed, I come back out to the living room and find him standing in front of the couch with a glass of wine.

“Nightcap?” He grins and hands it to me.

“How did you know?”

He circles his hand over my face, “It is written all over here.”

We take a seat on the couch and I turn on the TV. With Patrick’s arm around me, I lean into his shoulder and rest my head on him. “Thank you again for getting her those tickets. I know they were expensive.”

“You don’t need to thank me. It is her birthday and I like to spoil her every once in a while. I mean, you hardly let me.”

“That’s because if you spoil her too much she’s going to turn into a little sassy pain in the you know what.”

“What?” His voice dripping in sarcasm. “My V would NEVER be a sassy pain in the you know what.”

“You just keep telling yourself that.” I pat my hand on his leg. “Enough about that, how was your day?”

“It was fine. Just normal stuff. Calling people with overdue accounts, way too many emais from insurance companies. I’m start to feel like the family business isn’t all it was cracked up to be.”

“But if you didn’t work for the family business, you never would have moved back to Lawrence and if you never moved back here we would never have reconnected and that would have been the real tragedy, you know?”

I look up at him and he presses a kiss against my lips. “You speak in long, rambling, run on sentences, but you make an excellent point. I digress, I love the family business.”

“That’s what I thought.”

A comfortable lull falls over us as we get into the TV show that we’re watching. I love nights like this, just the two of us. Patrick brings a level of security that I haven’t felt in years. I may have only been sixteen when Robbie tore out my heart and ran away with it, but it left a gapping wound that hasn’t been easy to repair. I honestly thought that the feeling I had may be something I never get to experience again, but with Patrick, I feel like maybe a happily ever after exists after all.