Chapter 8
Saturday August 13th
Lennon's POV
"C'mon Theo, you need to put your shorts on otherwise we can't go play at the playground" I made clear to him. It's about 1 in the afternoon, and I've been cooped up inside the house with 3 children who all decided 6 am was a prime time to be awake. I'm more than exhausted, the fact that I barely got any sleep last night at all definitely wasn't helping. I'm on my third cup of coffee, but I feel like it's not even making a difference anymore. The twins were still a little cranky, but much better than yesterday, so at least that was a plus.
Theo on the other hand had wet the bed in the middle of the night, so all morning he's been upset and embarrassed. Obviously, I tried to tell him accidents happen and nobody is mad at him, but his toddler feelings were much bigger than that. Even after I did laundry for our bed sheets and blankets and showed him how clean they were once we took them out of the dryer, he still hasn't gotten out of his sad state.
Taking the kids to the park last weekend all on my own was a disaster. Theo kept wanting to play on other areas I wasn't currently sitting near, and the twins got bored after a few minutes and insisted on eating all the mulch that was in reach of them. However, Theo in a round a bout way suggested a trip to the park would help make him feel better and how was I supposed to deny that?
This time I am going more prepared. After Theo suggested a trip outside the house, I texted Lyanna and asked if she was available and willing, and if she would tag a long with us to get some lunch and take the kids to the park. Of course, I told her there was no pressure and I would obviously pay her for going out with us for a bit. She agreed, and honestly I was really thankful she did. I wanted to make Theo happy, but I did not want the stress of being so outnumbered at a playground again.
"I gotta finish my block house" Theo answered as he placed another block to the tower he's been building as I got the twins ready to leave, his tongue poking out the side of his mouth as he focused on placing it just right.
"Lyanna is going to be here in a few minutes and we need to be ready to go teddy bear" I held up his shorts in my free hand, Atticus propped up on my side taking up the other.
"Miss Lanna coming?" Theo turned his head towards me, slightly messing up the pronunciation of her name as he always does. We're still working on it.
"Yeah, she's going to play with you. I'm sure if you ask politely that she will push you on the swings" I suggested knowing the swing set was Theo's favorite part of the playground. Instantly, the block house was forgotten about and he ran over to me to finish putting his clothes and shoes on. At the same time, there was a knock on the door, so I let Theo finish getting himself ready and opened the front door to welcome Lyanna inside for a moment.
Except I didn't come face to face with Lyanna.
Unfortunately, an annoying curly haired British man was staring back at me.
"I really do not have time for this right now" I flatly said, clearly unamused and I let him know that. I mean seriously, he has got to stop showing up here uninvited. I'm in the middle of trying to take care of my kids, and I don't need to be messing around with him every single day.
Lyanna was going to be here any minute, so I needed to get rid of him before she showed up here. I don't know if she cares about him or not, but how would I even explain why Harry Styles is standing on my doorstep? Exactly, you don't. So he needs to leave and I need to get back inside to make sure I have everything I need ready to go.
"I know, I know, but just can I give you something?" He asked.
"No"
"Lenny, please" He held out an old tethered journal in his hand, and I instantly recognized it as the one he used to write in before we would go to bed at night. I shifted in my stance uncomfortably, not wanting to take it from him.
"Don't call me that" I bit my bottom lip. "And I don't want that"
"If you just read it maybe you'd understand-"
"No" I cut him off, knowing I was running out of time. "Look Harry, you only came back here so that you could go back to being a world famous actor with your perfect little family and everything is sunshine and rainbows. Or at the very least, go back to acting knowing you at least tried so you don't feel guilty and can paint me out as something I'm not. I don't want a part of it, I don't want to know why you left, and I don't want to keep being apart of some game you're trying to play"
Instantly, he looked like someone just told him the worst possible news in the world by the way the life looked sucked out of him. He started shaking his head and trying to negate what I was saying. "No, no no. Lennon that's not- It's truly not what it looks like"
"How am I not supposed to look at it like that? You got a major acting role, and now you're coming back around to play house" I snapped. That's exactly what it looked like to me. He has to see it this way as well.
"You have always been more important to me than my job" He took a deep breath. "I-I see how it comes across as what you're saying, I really do, but I swear to you the last thing I ever wanted to do was cause you pain and I'm not here to just fuck around with you. If you read this, I'm hoping you'll understand"
Once again, he held out the old notebook towards me. I really didn't want to read it. I don't want to open it up and be taken over by all the old feelings I worked so hard on getting rid of to rise back up again. That chapter of my life has closed and I don't know if he'll ever truly understand the extent of what he did.
"Goodbye Harry" I stepped back and shut the door in his face. I watched out the window as he shook his head and sighed, before heading down the front steps to go back to his car. Finally, he got inside his black vintage vehicle and drove off before Lyanna showed up.
"Oh! Theo don't give the babies any of your goldfish!" I gasped when I turned back around. Thank god Harry left in time before the babies started choking on food they couldn't eat yet.
"They reached their hands out" Theo tilted his head, clutching his snack bag of goldfish to his chest, a confused look on his face. "I was sharin"
"Yes, that's very sweet of you. But Atti and Lia can't eat goldfish since they don't have teeth yet" I explained as I calmed myself down once I made sure neither baby actually got any goldfish and everyone was okay.
"Oh. Sorry babies" Theo looked down at his baby siblings. "More goldfish for me"
Quietly, I chuckled and agreed with him. "Yes, more for you"
It was only a few minutes later that Lyanna rung the doorbell and we were out the door to buckle the kids in the car. "I really appreciate you coming along with us. It's hard to take them all out at once"
Lyanna smiled at me. "Yeah, of course. Not a problem"
We decided to go get lunch first because all of us were hungry and if we waited until after the playground, all the kids would probably be over it and then our meal would be highly unenjoyable. Theo's favorite restaurant is Olive Garden simply because this kid would survive on their breadsticks just for fun, so we are now currently waiting on a table there.
Theo was preoccupied in playing peek a boo with the twins, who were chilling in their car seats giggling every few seconds at their older brother, So Lyanna and I just started up conversation. "Senior year, right?"
"Yep. School started on Monday, very fun" She stated sarcastically.
"Ah, I remember my senior year"
"Did you hate high school?" She asked.
"Little bit, but I also had like a different experience with it" I shrugged. "Are you hating it?"
"I feel like everyone my age says yes, but I don't know. It's familiar, and I'm kind of afraid of growing up and having to go off to college, and choose a career? I barely choose what breakfast I want to eat in the morning" She laughed. "How did you know you wanted to be a nurse?"
"Erm, I think I just wanted to do something that I thought would help make a difference in people's lives" I gave a short answer, not wanting to get into the whole story of why I ultimately decided to choose nursing as my career. "What about you? Do you have any thoughts about what you want to choose?"
"A few, but I change my mind about every 4 days so nothing has really stuck" She laughed again.
"What are some of your interests?"
"I really like celebrity culture, but I'm a teenage girl, so kind of expected. I love watching movies, I enjoy fashion and photography, but I don't know. Something in media would probably be my favorite, It's just hard to get a break in that industry you know? So then I feel like I should just do something else that's more sustainable" She rattled off, seeming very passionate about the subject.
"I feel like you could make it happen" I encouraged her. "You should choose what you think is going to make you happiest, but you're a smart girl. You could do it"
"I'm going to be a firetruck!" Theo gasped, inserting himself in the conversation.
"Oh, a firetruck? Why don't you be a firefighter?" I corrected, laughing slightly at his career choice.
"No, a firetruck" He nodded his head assuredly, knowing what he was talking about.
"Interesting buddy" I patted his back.
We then got called back to our table to be seated, and Theo politely asked the waitress for breadsticks the first second she came over. Honestly, can't blame him. The breadsticks are the best part of coming here.
Our meal was delicious and nonstressful, as both babies took a nap leaving us with only entertaining Theo while we waited on the food to come. Now, we're at the playground with a bunch of other families who had the same idea as I did today.
I set up a heavy blanket on the grassy area so that the twins could roll around, rather than being cooped up in their carseats for even longer. Theo preferred that I followed him around and played with him rather than Lyanna, since the park was crowded, so I was currently hyping him up as he climbed up the rock wall.
"Yep just one more, you got it bud!" I clapped my hands once he made it to the top.
"I'm going to go down the slide" He called down to me, and ran across an empty bridge to the other side of the play set.
As a mom, it was so refreshing to see Theo smiling and laughing as he ran around the park. The only thing I'll ever want from my kids is to see them happy, and it made me feel so much better to see him in a better mood than he was in this morning. Theo went down all the slides, got pushed on the swing, and climbed up all the playground equipment for a solid hour before he was sweating and complaining about the heat. Although, he wasn't ready to go home yet so we settled down underneath the shaded sand box area.
Delia and Atti were each sitting in front of Lyanna or I to help hold them up, as they ran their hands through the sand with very confused looks on their faces. Atticus of course tried to shove a handful of sand in his mouth before we all stopped him, causing him to cry out. Theo was working on building a sandcastle with the shovels and buckets that are left at the park, and Lyanna and I were back to chatting.
There wasn't a huge age difference between Lyanna and I which was nice because she felt comfortable sharing things about her life and also, giving us something to talk about. I know all about her friends in school, which kids don't like each other, and all about her boyfriend.
But then she asked me a question that caught me completely off guard.
"What was it like dating Harry Styles?"