Page 5 of Summer With You

“Summer, say grace.” I squeezed her hand and closed my eyes, waiting for her to speak.

“Dear Lord, thank you for the food and for my family. Please bless us, even Charlie.” Ace snorted, and I squeezed his hand in a warning to shut up. “Amen.” I squeezed Summer’s hand one more time in praise before releasing it to dig into the hot meal.

At least this time, Summer didn’t ask for Charlie to be taken away like last week. That had been a nightmare, and Ace had been too damn amused to help the situation much.

Once we were all finished eating, Ace rested his hand on top of mine, drawing my attention to him. He flickered his eyes toward the kids, and with a sigh, I nodded. He’d been wanting to tell the kids about the baby and our upcoming vacation for a few days now.

“We have some exciting news for you both,” he started, looking at Summer and Charlie.

“What is it, Daddy?” Charlie asked, his big, blue eyes wide as he gazed adoringly at his father.

“We’re going on a family vacation to Granny and Gramps’s lake house for a few weeks,” he told them, a wide smile on his face.

“Can we go to Disney?” Both kids squealed, just like I had expected.

Ace shook his head. The kids’ moods dimmed a tiny bit. “No, this time we are going to be spending our days on the lake, and our nights roasting marshmallows by the fire pit.” Ace looked at me, leaving the baby news up to me to share.

“We have one more surprise.” I looked between my two children. They were almost identical apart from their hair color. Summer was blonde through and through, just like me, whereas Charlie had Ace’s darker hair.

Both kids looked at me expectantly. They loved surprises, but I was a bit nervous as to how they would take this one. “Mommy and Daddy are having a baby.”

“Oh, please let it be a girl!” Summer exclaimed, and Ace laughed. “I want a little sister. I can’t stand boys, Mom.” Summer glared at Charlie as she clutched her doll to her chest.

“I want a little baby like me!” Charlie yelled. Ace and I both burst into laughter at our son, who was still too young to understand that babies do eventually grow up.

---

After picking up Summer from school, both kids were bubbling over with excitement for the impending trip the next morning. To kickstart the summer vacation in the only way I could think of, I pulled into a McDonald’s drive-through. I was craving a vanilla shake and the saltiest fries they could give me.

“Ice cream!” Both kids chanted from the back as I rolled my window down. I ordered them both vanilla ice cream cones, knowing I would probably regret it soon when both kids were running around on a sugar high, but it was a small price to pay.

“Thank you, Mommy!” They exclaimed together after I had parked the car and given them their ice cream cones.

Sometimes, being a parent was simple—it was buying them ice cream and playing their favorite songs in the car, and then, other days, it was hell—plain and simple. Today was an easy day, just what I needed when I had to finish packing everything so we would be ready to leave in the morning. Ace wanted to leave right after breakfast, and he wanted us unpacked and on the lake by lunchtime. He was crazy to think that it would be an easy task with two kids and my morning sickness, but I didn’t have the heart to ruin all of the fun that he had been planning.

The kids were quietly lapping up the cones, and I noisily slurped my shake and munched on fries. I knew they weren’t good for me, but the instant happiness that the unhealthy food brought me overruled my conscience as I devoured the small amount and licked my salty lips when I was finished.

I turned to check on the kids, making sure they had finished their cones before putting the car in reverse and pulling out of the parking lot and onto the main road. The two were cheerily singing along to whatever Disney song was playing on the radio, and Summer grumbled when they were interrupted by the ringing of my phone.

“Mom, that was the new song!” Summer voiced her irritation.

“Hush. It’s Auntie Ames.” I pressed the green phone icon on my steering wheel to accept the call. “Hey, what’s up?”

“I hate these freaking hormones!” I glanced in my rearview mirror at the kids. They were looking out the windows, not paying any attention to the phone call.

“What’s wrong? You’re on speaker in the car. I have the kids with me,” I warned her, knowing how my best friend could be. She had a mouth on her that children really didn’t need to hear.

“Oh, just marriage drama. Ryan is being a douche bag.” I cringed. Ace and I tried our best to keep the kids from hearing curse words. “He keeps forgetting that I’m carrying two babies and that I can’t handle the three at home constantly fighting. Why in the hell is summer three months long?!” I winced at the volume of her voice. “I’m going insane, Cece. He blames me for being too easy on them! I haven’t slept in a week and I’m exhausted.” I could hear the toll this was taking on her and knew the stress wasn’t good for her or her babies.

“We’re on our way home,” I told her. “I just picked up Summer from school. Come over, and I’ll watch the kids for a bit so that you can rest. I put the pool heater on this morning,” I added, knowing that would always do the trick.

“You’ve always been the voice of reason, my friend.” She laughed, but I knew it was fake. She wasn’t coping very well. A few years ago, she and Ryan had gone through the ringer, almost divorcing after she lost their first baby in a car accident. Years later, she was still suffering from anxiety and depression, and it acted up really bad when there was too much going on and she got overwhelmed. “Are you sure?” she asked me before agreeing completely.

“Bring my niece and nephews over,” I ordered. “I’ll tell Ace to pick up take-out and get Ryan off your back.”

“I’ll be over in thirty minutes.” The line clicked, and the song continued back up from where it had left off.

A few minutes later, I pulled into the driveway of my home, shifted the car into park, and slumped against the seat with a tired sigh. The kids slung off their seatbelts, and Summer opened the door, both of them flying out, running toward the garage door. When it didn’t open right away, they turned and looked at me expectantly.

---