I’m about to take her into a kiss again, when right then I hear someone walk in, almost in a half sleep daze. Rubbing her eyes while dragging her rabbit, she walks to the side of the bed.
“Cooper, we had a sleepober? Can we habe pancakes?” she asks while trying to climb into bed with us, and in that moment, I’ve never felt more complete.
Pancakes with chocolate chips,” I agree, dragging her next to us, placing her sitting in front of her mother, hugging them both.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Parker
It’s been two weeks since Cooper decided that he’s moving here. When I say decided, that is a nice way of putting what we went through.
After making pancakes with Allison while I drank my coffee at the breakfast nook, he told her about the day he had planned. He had many ‘castles’ for us to see. At that point, I wanted to rip his eyeballs out for him telling her.
She was all too happy to go in search of Elsa and Anna’s true-life castle. So I glared at him from across the table while they both went on about what things they should have in this said castle.
Matthew didn’t even look up from his plate. Doesn’t mean he wasn’t taking in the conversation.
So, after cleaning the kitchen, Cooper left to go to his house. According to him, he had to pack his shit for the rest of the week. I didn’t know what to expect. I mean, was he here for a week? Was he staying here till he finished? It was all up in the air. My mind was going a hundred miles an hour when Matthew came into the kitchen.
“So he’s moving here? What does that mean? Are we moving in with him?” He stood in front of me, his hands in his pockets. When did he get so big?
“Umm, yes. Yes, he is. He told me this morning. I didn’t know that was what he was thinking.” I wrung my hands together.
“So what? You just forget about the naked girl in his house? You forget that he lied to you about it? Is that what you’re doing?” He was angry, so very angry.
“Matthew, it was a misunderstanding in what I saw. I believe him. I believe in what he says. I shouldn’t have gone off the deep end before speaking to him. It’s just—”
“It’s just that you thought he fucked you over like dad,” he yells.
“Matthew, I will not tell you again, watch your mouth. I am not discussing this with you.”
“Why would you discuss anything with me? You just put things ‘under the carpet.’ You think I don’t know how my dad messed up? You think I want to sit across the table from him and his girlfriend knowing that he hurt you? That he hurt us?”
“Cooper is not your father. He is nothing like your father. I’m not excusing what your father did, but I think in the end maybe we would be exactly where we are right now.” I move closer to him and lean up to grab his face. “Regardless of what or who your father is with, he loves you. He will always love you. You have to know that.” My boy doesn’t want to cry. He doesn’t want to show me that he isn’t the strong kind.
“He left us, without a second thought. Who does that? Who? He didn’t even try to fight. Cooper…Mom, he came here even though he knew you didn’t want him. He came to you and fought for you, he fought me for you. Why couldn’t Dad?” he whispered, letting a tear escape his eye.
“Sweetie, maybe I didn’t fight either. Maybe I just let your dad leave. Maybe I knew it was over. I love him for giving me you and Allison. I love him for making a life with me. I can’t explain it, but what I have with Cooper is so different than what I had with your dad. Maybe it’s ‘cause I’m older, maybe I’m wiser, but I know that I would fight till my last breath for him,” I say to him, making him look me in the eye.
Just when he was going to say something, Allison runs through the room, looking for her princess shoes to wear to all those castles we are going to see.
Matthew and I end up in a fit of giggles.
That day we visited four houses. Four houses fit for families of twenty. One house had ten rooms. Who in their right mind would need ten fucking rooms?
Just when I thought it was a lost cause, we pulled up on Meghan and Tom’s street, stopping three houses down from theirs. This home was massive, but the weeping willow trees in the front lawn made it look homey.
We started in the back yard. If that was what you called it. It felt as big as a football field. Smack in the middle of the yard was a huge pool with a water slide hidden in the rock mountain behind it. Off to one side sat a hot tub adjoining the pool. At the far side of the yard was the biggest wooden jungle gym you could ever possibly see, but that wasn’t what caught my eye. Next to the jungle gym, it looked like a little house with a door and two windows. The house was of course pink and purple, perfect for Allison, who ran with all she had to that house. Opening the door, she shrieked. It had a fake kitchen, a kitchen table, a miniature couch set, and one bedroom with none other than a princess canopy bed. It was like a house. Allison turned around and looked at Cooper with hearts in her eyes. “Can you pwease buy this house, Cooper?”