Last Love | Book 3

Chapter 13

(Jennifer)

It's been over a week since Josh and I had our fight. I'm not even sure what happened that night really even counts as a fight since there wasn't much fighting or talking going on. I just ignored him until I fell asleep and when I woke up in the morning I went back to talking to him like I normally do. We probably should've talked about it or apologized to each other or something but I just didn't think there was anything else to say about it. I'm over it now I guess. I help Ava get onto the horse and show her where to hold on. I hold her with one hand so she won't fall off and use my other hand to guide the horse. I walk next to the horse as it walks around the yard in a circle, going extra slow so I can be next to it at all times. When we get back next to the barn I make the horse stop and help Ava get down. "Cole, it's your turn!" He drops the toy truck he was playing with and runs over to me. Ava picks up the toy he dropped and starts playing with it. I watch her and make sure she's not gonna leave before I pick Cole up and help him get on the horse. When Cole's finishing his turn Josh walks out of the house and starts walking towards us. "Do you wanna try?" I ask Josh, as I'm getting Cole down. "Uh... Yeah, I guess." He doesn't sound very sure. "I promise you'll be fine. It's easy." I pause waiting for a reaction, but he just keeps staring at the horse. "You don't have to do it if you don't want to." I set Cole down next to me. "No, I want to." He still sounds nervous. "Okay. Just give me a minute and I'll show you what you need to do." I walk Cole over to Ava and then I return to Josh. "Okay." I point to the horse. "This is where you need to hold onto and you sit right here." I say. "Okay." Josh gets on the horse and holds on just like I told him to easily. We start of just by walking really slowly like I did with the kids. "See, it's easy. Are you ready to go faster?" He nods. "Okay. Just barely tap on her right here and she'll know to go faster." I explain. He does what I say and they start moving faster. I smile, watching them do a few laps around the yard. Josh still looks so nervous. We stay out there a little while longer. Then we go inside to cool off and get a snack.

Josh goes to the fridge and gets Ava and Cole juice boxes while I open a bag of potato chips and set them on the counter. "Want one?" Josh asks, holding a juice box out to me. "Yeah. Thanks." I take it from him and set it down so I can eat some chips. Josh gets a juice box for himself, then closes the fridge and walks over to stand next to me. Neither of us bothered to get a chair so we're both stuck leaning up against the counter while we eat. When I reach into the bag I realize that almost have the bag is already gone. I take one more chip out of the bag, then I start drinking my apple juice. I keep sucking on the straw until there's no more juice left in the box. "Damn drank the whole juice box in one suck." Josh smirks at me and I burst out laughing. Cole and Ava start laughing too even though they don't know what's funny. They just laugh whenever I laugh. "I'm gonna go upstairs." I mumble, throwing my juice box in the trash. "No! Don't, don't be mad." I have to bite my lip to keep from laughing again. "I'm not mad...... It's just hot in here so I'm gonna go change." I say, starting to walk towards the stairs.

When I get to the top of the stairs I stop, lean over, and put my hair up into a high ponytail. Then I unbutton the top few buttons on my flannel. When I get to our room, I pull my shorts off and toss them on the floor. I'm still hot and sweaty from being outside but I don't want to take off my shirt. It's Josh's shirt, probably one of my favorites. I lift it up and smell it. I can't smell my sweat on it over the smell of Josh. I crawl into bed and shove the blanket onto the floor. Then I lay down and close my eyes. I'm so tired from teaching Josh and the kids to ride the horse today. All I want to do is take a nap. Just as I can feel myself starting to fall asleep I hear Josh walk in and I jerk awake. I don't know how long I've been laying down but it only feels like it's been a few seconds. "No pants? Okay." He takes his pants off too and throws them on top of mine. Then he jumps onto the bed and lays down next to me. "Are you gonna explain why you're in here?" I ask, rubbing my eyes. "Other than that this is also my bed?" He looks down at me. "Sorry. I wasn't trying to be rude." I apologize. "It's fine." He smiles at me. "After the kids finished their snack I put them down for a nap." He says. "So, now you're stuck with me." He scoots closer to me and wraps his arm around me. "I'm okay with that." I bury my face in his armpit. We stay like that until we're both asleep.

I'm woken up by the sound of a crying three year old in the next room. "Ughhh." I stretch and sit up. "I can get them." Josh starts to get up but I stop him. "No, that's fine. I got this." I get up and walk out of our bedroom. I try to walk as slowly as possible, trying to prolong this moment for as long as possible before I have to get back to taking care of the kids and cooking dinner.

A/N: it took me way to long to update this.