I Lost Control

10. Months

SUMMER

I lean against the door to the dinosaur themed play room and cross my arms across my chest as Matt sits on the floor with the three boys.

"Hey, daddy!" Landon greets with excitement in his voice as he scoots closer to the much larger man. "Mama took me to the toy store yesterday and look at all these awesome Legos we got!"

"Wow." Matt's eyes flicker up to me and then back down to the excited five year old. "You must have the coolest mama on the planet, huh?" Landon stands up and runs over to me, his arms winding around my legs.

"The best."

"Look at what we built!" Max says to me as he gestures towards all the 'sweet robots' they had put together

"So awesome." I tell him while sitting down beside the two twins. Brian sits in the recliner on the other side of the room, a smile I can't quite describe on his lips. I brush it off and start picking up different colored blocks, not really sure how this whole thing works even if I am the mother of a boy. I put them together in an unrecognizable formation and Rider starts giggling.

"Not like that, Aunt Summer, like this." Rider tells me while taking the pieces out of my hand and placing them together the right way.

"Yeah Sum, didn't you ever play with Legos when you were a kid?" Matt teases while holding up the masterpiece he just built.

"No I didn't. I played with Barbies like most little girls." His question earns an eye roll from me.

"We can tell." Brian says with a laugh.

"Oh shut up." I stick my tongue out and stand from the floor. "There's Chinese food in the kitchen and I don't plan on letting it get cold. Whoever wants to join me gets to go get ice cream with me after!" All three kids jump up as fast as they can and take off running into the kitchen, the Legos forgotten for the time being. Matt stands from the floor, his arms reaching up above his head to stretch and a groan leaves his lips.

"I'm too old to be sitting on the floor these days."

"Old man." I tease while heading into the kitchen. The three boys are sitting at the table waiting patiently.

"Who is hungry?" I ask as I grab a stack of plates from the cabinet beside the fridge.

"Me!" The kids call out simultaneously. I start loading their plates up with chicken and rice and place one in front of each of them. Brian and Matt make their way into the kitchen, a quiet conversation going on between the two men.

"Watcha talking about?" I ask as I sit down at the table with my own plate.

"We will talk about it later." Matt tells me as his eyes flicker to the kids and then back to me.

"Sure."

•••

"Why don't I take the boys to get ice cream?" Brian suggests after we have all eaten so much food we could burst.

"That sounds like an awesome idea." I glance at Matt and shake my head to agree. I notice the way the hazel eyed man is watching me and it sends a ripple of excitement down my spine.

"If you'd like to, just bring me home a strawberry milkshake if you would." I smile while standing and collecting all the dishes from the table in a stack. Brian stands from the table and gets the three boys wrangled and into their shoes, all of them unaware of the intensity I feel from the unwavering stare from Matt.

"What?" I ask while walking over to him after setting the dishes in the sink.

"We are going to head out." Brian says, pulling my attention off of Matt who is staring at me like he's never seen any other woman in his life.