Page 33 of Tempting Tessa

“Don’t worry about it, I’ll be fine. You just got me right around my scar and the impact is making itself known.”

“I’m so sorry, I was just so caught off guard when you wrapped your arms around me.”

“Really, babe, I’ll be fine. I’m glad to know that you can defend yourself if needed.” This gets her laughing, so hopefully she isn’t mad at me for scaring her.

I reach for her again, this time with her knowledge, and she steps into my embrace and hugs me back. I tilt her chin up so I can kiss her. “How does dinner sound, can I take you and Ty out?”

“I suppose we could go out with our favorite guy if he wants to take us out,” she says as she smiles up at me.

“I’m your favorite, huh?” I ask her as I lean in to kiss her again.

“Oh please, like you don’t already know that. Are you fishing for compliments there, mister?” she asks as she kisses me back.

“Maybe…”

“Where would you like to go eat?”

“I am not too picky, wherever you think Ty would want to go and where we won’t have to wait forever since it is Friday night.”

“There is that music in the park this weekend that started today. I know they have a bunch of food trucks down at it. Do you want to head down there? We can eat and listen to the music for a while and then come back home? I can call Caroline and see if they want to meet us down there.”

“That actually sounds like a great plan. I heard they have some really great bands this year.”

“Ok, I’ll go call Caroline.”

Tessa heads inside while I stay out with Ty. He’s playing on the tower part of his swing set, so I sit down on one of the deck chairs. I bet Ty will just love the live music tonight, and I’m looking forward to spending the evening with them both. With my crazy work hours, I feel like I’ve hardly seen them much lately. It still amazes me how much they’ve changed my life in the past few months. I find myself happier and looking forward to what’s to come. I’ve started thinking about what our future holds and the possibility of marriage and maybe even more kids.

Tessa comes back out a few minutes later after calling Caroline. “They are going to meet us down at the park in about 30 minutes, so we should head that way ourselves soon.”

“I am ready when you are, beautiful,” I tell her as I pull her down on my lap so I can kiss her.

“Ty, please go and get washed up. We’re going to go leave soon,” Tessa calls out to him.

Ten minutes later we are in my truck and on our way to the music festival. It’s packed so it takes us a little bit to find a parking spot and make our way toward the food trucks. Once we’ve all picked what we wanted to eat, we head for the grass area to find a place to sit down and listen to the music.

“I told Caroline I would call her once we found a place so they can come find us.”

Tessa calls Caroline and a few minutes later they find us amongst all the people. We enjoy the music and company. The boys play all around us, dance along to the music and sing their hearts out. I convince Tessa to dance to a few of the songs with me.

There is a break between the live bands while they switch out their equipment, so the radio station that is sponsoring this event has one of their DJs out interacting with the crowds and playing music to keep people entertained. The DJ starts to playDig Your Rootsby Florida Georgia Line,which I know is one of Tessa’s favorite songs right now, so I pull her back up to dance with me to it. As we are dancing around I softly sing the words to her. I know without any doubt that I want to “dig roots” with this woman, as the song suggests. I want everything with her. Now I just have to show her that and make sure we are on the same page.

We stay at the park until around 9 as the boys all start to melt down as it’s well past bedtime. Once we’re home and have Ty in bed, Tessa and I head out to relax on the deck as it’s such a beautiful evening. I grab a beer and Tessa a glass of her sangria.

“Hey, babe, what do you think of the three of us heading to my parents’ cabin for Labor Day weekend?” I ask her as I hand her the glass of sangria.

“That sounds amazing. Will you be able to get away for the entire weekend? And thanks for bringing me this.”

“You’re more than welcome, beautiful. As for the weekend, yes, I will have the entire weekend off, we are giving all our crews the 3-day weekend off. We will be done on that Friday by 5pm, but I’m hoping to have them off by 2pm as long as things go well that week. I already blocked my calendar out starting at noon that Friday so that we can get an early start toward the cabin.”

“I’m excited for the weekend away. What do I need to prepare to take with us?”

“Just our food and clothing. The cabin is stocked with bedding and it has dishes, pots, and pans etc. If we forget anything, there is a small store not too far from the cabin, but we can do a shopping trip before we go to get everything we want to take with us.”

Tessa

We leave for our weekend trip to the cabin tomorrow and I’m so excited! I took today off work so that I can get us all packed, go grocery shopping and have everything ready for tomorrow. Jake’s crews have stayed on task and he is shutting down at noon tomorrow so we can be on the road early. Ty is so excited to get away as well. Jake has been telling us all the fun things he did when at the cabin while growing up. Hiking, swimming in the lake, campfires- all just relaxing.

Tessa: Hey babe, anything you want me to add to the shopping list? I’m about to head out to the store.

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