Better in the Long Run

Pocket Full of Dreams

"And have yourself a merry little Christmas now..." my voice faded out as I slid the last batch of Christmas cookies into the oven.

"Mom?" Sutton strolled in, her brothers and Hunter close behind. "Hey, it smells so good."

"Thanks, you can each have one cookie." I smiled, pushing the plate toward them on the island. "Christmas break, you guys excited?" They nodded and cleaned up their lunches, changed out of their uniforms and put their bags away before they came back down to hang out on the couches. Hunter handed me his phone, a smile broke across his face.

"Look at this," I looked and smiled, "two weeks out and doing amazing." Our first single, Look at You was on the charts and climbing.

"Wow, that's great." I hugged Hunter, "Celebratory cookie?" He nodded and swiped another cookie off the plate. "I was thinking, we have to do a press and radio tour don't we?" He nodded, "Can we take the kids?"

"Well, I can't promote a duet album on my own." He said, "I know we would have to have this conversation sooner or later."

"Well, should we now or?" He looked over his shoulder and saw the boys were playing Mario Kart and Sutton was scribbling in her journal. He looked back at me and nodded, "Two more seconds for those cookies," I pointed toward the stove, "and we can go talk upstairs." I slide the cookies on the rack to cool and shut the oven off before going upstairs to discuss the new year with Hunter.

"Pros, we would be together." He said, writing on a piece of note paper.

"Con, school and weird work schedules." I said and he nodded, writing it down. "How long would the tour be?" He shrugged. "Let me rephrase that, do you think it would be significant enough that we should take them out of school?"

"Idea," he said quietly, "one week, just us, no kids. Crazy work." I nodded and he continued, "we can try and make it into legs. The release week is always the craziest."

"Absolutely. If your parents would be able to stay with them from..." I checked my phone calendar, "January eleventh to the eighteenth." I looked up at Hunter and he nodded, promising he would talk to his parents first thing tomorrow. We headed down to start dinner and talked to the kids about Christmas.

"We are going to try something new this year guys," I started, "I know you're getting older and your interests are changing. What I want you guys to do is go through the toys and games you have and decide whether or not you still need them."

Hunter continued, "I think you can each find five items you do not need or use and we are going to donate them." The kids greatly obliged and we enjoyed dinner discussing holiday plans.

"I like when Papa came here." Beckett said, "Why doesn't Papa come live with us?"

"It's not that easy babe," I said, "however, Papa and everyone will be coming for Christmas this year." I smiled and the conversation flowed from family visits to Christmas wish lists and things the kids wanted to do over the break.

After dinner, Hunter and I loaded the dishwasher and Sutton approached us. "So, I had a question." She pulled up a seat at the island, we turned to face her, "Am I old enough to get my ears pierced?"

Hunter looked at me, before turning back to Sutton, "Can mom and I talk about it?"

"What's there to talk about?" She said rather sharply, making Hunter stand up a little straighter, "like, mom has her ears done. I'm thirteen and a half."

"First off, your mom is an adult. Second, you should know that by being snappy you will not get what you want." Hunter rebuttled her.

I stepped in to diffuse the situation, "We can discuss this now, calmly." I looked at both of them, "Why do you want your ears pierced?"

"Just something I've been thinking about. You have yours and I know you had them done when you were much younger than I am." I nodded.

"Any concerns Hunter?" He shook his head. "Sutton, you know that it's something you need to take care of, if they get dirty or whatever you can get and infection." She nodded, saying she understood. "Okay, well, let your dad and I find someone reputable. There's no way you're going to Claire's to get it done." Hunter agreed and we sent her off, promising we would discuss it.

"I have to take a breath and remind myself she is a teenager." Hunter said as we pulled the duvet back on the bed. "I still see her as a little girl with braids and glitter."

"I see the same thing. It's hard. She can get sassy. She definitely has that snappiness from me." I laughed, cuddling up next to Hunter. "I have nothing against the ear piercings."

"I don't either. I just didn't like the way she snapped."

"Fair enough. But maybe we will take her over the break." He nodded. "I had a thought the other day. I think I want a tattoo."

"Really? What would you get?" I already had three small, well hidden tattoos but I told Hunter I was thinking of getting the kids names tattooed on my wrist in an infinity symbol. "That would be really sweet. I'm all for it." He kissed my temple.

"Would you ever get a tattoo?" I asked, the corners of his lips turned up into a smile and he nodded.

"Getting the kids names has been something I've been thinking of. Would it be super weird to get your initials in your writing?"

"Not weird at all babe." We bantered back and forth about the ideas and he said he would like the kids names either on the inside of his bicep or over his heart. "I love either of those."