Picking Up The Pieces (Working Title)

The Beach

By the time me and Eden had been an item for around seven months, we’d finally bought a house together. It was this gorgeous little place with a porch and everything. Okay, maybe not so little. It was your typical wooden house; kind of old, with a porch and a balcony that covered the entire front face of the house. It had two storeys, along with a basement and enough space in the attic to make another bedroom or a room for the kids or something. There were three bedrooms, but all three of them easily had enough space for a double bed, so if the kids wanted to have sleepovers it wouldn’t be an issue. It had a huge back yard, so they had plenty of room to play, and there’d been talk of getting a pool. I know it sounds like I’m splashing out a bit much, but I was careful with the money Maxxie had left me. I only spent it on the things we needed or the things I knew would make the kids happy. I wasn’t about to blow thousands of dollars on pancakes, put it that way.

I’d enlisted John, Caleb and Alex’s help to get us moved in, and promised them all a beer for their hard work. Having Beau around kept the kids occupied as well, so that meant they were out of the way. I left Alex in charge of helping Eden get her stuff, and for once Caleb didn’t insist on going with him. I shrugged it off, though, and focused on getting everything moved and ready. Eden’s priority was getting everything unpacked and in place, whereas mine was making sure we got everything moved in before we worried about that, so I’m sure you can imagine the power struggles. In the end we compromised that once half the boxes were in, she could start unpacking the stuff that went upstairs so it was out of the way. And the kids just ran around in the yard, like kids do.

It wasn’t until around midnight that we’d gotten everything unpacked. Granted none of it was where it should be, but it was unpacked at the very least. Eden had taken the kids’ rooms as her main focus, so at least they had a place to sleep. I’d sent Caleb and Alex home when Caleb fell asleep leant against the wall, but John had stayed behind to try and help. He’d gone home quickly to get something for Beau to sleep in, and his dear daughter was fast asleep with Lily upstairs. Danny had insisted on staying up to help, but he’d gotten bored after a while and had slunk off to bed. Which left it down to me, Eden and John. By the time everything was unpacked, Eden looked exhausted and John wasn’t far off. The three of us were all flopped out on the sofa bed, too worn out to move. We had to in the end, though, so we could go to bed and so John could have the sofa bed to himself.

I barely had time to say goodnight to Eden before I was out cold. I felt like I could sleep for a week. For some reason I couldn’t stay asleep, though. I kept waking up, tossing and turning in bed. I guess it had something to do with sleeping in a strange house. I opened my eyes a little when I felt someone playing with my hair, smiling when I saw Maxxie’s face.

"You okay, gorgeous?" he asked quietly, kissing the top of my head.

"Mm, just tired"

"Long day?”

I nodded. "I didn't know moving was this hard"

Maxxie chuckled. "I guess it's harder moving from house to house than from an apartment to a house?" he asked I nodded, laughing a little. “Poor baby” he said, ruffling my hair.

"How're you anyway? I haven't seen you in a while"

"I'm okay. Ash and Cayden have been keeping me busy"

"Ash?" I asked curiously and Maxxie blushed a little.

"I was whining about how much I missed you that Cayden felt the need to find me someone to play with to shut me up" he explained and I chuckled. "He was disappointed. All it meant was I was I whined more in less time" he said, sticking his tongue out.

Yeah, I was too tired to really get what he meant. So I tutted.

"What?" he pouted.

"You're terrible"