Have fun with this one, and please don't kill me for it being a while. This one is a little shorter, coming in at just above 2800 words, but I needed to get this up for you guys.
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Colt's POV
I looked out of the windows in my office, the sun hitting the heaps of snow on the ground and reflecting onto the barren branches on the trees, thankful that I wasn't outside in the freezing weather. It was the dead of winter, January, and had been two months since the proposal.
We'd taken engagement photos—of course, Johnny starred in a great deal of them—and sent out most of the wedding invitations. A few of them, Brooke suggested, should be given in person. We'd also decided to stick with our engagement photographer for the wedding, so that was one thing crossed off the to-do list.
June twentieth of next year. That's the date she'd picked out. I couldn't believe how quickly she'd already known when she wanted the wedding, but I was on board. A summer wedding would be beautiful with her. Frankly, I didn't care when we got married, I was just thankful that it was going to happen at all.
I was heading home early today, just putting the final pieces together for another case that I was working on before packing up and calling it a day. I sit back down at my desk, trying to finish up quickly so I can see my fiancee. She said she had a quick surprise waiting for me when I got home from work, and by the giddiness of her voice over the phone, I could tell that she was jumping up and down in excitement for whatever it was.
The sharp shrill of my office phone breaks me of my train of thought, and I nearly fall out of my seat.
Rushing to grab it to shut it up, I knock my lamp over in attempts to get to it.
"Colt Rob—" I start, but my answering line gets cut off by an excited burst of energy on the other side of the line.
"Twins! We're going to have twins!"
I blink, stunned.
"Tommy?" I ask stupidly, though I don't need to because I would know that voice anywhere.
"Cole?" he asks, and I can practically see the quirk in his eyebrow as he makes sure he's got the right number.
"Holy shit!" I yell in disbelief as I fly up from my chair. "Congratulations! How did you find out? When did you find out? Boys or girls or both?"
"I just found out! I had just got home from work and SueEllen and Josie came home from the doc's office and, holy shit Cole, I'm going to have twins!" he bursts enthusiastically. There's a pause from his side of the phone line. "Holy fucking shit, Cole, I'm going to have twins," he stammers, like he's just realizing that twins means not just one, but two babies.
I try to redirect his anxiety somewhere else other than how many kids twins are and get him to talk about other aspects of what this means for his family.
"How did you find out?"
I pick up a pencil and start playing with the eraser nub.
"Oh my god, Cole, let me tell you by saying how stupid I am," he groans, and I chuckle, interested to see where this is going. "SueEllen, Alan, and Josie got back to the house a little after I did. They were going to find out the gender of the baby and all that. I couldn't take off work, so obviously Josie was the next best thing, and Sue comes home and hands me this chalkboard with 'Turner Family Math' at the top. There were five stick figures drawn and labeled as me, SueEllen, and Alan, plus two other stick figures that were nameless. One was drawn to be a boy and one was supposed to be a girl. There were plus signs in between each figure, and after the equal sign was a five. I looked up at SueEllen and asked if we were adopting Josie," he wheezes out in a fit of laughter.
I can't help but join in his laughter. His laugh had always been one of the contagious kinds.
"So SueEllen—hey wait, Sue, I'm telling the—"
"Colt?" SueEllen asks.
"Yes, ma'am," I reply.
"You sound weird with no accent."
I roll my eyes and open my mouth to say something, but I get cut off my Tommy in the background.
"Put him on speaker," he whines.
"I'm pregnant!" SueEllen cuts.
"I'm Tommy!" he barks back.
"And I'm waiting to hear the rest of the story," I muse. I rub the eraser on my desk, waiting for the couple to come back to Earth.
"Me too," a new voice chuckles in my ear.
My heart drops and my chest tightens as all of the air in my lungs leaves. The pencil drops out of my hand and clacks onto the floor.
"Josie?"
"You bet."
I scramble down to pick up my pencil from the floor, and as my fingers brush it, it rolls away.
"Congratulations, by the way. Travis told me about the engagement," she says.
On my way back up from the floor, my head bangs against the underside of my desk.
"Ow goddammit!" I curse, rubbing the back of my head.
"You okay?"
"What? Oh yeah," I answer, a little disgruntled. "Thank you, by the way. I figured he'd spread the word quicker than I could."
I told him during one of our weekly conversations.
"No problem, and yeah, he's quite a gossip," she says, and we fall into a sort of awkward silence, unsure of what to say to each other, so I break it in the only way I know how.
"What's new?"
"Besides the twins? Not much to report."
"So how did Tommy take the news?"
"He was, is elated of course. Exactly how you'd expect him to react, of course. Picked her and Alan up in his arms and held 'em close after he realized I wasn't becoming a part of the family. Of course, Alan has no idea what the hell is going on," she snickers.
"They're going to be so happy." I smile, thinking about the picture-perfect family they're about to become.
"Yeah," she drawls. She pauses and then continues. "Hey, while I got you on the line, I just, I wanted to tell you something."
I sit up a little straighter in my chair.
"Shoot."
"I'm sort of... well, I'm seeing someone. I just felt you should know."
I blink. Blink twice. Blink three times. My stomach drops, and I wrack my brain trying to come up with a coherent sentence to reply with.
"That's awesome, Josie," I respond generically. "Can I ask who?"
"Um, yeah. Uh, James Howard. You remember him, right?"
Yeah. I remember him all right.
"Of course," I affirm. I'm not exactly sure as to why, but I feel the need to move, to run, to do something instead of sitting in this goddamned chair.
"Yeah. It's nothing serious yet, I don't think, but he's been good to me for the past couple weeks so far. I mean, I still have to work on myself before I can commit to something serious, but you know, he helps."
I'm not... I'm not jealous, I don't think. No, I'm not. More like... shocked. It's weird to me that she's with anyone but me. Not that she isn't allowed to date, of course not. I just, I guess it's new. I don't feel jealous. I know that even though James and I never exactly got along, he always liked Josie. I guess apparently a little more than I would have thought back then.
I feel, well, I feel protective of her. In a douchebag way, I'm protective of her even though she isn't mine to protect anymore.
"Are you happy?"
"What?"
"It's a simple question, Josie."
She pauses, pondering.
"I think I am. It took a rough couple of months to get here, but I really think I'm happy, or at least I'm getting there. I'm better."
I hadn't realized how tense my shoulders and back were until they relaxed at her words.
"Good. If anyone deserves happiness in this world, it's you. You'll get there."
"I know I will. Thank you."
I sit for a minute, then say, "Ex or not, you're still my friend. If he does something to you, I can land his ass in jail should you say the word."
Josie laughs on the other side of the line.
"We'll see about that."
"I mean it."
I can practically see her eyes roll, showing the whites of her eyes, which used to creep me the hell out.
"I know," she hums, "I'll have to tell him that."
"It's not my business—"
"When is it ever?"
"But I have to ask. Did you tell him about... about... " I trail, trying to find the words I want to say.
"He knows we're recently divorced. Honestly, I'm not ready to tell him much else, and he doesn't push for it. He lets me call the shots about that stuff and accepts whatever I have to say."
"It pains me to say it, but he always was decent," I grumble.
"Yeah well, what are you going to do about it?" she asks rhetorically through a sigh. "Tommy's dying to get back on the phone with you. I kinda took his phone and went to the bathroom to hide from their bickering. He's threatening to break the door down," she chuckles.
Now that she mentions it, I can hear him in the very faint background.
I chuckle. "Yeah. I miss him." My eyes widen. "Hey! Josie!"
"What?"
"I just wanted to let you know, speaking of missing people, Brooke wants to go down to Oak Bend and meet the folks."
She doesn't even skip a beat.
"As she should. It would be about damn time anyway."
"Yeah. Right, I just... she also wants to meet you, too. She says she has a right to, but it's all up to you. I don't want to make you uncomfortable in any way," I blurt.
"I sort of figured we'd meet one day. Besides, we're friends anyway, right? What's it matter? Just make sure that you let me know when so I don't end up being introduced in my scrubs," she laughs.
"Thanks, Josie, we might be coming down sooner than later."
"No problem. Okay, well Tommy's here, so I'm going to go. I guess I'll see you later."
"Yes, ma'am," I agree. "Was nice talking to you."
She hums in response but doesn't say anything before she hands the phone over to Tommy.
We talk some more about his newfound babies and talk about football and other things. I tell him about coming down so Brooke can meet everyone, and he accepted it like Josie did.
"Should I tell the others?"
"If you want. I'll let you know when we decide to come down."
"Okay. Will you be staying with your father again?"
"Probably not. We might stay at the hotel or something."
"Oh, okay," he answers. "Listen, I've got to go, but call me when you know you're coming down, okay?"
"I will," I confirm, and we hang up.
I take a deep breath to steady myself.
I'm so happy for SueEllen and Tommy. They're just one of those couples that are going to last.
I'm happy for Josie, too. I'm glad she's moving on for good because she shouldn't waste her time dwelling on us. She deserves the moon and all the stars, and I hope James can give them to her.
I continue to get my shit together and leave my office.
Brooke and I were going to look at a few venues for the wedding tonight, along with her sister and father. Well, I guess Brooke and her sister, Cara, were. Her father, Daniel, and I were just along for the ride. I want it to be perfect for her, and I know better than to get in the way when it comes to planning this. Besides, I know that whatever she chooses and decides, I'll love it anyway.
I pull into her apartment complex and let myself in the house.
"Hey babe, I'm here," I call out, setting my things on the dining table.
"I'm in the bedroom," she replies, and I walk toward the bedroom, taking off my coat.
I see her sitting in front of her vanity, messing with some makeup, and my heart swells when I see her. She's so beautiful.
She glances up and looks at me in the mirror's reflection.
"Hey, handsome. I missed you."
"You saw me four hours ago," I chuckle.
Her bottom lip juts out, and I laugh at her pout.
"Four hours too long."
I walk up behind her and wrap my arms around her shoulders and rest my head on top of hers. "I'm here now."
"Here you are," she muses. She turns around and leans in for a kiss.
Our lips meet, and I unconsciously smile into the kiss when she deepens it, pressing against me. One of her arms wraps around my neck, threading her hands through my hair. The other hand rests on my abdomen, drawing lazy circles on it over my shirt. She tugs on my bottom lip gently with her teeth, and I moan.
"Don't do that, or we're not going to leave on time," I groan, squeezing her hips in a warning.
"I don't care."
We kiss a little longer, only coming up for air when we're desperate for it.
She rests her forehead against mine, and I smile, trying to catch my breath.
"Easy there, tiger," she laughs breathlessly, and I grin at her.
I pull away and offer her my hand to pull her up out of the chair.
"So what's my surprise?" I ask excitedly.
"Well, I did a thing," she mumbles guiltily.
My eyebrows furrow as I try to decipher if this is a good thing.
"What kind of thing."
"A spur of the moment kind of thing."
Lowering myself onto her bed so I can sit across from her, I motion for her to keep talking, waiting anxiously as she drags this out.
"I booked two flight tickets to the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. We'll be down there for two weeks."
Well, I'm glad I told Tommy and Josie about us coming down when I did.
"Are you mad?"
I shake my head and blink.
"No, silly. I'm not mad. Just didn't expect that to be what you were talking about when we spoke this morning."
"Yeah, you expected me to be draped across my bed with little to nothing on waiting for you to do naughty things with me before we went to see wedding venues," she laughs.
"Well," I drawl out mockingly, scratching the back of my neck. "It's happened before."
Her face flushes as she looks away to gather her composure. I smirk at her in return at her innocence.
"We leave in two weeks. Is that okay? Is that enough time to get everything in order at work and in Oak Bend?"
"Yeah, I'll bring work with me so I can stay on top of it, and don't worry about Oak Bend. They already know that we'd be coming down soon." I stand up and walk over to her.
"Oh really?"
"I talked to Tommy today," I tell her as I pull her up.
"Oh yeah?"
"He found out they're having twins, a boy and a girl."
She grins, letting it reach her beautiful chocolate eyes.
"Awe. I don't even know them but I'm happy for them."
"I also told them about us visiting soon so you can meet everyone."
"Perfect timing! And them? I thought you talked to Tommy."
"Oh, yeah. The phone got passed around, so I spoke to everyone who was there," I tell her. "SueEllen took the phone from Tommy, then Josie took the phone from SueEllen when she and Tommy started bantering. That's all."
I watch Brooke shrink in on herself when I mention Josie. I squeeze her hand and pull her close to me, wrapping my hands around her waist.
"It's not like that. We just talked about the twins, and she told me she's dating someone, too. You have nothing to worry about, I swear," I murmur sincerely.
She nods and squeezes my arm. "I know. I guess I have to learn to deal with the fact that you were married. It's easy to forget about it when I'm with you," she admits.
"Thank you for telling me. It would be hard for me too if the roles were reversed," I empathize, "Just know that you have nothing to worry about. You know you're the only woman in the world I see."
She blushes, looking away, and I grin. I've always enjoyed making her blush.
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Okay y'all. Small chapter but big things, right?
So let's recap. I first want to get the timeline straight with you guys because in the two POVs of our main characters, it's a little different. The original week he spent in Oak Bend was mid-September. He proposed in November. It's now about mid-January. Josie met James in late November. We cool? Any questions or concerns?
So, what do y'all think about this chapter? SueEllen and Tommy are having twins!!! I'm so excited for them! They're going to be so cute! I have plans for them, and I can't wait! Also, I thought that it was kinda cute how Tommy found out. This is my inspiration, just stick figures on a chalkboard instead of people:
What else? Josie told Colt about James, and yes there are some things to assume here. Colt gave Josie and Tommy a fair warning about him and Brooke coming back down, and lo and behold, look at what Brooke's surprise is!
I hope you guys are surviving Dooms Day with the coronavirus lol. I went grocery shopping today because I needed ketchup for my chicken nuggets, and my local grocery store was practically empty, particularly the toilet paper aisle XD. I couldn't believe my eyes!
Anyway, vote if you liked it, and comment your thoughts! I love reading them!
Till next time.
XX Blondie XX