He didn’t say yes to an all-day tournament on your anniversary, at least. He said yes for the day after. No way did he realize you had a weekend planned that included his parents watching the kids and us spending a little alone time at our house.
Yes, at least it wasn’t our actual anniversary.
I still was sad.
I’d had an entire day planned out Friday, that extended into Saturday.
Which happened to be why my parents were here, along with his.
My mom and dad, as well as Memphis and Downy, were going camping.
They would be taking our children with them, giving us a blissful two and a half days of freedom to do whatever we wanted.
But…having Saturday by myself wouldn’t be all bad.
I could get a few things done around the house, run some errands.
It would be okay.
Right?
Lock must’ve realized something was wrong by the time we put our jet skis and the boat up, because he cornered me against the truck and looked down into my eyes.
“What is it?” he asked, his hands framing my face.
I licked my lips.
Then decided that I wouldn’t be going with subtle.
I was just going to tell him.
“Tomorrow is our anniversary,” I said. “And I had plans for Friday and Saturday.”
He frowned.
Then winced.
“Shit,” he said. “I’m sorry…but you didn’t tell me that we were doing anything.”
I narrowed my eyes.
“It’s our anniversary, Lock,” I growled. “I didn’t think I needed to tell you that we were doing anything.”
He dropped his forehead to mine.
“I’m sorry,” he apologized. “I…I forgot.”
I snorted, then pressed up on my toes and kissed him hard.
“Just don’t fuck up tomorrow, and I’ll be okay.”
***
The next morning, I was searching online for a birthday present for my youngest daughter, Alicia, and enjoying the blissful silence of having no kids screaming when a text message popped up on my computer.
I’d bought a new iMac a few months ago, and now when I was on it, all of my husband’s and my text messages were received on not only our phones but the computer as well.
Josh: are you here yet?
My heart sank.
I stood up to go to my husband when I heard a thud and a curse, followed by a yelp from a startled dog.
Moments later, Lock came tearing out of the room.
“I fucked up bad!” he yelled, likely waking up every kid and dog in the house, as he jumped on one foot to slip into his sock. “The tournament is today. I thought it was tomorrow. I’m going to be so fucking late.”
Yep. That was my heart by my knees.
“Lock…”
He was gone, though.
Running around the house, making coffee, a mess, and leaving shit all where it didn’t belong before tearing out of the door without a single goodbye.
Not even a kiss or an ‘I love you.’
A single tear rolled down my cheeks, and I dashed it away.
He didn’t know.
He didn’t remember.
It’ll be okay.
The door leading to my children’s side of the house opened, and my baby girl smiled wide when she saw me.
“Happy Anniversary, Mama.” Alicia practically hopped out of her room in excitement.
I swallowed hard. “Thank you, baby.”
***
Deciding to make the best of things, I canceled altogether with our parents.
They understood, and were still in town, but they’d decided to go out on a double date together that included a police and fire function at the local PD.
“Mom,” Lachlan mumbled. “What’s the limit on the amount I can spend?”
I snorted.
“It’s my anniversary, and your father is paying,” I said. “So, there is no limit…just try not to buy out the store.”
So that was exactly what we did.
The children all chose hilariously expensive toys, and I bought them all with the money that Lock failed to use for my anniversary gift.
***
Lock
“What do you have planned for next Saturday?” Josh asked after our last hole.
I pulled out my phone to look and felt my heart rate skyrocket.
“Ohhhh, fuck,” I groaned. “Fuck, fuck, fuck.”
“What?” Josh asked, sounding worried.
I swallowed past the lump in my throat and said, “Today’s my anniversary.”
Josh looked at his watch.
“Dude, it’s nine o’clock at night…and you’re just now realizing that it’s your anniversary?” he asked incredulously.
Yep.
That was me.
The king of all dumbasses.
By the time I got home an hour later, everything in the house was quiet.
There were no lights on, the dogs were put up for the night, and the only thing I could hear was the ticking of the clocks on the wall.
I winced.
It was only ten o’clock, and it wasn’t usual for the house to be that quiet that early.
Meaning I was definitely in trouble.
Big, gargantuan trouble.
I found her washing dishes, standing next to the sink wearing one of my t-shirts and nothing else.
“You went to dinner?” I asked, feeling gutted at seeing the name on the bag of food on the counter.
She’d gone to dinner with my kids and just herself, to a fancy-ass restaurant that I’d been wanting to take her out to for ages.