5 Reasons To Love Again

Chapter 120

It was obvious that Lexine and the puppy were inseparable. The past two weeks had flown by. While she had started talking to her "daddies", her answers and comments were strictly one to two words. Just enough to get her point across. Preston consulted with her psychologist and she was very happy to hear about Lexine's progress. We were told to continue to let her move at her own pace and not push the matter. I sighed and continued to pack my clothes into the teal blue polka dotted suitcase that the guys had bought for me. I was having a hard time with the thought of being away from my daughter. It would be the first time that I would really be away from her. The overnight hospital stay a few months ago didn't really count.

Fussing over the outfits that I was packing, I also tried to decide what would hide my stomach. I wasn't showing yet but I would be soon. Preston wandered into my room and leaned against the wall, "Do you have everything that you need my dear?"  I smiled and nodded at him, "I do have everything that I need. I'm just fussing over clothes. I want to make sure that I have fashionable clothes that kind of hide my stomach." He pushed himself off the wall and came closer to me and laid his hand over my abdomen. "You aren't even showing yet."

"I know." I said shrugging, "I just feel better if it's hidden. I might just wake up one morning there with a little bump. That's what happened with Lexine. I need to be prepared." Preston moved his hand from my stomach to my face, "You are unbelievably beautiful. Even if they find out that you are pregnant, it won't matter. I promise you that we won't let anything happen to you or Lexine. Trust me when I say that." I nodded again wordlessly and lifted up my face for a kiss. He pressed his lips to mine sweetly and then grabbed his phone. He checked the screen and then groaned. "Academy business. I'm trying to do as much as I can before we leave. Brady is downstairs and I'll be back later." He kissed me longer this time and then took off.

I got back to packing and put in shoes to go with the outfits and then started on my toiletries. Once that was finished, I decided that I wanted another phone charger to take with me. Making my way downstairs, I came across Tiger at the bottom of the stairs. He was wagging his tail like crazy and had a sock in his mouth. Tiger had a thing for socks and was forever stealing them from us. "Tiger get back here! I need my sock!" Brady's voice shouted out and I laughed as I leaned over to scoop up the mischievous puppy in my arms. "Is this the culprit that you are looking for?" I said as I walked over to him. Brady stood there with only one sock on. "Yes, this is the little sock monster that I'm after. I was resting on the couch with no shoes on and he managed to wrestle my sock off my foot. Tiger's a fast little stinker!" We managed to get him to let go of the sock so that Brady could put it back on.

"Brady, I need to go to the store. I want to buy another charger for my phone for traveling. That way if I lose it or forget to bring it back, I'll still have one in my room." I said to him. He agreed to take me to Target since he also needed to get a few things there. I grabbed my purse and we put Tiger in his downstairs crate before we left the house. When we were out on the road in his truck, Brady spoke up. "I'm going to miss you when you leave tomorrow. I know that it's only for a few days but still. At least we will have Lexine and the little sock monster to keep us company. I know that we keep saying this but it's so nice that she talking to us. Well, kinda talking to us but you know what I mean."

"I noticed that she has been very spoiled lately." I said laughingly to him. Brady grinned widely, "Yeah, well, I'm sure the urge to spoil her will wear off soon." We pulled into Summerville's Target's parking lot and he found a spot pretty close to the entrance. I took a cart and wiped down the handle with the antibacterial wipes that the store provided. Brady walked beside me as I pushed the cart. I headed towards their electronics area and quickly found a travel charger for my phone. As I set it in my cart, Brady grabbed another one and set in the cart also. I looked at him in confusion, "Did you need one too?"

He grinned and shook his head no, "You do for your iPad. You're going to need on your trip. Oh, and you'll need this as well." he said as he also put one of those mobile battery chargers in the cart. I thought about it and he was right. If I was going to read and entertain myself on the long flight then I would need the extra power. "Thank you." I said to him gratefully as I tiptoed up for a kiss. Brady leaned down and kissed me gently. "So what are you needing from here?" I asked him. "Why don't we start at this end and just walk through. We can grab things as we need." he replied. I looked at him in surprise, "You're willing to walk through the entire store and just browse?" Brady smiled and nodded, "Yeah, of course. Didn't Rick used to do this...." his voice trailed off with a sigh, "Never mind, I already know the answer to that. C'mon buttercup, let's be lazy and just wander through the aisles." He commandeered the cart from me and pushed at a leisurely pace. I walked with him feeling completely bemused.

I had fun with him, looking at things and for the first time, when I put things that I wanted into my cart, I didn't worry about having enough money for it. My bank account was good and I had been systematically shopping for the everyone's Christmas presents. I grabbed little things here and there for them. I was going to surprise all of them with stuffed stocking on Christmas morning. Things like their favorite candy bars and little grown man toys such as tiny remote control cars. When we got to the clothing section, Brady threw in a pack of socks and briefs for himself. He then encouraged me to look at the maternity section. I found a couple of cute tops and threw those into the cart as well. At the little girls section we picked out some sparkly headbands and cute pajama sets for Lexine.

After that we were pretty much done and we headed to the registers. As our moment to pay came closer, I surreptitiously palmed my debit card and had a plan in my head. Brady in true southern manners, like the rest of my men, usually refused to let me pay for anything. As he pulled his wallet out, I resorted to my usual trick. Pointing away from the register, I asked Brady, "Hey, what's that?" As he turned to look, I swiped my card through the machine and signed my name quickly. The female employee at the register laughed and shook her head. Brady glanced at the receipt that was printing out and then gave me a playful glare. I giggled as I put my card back in my purse, "You can buy me some ice cream." I offered sweetly to him.

He nodded as he loaded our purchases back into the cart. The tiny food court in Target sold ice cream so we each got a scoop there and sat at one of the tables eating them with our cart next to us. "Is your ice cream good?" he asked me with a wink. I giggled remembering our first kiss at the mall. I took a little bite of it and leaned closer to him raising my face up. Brady's lips landed on mine and the tip of his tongue gave my mouth a tiny lick before he pulled away. He smiled, "Good choice, it tastes good."

We finished our ice cream and loaded the bags into the back of his truck. The subject of California came up again and our conversation drifted into talk of vacations. "I think that it's all going to have to wait until after our little jellybean is born." he said. "But afterwards, we will go on a relaxing family vacation somewhere." I stared at the scenery going by with a goofy smile, "That does sound nice." When we got home and took the bags into the house. Tiger heard us come in and started to yip and yap to be let out. Brady opened his crate and carried him out to the backyard to make sure that he could relieve himself outside. I started going through the bags to see what should go upstairs and what stayed downstairs. I gathered up my bags and took them to my room. When I came back downstairs, Tiger came to greet me with kisses. Brady was taking his bags upstairs and told me that he had put the other two bags on the kitchen counter. Tiger followed me as I went there. Inside the bag was a new Busy Bone for him. I opened it and showed it to him. He wagged his tail excitedly and took it from my hand to scamper off into a corner to lay down and chew on it.

I thought that Tiger was so cute! I put away the few food items into the pantry and checked on the crock pot dinner that I had going. It was a chicken stew that I was going to add dumplings to closer to dinner time. I went back to my room to put those items away and try to finish packing.