Page 151 of Broken Dreams
“I missed you. Also, you missed Jett teaching Elodie how boys can pee without a potty in the backyard.”
I laugh once and try to choke down the others that follow. “I’m sure she learned a lot.”
Addy rolls her eyes. “I believe I had the same lesson from the three dipshits in Oregon.”
“It is a very important life lesson.”
“Sure it is. However, the kids missed you terribly. We spent yesterday with Phoebe, Olivia, and the baby, and they decided they liked her enough to keep her since she doesn’t cry as much anymore.”
“How very kind of them.”
“I thought so,” Addy says with a brow raised. “Olivia has them both doing better with sign language too.”
Addison and I have been taking lessons to be able to communicate more with Olivia. Of course, Addy has done better than me because she seems to be better at everything, but I’m nearly as proficient as she is.
The kids, though, pick it up so damn fast. Jett and Elodie sit with Olivia and sign back and forth with Phoebe helping when they stumble. It’s been really amazing watching them all, and frustrating as fuck when I try.
Which makes Olivia laugh at my poor attempts.
“I’m glad everyone is learning, I know it means a lot to Asher.”
Addison shakes her head. “She’s your niece and I love her. It’s a great skill to have and I wish I had learned when I moved here so Olivia never had to try to communicate with me another way.”
I lean in and kiss her. “I love you.”
“I love you too. Now. Tell me why you had us meet you out here instead of at home?”
I grin. “So impatient.”
“More like, so cold.”
“Well no one told you to wear a sweater with holes in it.”
Addison huffs. “Yes, well, I didn’t know what the hell the point of this trip was, so...can we get on with it?”
I almost laugh because she clearly has no idea what’s coming. “Sure, I brought you here because I wanted to do something special with the kids.”
“Oh?”
The two of us look over to see Jett lifting a rock and Elodie scrunching her face as he digs.
Great.
“Jett, put the rock down and don’t dig!” I call over.
“He found a bug! It’s gross!” Elodie informs us.
Of course he did. “You guys come here, I need your help.”
They rush over, eager with no idea what they’re going to be helping with. “I help first, Daddy,” Jett says, always the same fight with these two.
“We’re all going to do it together.” The four of us make our way to the blanket laid out where there are four paper lanterns. “We are going to send these up into the sky. We can put any message we want to your papa or momma.”
“Oh, Grady,” Addison says as she kneels on the blanket. “This is perfect.”
It’s about to get more perfect.
I help Elodie write a message to her dad and Addison does the same with Jett. Four-year-old messages aren’t very eloquent, but the kids had fun painting their handprints and sticking it all over the lanterns.
