It's Our Time (Carolina Rebels 3)

“When we get home, you need a bath and then it’s bedtime. We can’t go today.”

“I wanna go!” She slams a fist on the table.

At that, I pluck her from her seat and put her in my lap so she’s facing me. She folds her arms over her chest and pouts. I haven’t even said anything yet! “No. We went to the movies and got you ice cream because you were a good girl. We can’t go today, but maybe if you keep being good, you and Mommy can go tomorrow while I’m at work. Or, you’ll have to wait until later this week for all of us to go. Either way, we’re not going today.”

I’m feeling pretty proud of my little speech until Savannah bursts into tears, blubbering about how she wants to go swimming today. Sydney stands to throw away our trash. I rub her back, not sure what else to do. When she comes back, Savannah reaches for her and leaves me for her mom.

“C’mon, buttercup. It’s okay. We can’t always do what we want when we want to do it.” Sydney holds her hand out to me, so I stand and take it for us to head out while she keeps talking to Savannah. “We’ll go swimming. Just not today.”

“Daddy has to go,” she says through a hiccup.

“We’ll wait until Daddy can go with us,” Sydney promises. “He’s busy with work this week, but that’s a good thing. Do you know why?”

“Why?”

“That means we have plenty of time to go shopping for a bathing suit.”

Savannah lifts her head and frowns. “I wear Daddy’s shirt.”

“That’s because you didn’t have a bathing suit. Trust me, you’ll want to go shopping with me. That sound like a good deal?”

Savannah nods. Sydney wipes away her tears as I unlock the car and open the door for the backseat. Listening to them was nice, but now, all I can think about is what kind of bathing suit Sydney is going to pick. Is she going to wear a bikini? A one-piece? Or a different kind of two-piece that covers her body more? When Savannah is all buckled up and Sydney turns to face me, I can’t help but ask.

“What are you going to wear?”

She smiles. “Wouldn’t you like to know.”

“Evil, gorgeous. You’re pure evil.”

She kisses me quickly. “I’ll make it up to you tonight.”

Now, that is what I like to hear.

“Damn, EJ, you look like hell,” Zane says as we’re walking out to the parking lot after practice.

“Bree cries a lot at night and she doesn’t want to sleep,” he explains.

“Isn’t your mom there to help you?”

“Yeah, but that doesn’t mean she’s doing all the work. She’s mine to take care of,” he snaps. And she is. He had a test done to confirm that he’s actually the father.

“Hey, we get that,” I break in. “But you still need some sleep.”

“I’m not putting my kid off on my mom.” EJ glares at me. “Besides, she’s going to cry either way and that wakes me up.” He shakes his head. “I don’t understand how someone so cute and adorable can be so cranky and upset all the time.”

Scott laughs when he hears this. “She’ll get better, EJ. How long is your mom staying?”

“Forever?” That cracks us up, but EJ adds, “At least until the season is over. Thank god she’s retired. I’d be lost without her helping me.”

“Let’s have lunch,” Scott says. “You need it.”

EJ hesitates. “I don’t know. I told Mom I’d be back.”

“We can go to your house. Maybe Bree is crying because she’s tired of seeing your ugly ass,” Z jokes with a grin.

EJ shrugs. “If that’s what you guys want to do.”

So, we go our separate ways in the parking lot to follow him to his house. I check my phone and find that it’s dead. How the hell did that happen? I’m pretty sure I charged it last night. I plug it into the car charger, and when I get to EJ’s, I leave it in the car to continue to charge.