Page 17 of Tempting Tessa

“Great! We are making cookies! Grams even let me taste the batter…oops, I wasn’t supposed to tell anyone that.” He giggles.

“Hey, where’s my hug?” I ask him, acting all sad.

Don’t get me wrong. I love the idea that Ty has taken so well to Jake, but I didn’t expect to become chopped liver so quickly!

Ty releases Jake and comes over to me. I sweep him up in a big bear hug and tuck my nose into his neck. “Momma missed you little man, did you have a fun time?”

“I had so much fun, Momma! I got to play outside with Jack and Oliver. Then Becca came over to watch us when Luke left for dinner. We got to order pizza! Then Grams and Gramps picked me up and I had a sleepover in the living room. This morning Grams made me pancakes and now we are making cookies!” He is so excited about all he got to do while I was celebrating my birthday.

“That all sounds like a blast, Ty. What do you want to do this afternoon?”

“Eat cookies!” He laughs. God I could listen to him laugh all day long.

We all laugh along with him. “I think that would give you a tummy ache if all we did this afternoon was eat cookies, silly boy. I think we will only be able to eat a couple and will need to save the rest for this week. How about we go to the park? We can pack up a picnic and take it to the park to eat.”

“Yes! I love the park!” he says as he runs out of the kitchen.

I just shake my head and laugh at his 6 year old antics.

“Did you have a good time last night, Tessa?” my mom asks me.

“I did, it was an amazing day and evening. We lucked out and ended up with a free mini concert at the bar we were at. Brett Eldredge showed up and played 5 or 6 of his songs. Caroline really did think of everything to pull off last night. I’m glad I let her take control as I would have never planned everything she did.”

“She had fun, and you deserved it. She called me a few weeks back and she told me all her ideas. I had such a hard time from slipping up and telling you anything.”

“How are you today, Jake?” my mom asks him.

“I’m doing great, how are you, Teresa?”

“I’m great, thanks for asking. It sounds like you kids have a fun afternoon planned. Do you want me to pack up some sandwiches for you so that you don’t have to go back home or stop somewhere?”

“That would be great, Mom. I’ll go get Ty cleaned up and pack up his bag from last night. I’ll be right back,” I say to both of them.

I leave the kitchen to go find Ty, leaving Jake in the kitchen with my mom. I can hear them talking, but don’t catch what they’re saying. I hope he doesn’t think I just abandoned him. I get Ty all packed up and he helps my mom get one last batch of cookies into the oven. She promised him she would send some with us so he can have one after lunch.

“Thanks again, Mom, for helping with Ty last night.”

“Anytime, Tessa. You know we don’t ever mind keeping him for you,” she says to me as she pulls me in for a hug.

After we all say our goodbyes, we load up in Jake’s truck. Ty thinks this is the coolest thing since it is so much bigger than my car. We head straight for the park and find a place to have our picnic. I grabbed an extra blanket from my parents’ house so we would have something to sit on and we find a nice shaded spot to sit and eat. Ty must be hyped up on sugar as he can hardly sit still.

“If you’re not ready for your sandwich, you can go play for a bit, Ty,” I tell him. He doesn’t skip a beat and runs around and plays on the climbing structure. Jake helps me lay the blanket down and we pull out the food to start eating.

“Do you want a pop or water?” I ask him, reaching into the cooler to grab a water for myself.

“I will take a water for now, babe.” I hand him a water and he leans over and gives me a quick sweet kiss.

We pull out the sandwiches my mom made us and start eating. Even with the great breakfast Jake made me this morning, I’m starving suddenly. We finish our lunch, just enjoying the beautiful day. After Jake finishes his food, he moves so he is sitting behind me and pulls me against his chest. This all feels so natural and I’m loving every minute of it.

“Is this ok?” he asks as he kisses my temple.

“Yes.”

“What shifts do you work this week?” he asks as he links our fingers together, wrapping me tighter in his arms.

“I have a set schedule of Tuesday through Thursday day shift. My boss sets up our schedules as a set schedule rather than being a rotating schedule like other departments in the hospital. After Matt died I was given this shift as it worked best for having childcare for Ty. My parents were still working then and were not able to keep him for me. Most daycare centers are only open on the weekdays, so, thankfully, they were willing to work with me with my schedule. I will occasionally cover a shift on another day if someone is on vacation.”

“What made you want to become a nurse?”

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