“Breast stroke,” he corrects her in his most serious tone. “Say it with me.” They repeat the word a few times before she finally has it right. Ajay sets her down and helps me out of the pool. He walks the three of us to the lot where the line of golf carts is, shaking his head and laughing. “I feel old.”
“Hush, the girls love it and it’s so much easier to drive this around the subdivision.” He gets in the back with Evelyn while Chandler sits next to me. She’s fiddling with the radio as Evelyn shows Ajay that she can ride without holding on. The whole drive home I’m laughing, knowing Ajay is probably having some sort of fit back there.
At home, Chandler tells me that she’ll see me in the morning and darts across our yard to her house while Ajay, Evelyn and I head inside ours.
“Fuck, it’s cold in here.”
“Daddy, you owe me a quarter.”
Ajay digs into his pocket and hands her the money for her swear jar. He tries hard but is likely putting enough away to fund her college education. It’s just a good thing no one is counting when we’re alone or he might end up broke.
“Sorry,” I tell him. “I was hot earlier.”
“Maybe we can keep the air conditioner at sixty-five and not fifty,” he says as he adjusts the dial to turn the AC back to normal.
“Noted. I’m going to go take a shower.”
I leave him and Evelyn downstairs and head to the second floor. The room that was Ajay’s band room is slowly being converted to a nursery. The walls are now a light blue and there’s a black crib in there, a gift from Harrison and Katelyn. I stand in the doorway and look at what’s becoming our son’s room.
“I thought you were taking a shower,” Ajay whispers into my ear as he presses against me. I lean back, molding into him.
“Just looking.”
His hands caress my stomach. He’s been waiting to feel his son kick since I told him he’s started. I wish I could tell him when it will happen because soon doesn’t seem to cut it anymore.
“He needs a name.”
“I know, we’ll make a list soon. Where’s Evelyn?”
“Downstairs, wrapped in her blanket and watching cartoons.”
“Mhm…”
“Does that mean what I think it does, Mrs. Ballard?”
“Like I said, I’m going to take a shower. Maybe you care to join me.”
“Lead me to salvation, Whiskey.”
I turn and look at my husband, thankful that I had the keen sense to listen to my heart when my thoughts were telling me to run. There isn’t any other place I’d rather be than right here, in his arms, loving him for the rest of my life.
The End!
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Continue reading for preview of SHATTERED STARS by Shari J. Ryan.
Shattered Stars by Shari J. Ryan
Dr. Sheila scribbles words onto a piece of paper, halting our conversation to concentrate. I’m struggling to see what she’s writing, but my train of thought stumbles when a knock raps against the chestnut wooden door.
“Come in,” Dr. Sheila calls out, still holding her gaze on the fresh piece of white paper.
“Your twelve o’clock is here,” a woman speaks from the corridor. I glance down at my watch, noticing the time is ten past twelve. I didn’t think our session had gone so late.
The visible space between the door isn’t wide enough to catch who is speaking, but I suspect it’s the young receptionist from the front desk.