Page 47 of Tempting Tessa

I’ve been working all day getting us packed and ready. Caroline and I spent over an hour on the phone this morning deciding on meals and making a list of what we needed to go buy before heading up tonight. We agree to meet at the store at noon to get that out of the way. Even with only going to the cabin a few times in the past, I feel like I’m starting to become pretty proficient in packing us up to go there. When we are at the store, we make sure to stock up on lots of beer for the guys, wine for us and s’more makings for the kids. There is just something about sitting around the fire pit roasting marshmallows while at the cabin that makes summer special.

Jake plans to be home by 5pm so we can hit the road. Caroline and Luke will just meet us at the cabin this evening. Since we are taking all the kids, we can’t all fit in one vehicle this time. Thankfully, he is able to get home around 4:45 and by 5 we are on the road.

“How was work today?” I ask him once we are comfortably on the highway.

“Busy but I could tell all my crews were happy to be getting the next few days off,” he tells me as I reach out to adjust the radio so we don’t have to talk over it, then reach for his hand and lace our fingers together.

“I bet. It sucks when almost everyone else gets the time off and you don’t, so I’m glad that you were able to close for the weekend.”

“Me too, babe. How was your day?” He brings our clasped hands up and places a kiss on mine.

“Good, got all our laundry done this morning. Caroline and I spent an hour on the phone planning meals and making up the shopping list. Then we hit up Costco and Target to get everything. We just split the cost in half. Figured that was easiest.”

“Did you guys remember beer?”

“Yes, don’t worry, we wouldn’t forget about you and Luke.” I smirk at him.

“Just checking,” he says as he brings our clasped hands to his mouth and places a kiss on the back of my hand again. I love how he’s always showing his love in little ways. Chaste kisses, pulling me close to him whenever we are near each other, calling me beautiful all the time. It just makes me feel so loved.

“Did you do anything else today besides get ready for the weekend?” he asks as he sets our clasped hands down on my leg.

“Not really. While I was waiting on laundry to finish I watched a few of my shows that I had on the DVR. With Ty spending the majority of the day with my parents so that I could focus on getting us packed, I had some free time. But otherwise I was pretty busy all day just getting packed and shopping.”

“What time were Luke and Caroline leaving?”

“They left around 4, so they will beat us there. I gave them the door code so they can get inside and start unpacking their stuff. Since they were going before us they took the cooler with the refrigerated food with them.”

“Sounds good,” he tells me as I reach over to turn up the radio.Pontoonby Little Big Towncomes on and I just love singing to this song.

Jake is pretty used to me just belting out singing along with the radio by now, as I do it pretty much anytime we are in the car. I continue to sing along to the next few songs. I even catch Jake singing along to a few of them!

“Busted!” I say to him as I playfully punch his arm. “I knew you liked to sing along to the radio! And here you always give me crap about it when I’m belting away signing.”

He just laughs and keeps singing along to the song.

“Ok, ok you caught me. Sometimes I just can’t help it.” He laughs and squeezes my leg.

“That is what I’ve been trying to tell you the entire time.”

We continue to just listen to the radio as we drive along. Ty is watching a movie on the iPad, so he is a happy camper. We make it up to the cabin and, thankfully, Caroline has already made dinner for us. We were getting pretty hungry, so were happy to have food as soon as we arrived.

After eating, we get the truck all unpacked and settle in. Once the boys are all down, we head out to sit outside for some adult conversations and beverages.

“I made us a pitcher of sangria,” Caroline tells me as I head to find a drink.

“Perfect!”

“God, it’s so peaceful out here,” I say as we walk outside and take our seats. The guys are already out here with their beers in hand. “I wish we could spend weeks at a time up here, but damn summer busy season being in our way,” I say to everyone, and no one in particular.

“That does sound amazing,” Caroline responds. “Maybe you and I could bring the boys up by ourselves for a week. Come up on a Thursday and stay until Monday. Or even longer if you take one week off.”

“I hadn’t thought of that! We could even bring our moms if we wanted to have a few extra adults around.”

“Let’s discuss more when we get back home. But I really like the idea. Jack and Oliver love it here and they have only been here for a few hours. Wait until tomorrow when they get to go out to the lake and go swimming. They are going to freak out.”

We all continue chatting and just enjoying the adult company and relaxing time. Since the boys are all going to be up early, we call it a night around midnight and head to bed.

The next few days at the cabin are amazing. We have a blast in the lake with the kids, grill, and just enjoy our weekend away. We make plans to come back up for Labor Day weekend for sure, and Caroline and I are going to see about coming up for a week with the boys and possibly our moms if they want to come.

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