Loving Life

5. Past places

"No way." I say, shaking my head. "Wisconsin is like negative two billion degrees in winter."
"Fine, Colorado?" Emma tries again.
"No." I say. I'm driving her to soccer practice.
"But it's so pretty there." She whines.
"Pick somewhere else." I reply.
"Washington?"
"No! It rains almost every day there."
"You're picky. What about Nevada?"
Nevada has four seasons...it's not far from Vegas, or LA, which is good.
"Nevada could work." I nod.
"Awesome. I'm telling Daddy when we get home."
I pull into the park she has practice at and park. Macy is sleeping in her car seat and the boys are at home and the three of them are playing basketball. We get out and I move my five year old to her stroller. She walks to the field and runs to hug Christina, her best friend. I push Macy.
"Hi, Mrs. Harris." Christina says.
"Hi Christina." I smile.
"Is this your mother, Emma?" her coach asks, looking shocked.
"Yes, Ms. Graham. She's normal though. Don't treat her differently than how you treat the other Mom's, okay?"
"Of course. It's nice to meet you. I'm Jackie Graham." She sticks out her hand.
"It's nice to meet you." I smile.
"Alright girls! Start stretching!" she hollers. All the girls head off to the field, and with a wave, she walks away.
I go and sit down next to Christina's mother and all of the other Mother's. Macy is in her stroller next to me, sound asleep.
"Hey Roxy." Barbara, Christina's mother smiles.
"Hey Barbara." I smile.
The other Mom and Barbara and I make conversation about stupid things.
"Emma's crying." Mary, a mother of a girl names Kylie says.
My head snaps up and I look at Emma. Her head is buried in her hands and she's sitting on the ground crying. My eyebrows furrow in confusion and I stand up off of the ground and wipe off my butt. Then Christina starts crying so Barbara follows me. I leave Macy in the stroller. It's not like someone is going to steal her.
I had sprained my wrist when I fell off the stage but I had a splint and it healed. Everyone is crowded around the girls. When Emma sees me, she stands up and hugs me, seeking comfort.
"What's wrong?" I ask, hugging her back, running my fingers through her hair.
"Christina's moving to Carson City, Nevada!" she sobs.
"I'm sorry." Christina cries. "I don't want to because I won't be able to be friends with you!"
"I want to go home." Emma sniffs. "Please Mommy? Take me home?"
I look at her coach and she nods.
"Alright, come on." I get Macy and Emma walks next to me sobbing. I unlock the car and Emma gets in the passenger seat and I put Macy in her car seat and put the stroller in the back, and then I get in the car and we head home.
When we walk in the door, Macy is in my arms, sleeping, and Emma is still sobbing. The guys are standing in the living room, sweaty and shirtless. They look worried. Emma goes flying upstairs, hysterical. Seconds later, her door slams.
"What happened?" Carter asks.
"One sec." I say. I go upstairs and put Macy in bed and tuck her in. I go back downstairs. "She's upset because Christina is moving to Carson City, Nevada."
"Well that has four seasons." Carter points out. "It's close to Vegas and LA. Why can't we move there?"
"We'd have to look into sports for the kids and the schools and houses-"
"So let's do it."
Kyle and the triplets and Sierra and Marcus and Hannah and their son and daughter are moving with us, along with Andrew and everyone else we know.
"So that's it? Carson City?" I ask.
"I don't care. What do you boys think about this?"
They both shrug. "I don't care." They admit.
"I'm going to shower." Justin says.
"Me too." Matthew says.
"Me three." Carter says.
Matthew and Justin disappear and Carter waggles his eyebrows at me.
"Care to join me?" he asks.
We haven't had sex in two months. I nod rapidly and follow him upstairs.
It's weird. When I got my ovaries removed, the doc said I would have a problem with orgasms and that our sex life would change.
It didn't.
I lock the bathroom door and he pulls me to the bathroom and locks that, too.

______________

"Please don't tell me you guys took a shower together." Justin begs when I go downstairs in different clothes.
I shrug in response. "I'm going to check on Emma." I go upstairs and knock on Emma's door.
"Go away!" she cries.
"Open up." I say.
"No!"
"Come on, honey. I need you to help us look for houses."
Her muffled cries stop and I hear the lock click, and then she opens the door, clutching her baby blanket.
"Okay." She sniffles and follows me downstairs.
She starts crying again and I'm about to hug her, but Carter does first and he holds her till she stops crying. We call everyone over and I call over Christina and her mother and dad and her little brother.
"Are you gonna tell us where we're moving?" Lucy asks hopefully.
"Carter is." I reply.
Andrew is here, too.
Christina tries talking to Emma, but Emma won't even look at her.
Christina starts crying again, and then Emma starts crying.
"We're moving to Carson City." Carter says.
Emm looks at us with tear-filled hopeful eyes.
"We are?" she sniffles.
We both nod.
Just like that, they go flying at each other and hug, overjoyed.