Chapter 9
A few weeks went by and everything was working out really well with our new little family. When Randy had time off, he spent it at my place. We rarely spent anytime at his house. We were beginning to fall into a familiar routine; which was nice, but at the same time it was a little bit scary. It was scary to me when Randy had to go back to work after being home for a few days. Caden always cried a little bit when Randy told him that he had to leave him to go back on the road. He was too little to understand that this was daddy's job and that he had to leave him at home.
"But, I don't want you to leave!" Caden cried as he stuck his bottom lip out and his blue eyes filled with tears. "I want you to stay here with me and mommy."
"I gotta go, buddy. I have to go to work. I'll be back soon. Just a few days, ok?" Randy said as he knelt down and said softly.
"I wanna go with you."
"Not this time, bud. Mommy needs you here with her, and you've got preschool yet. You can come with me soon. I promise when school is all done for the summer, you can come with me."
"I don't want to stay here with mommy."
"Why not?" Yeah, why not? I wondered. This was starting to hurt my feelings.
"Because mommy isn't as good as playing Army guys as you are," that little bottom lip stuck out again making Randy chuckle.
"Well, I'm sure if you showed her how me and you play Army guys, she could catch on. I think mommy's pretty smart and could handle it while I'm gone. Couldn't you, Sara?" he asked as he looked over at me with a smile. I nodded.
After a few more minutes of Caden pleading for his dad to stay here with him, Randy was able to break away. I walked with him outside to his truck. He leaned up against the side and held out his arms for me to come closer. I sighed as I rested in his strong arms. I had missed this. We had grown close again, it almost felt like some days we had never been apart for four years. Everything was perfect.
"I'll be back in three days, do you think you two can hang on without me for that long?" he said with a smirk.
"Yeah, I'll think we'll be fine. Lonely, but somehow we'll muddle through."
"When I get back, can we think about you and Caden moving in with me?"
"I guess so. My lease is up in two weeks. We should probably find somewhere to live, huh?" I asked with a shy smile. He pulled into his arms closer and squeezed me tight. He let me go long enough to lean down and place a very gentle kiss on my lips. We had been taking things really slow since we got back together, and this was about as far as we had gone; just kissing.
"I should get going. I'll call you later, Sara." I nodded as I watched him climb into the truck and pull away from the curb. I watched his truck until it was out of sight, then I wrapped my arms around myself and headed back into the house.
Two Months Later
I was running around like a mad woman, with Caden jumping up in down in excitement, following me around the house, getting under my feet. Where was Randy? I swore he promised that he was going to help me out today. I was trying to finish up twenty little gift bags for Caden's birthday party guests, I still had to frost the birthday cake and finish making lunch. Randy was no where to be found at the moment.
"Mommy! Is it time for my birthday party yet!" Caden asked excitedly as he hopped around in a circle in the kitchen.
I sighed. "Soon, cookie, soon. Where's daddy?" I asked him.
"Outside talking to Uncle John!" Uncle John was John Cena. "I like Uncle John! A lot!" Oh and Uncle Mike!" More bouncing ensued. About a month ago, Caden started calling Randy daddy and all of the guys that Randy worked with and came home with him, were automatically his uncles. It made me giggle to see normally huge, strong and scary men down on their hands and knees playing Army guys with a preschooler. Caden tended to get bossy sometimes when he played this game. Most of the time he was pretty good, but could not behave around Mike, better known as the Miz. Maybe it's because they have the same IQ. Mike drove me nuts and I couldn't figure out why my son thought the world of him/
"All right. Let's go find him so he can help me. Your party is going to start soon!" I followed my son out of the kitchen and out the side door to the garage. I found Randy talking to John, Mike, Adam, Stephen, Cody, and Ted. Randy was so excited that his son was turning four today that he invited all of the guys from work to Caden's birthday party. Too bad none of them had their own kids. I didn't understand that logic from Randy, but I wasn't going to complain, everything was going perfectly for our little family.
"Hey, Randy...Remember when you promised to help me get everything ready for our son's birthday party?" I asked as I walked out in the garage. Caden immediately went over to John, who picked him up and put him on his shoulders.
"Yeah..." Randy said quietly, he knew he was going to be in trouble. He had begged me to throw a huge party for our son's fourth birthday since it was going to be the first one they would have together.
"Well, guess what? Today is Caden's birthday party, and I'm doing all the work while you sit out in the garage and drink beer with your buddies!"
"Ooooooh, Randy is in trouble!" Adam said with a huge smile on his face. That huge smile disappeared as soon as I shot a death glare at him.
"Sorry, guys. I'll be right there, Sara." I nodded and turned to go back into the kitchen. I was concentrating on tying shut the last of the goodie bags for the party guests, when I felt a pair of strong arms wrap around my waist and a warm body pressed up against mine. "Hey," he whispered in my ear as he pushed some of my long hair out of the way.
"Hey," I said back, closing my eyes and enjoying the sensation of his lips on my neck.
"What do you need help with?" he asked as he pulled away from me. I sighed, not wanting that tender moment to end, but it had to. Because in about half an hour we were going to have about twenty screaming preschoolers running around the house.
Twenty minutes later everything was set and ready for Caden's Buzz Lightyear birthday party. Randy's co-workers were sitting in the backyard in lawn chairs watching Randy and Caden kick a soccer ball back and forth to each other. I watched from the kitchen window in amazement at how our lives were turning out. A few months ago it was just me and my son. Now look at us. Simply perfect.
