Free to Love

Chapter 5

Mallory

I was sitting with Grace as she ate her dinner. She was happily munching away on tiny pieces of chicken, steamed broccoli, and rice.

My phone buzzed. I got up to retrieve it from the kitchen counter, reading the texts as I sat back down.

Shawn: just landed

Shawn: be home in an hour

Me: Are you hungry?

Shawn: do you mean sexually or for food?

Me: I meant for dinner.

Me: Perv.

Shawn: it's been a long 2 weeks without you

Me: Just answer my question!

Shawn: starving

I pulled up the website for our favorite Indian restaurant and placed an order. Naan, chicken tikka masala, and paneer mutter.

Me: I just ordered dinner.

Shawn: I hope your on the menu for later

Me: *you're

Shawn: I am?

Me: Ha Ha. So smooth.

Shawn: you love me

I smiled at my phone. I did love him.

"Gracie, daddy will be home soon!" I said excitedly.

She clapped her messy hands.

When she was done eating, I wiped her down and took her to her bathroom and gave her a bath. She loved playing in the tub, so I let her splash around for quite awhile. After her bath, I got her changed into jammies and we went out to the living room to wait. The Indian food arrived and I set it on the counter.

We sat back down after I grabbed a stack of board books to read. Her favorite book was about farm animals, though I didn't make the animal sounds nearly as well as her daddy did.

I heard the lock click on the door and turned around to see my handsome husband walk in, his arms laden with guitars and luggage.

Gracie started to wriggle out of my arms. I let her down, and she toddled over to Shawn as quickly as she could. He set his stuff down and swooped her up into his arms.

"Da!" she said.

"Da is home, sweetie," Shawn said before giving her kisses. "And I'm home for a long time."

I got up and waited my turn. After Shawn set our daughter down, he pulled me into his arms.

"God, I've missed you," he said before giving me a deep kiss.

His words, touch, and kiss did crazy things to me.

Shawn stopped kissing me and pulled back a bit, grinning. He looked down and my eyes followed where he was looking. Gracie was pulling on his leg with a frown on her face, obviously wanting more attention from her Da.

"Someone is jealous," I said.

Shawn picked Grace up and gave her another round of kisses while I started serving up our dinner. She sat in her high chair eating Cheerios while we ate our spicy Indian cuisine.

Once we'd finished, Shawn got on the floor and did puzzles and built block towers with Grace until it was time for her to go to bed. He brushed her teeth, changed her diaper, and sang her several songs prior to putting her in the crib. We both said goodnight to her before shutting the door to her room.