All They Wanted (Wanted 5.6)

A small part of me wondered if what my father was doing was exactly what Jeff was saying.

Glancing back at my dad, he was smiling and talking to Luke. He was a giant teddy bear. No way.

He stopped and shot a dirty look over to Jeff for no reason at all. My stomach dropped.

He wouldn’t. Would he? No.

Looking back at my father, I gave him a long hard look.

No. He wouldn’t.

“Ari, we have to go.”

I hugged Luke one more time. “Mommy loves you, buddy! I’m going to miss you so much!”

Jeff moved in and kissed Luke on the cheek and gave him another hug. “We’re going to be late, Ari. If we want to get set up before dark, we have to leave now.”

“Mom, we’re just under two hours away so if you need anything, you’ll text me, right?”

“Yes, Ari, I’ve raised two kids and I’ve watched this handsome boy plenty of times. Go and have fun.”

I nodded. “We are going to have fun!”

“Good, because once this baby comes, the fun is over.”

My smile dropped. “What?”

Pushing me toward the truck, my mother replied, “I’m kidding. Sort of.”

“Well that makes me feel all warm and fuzzy, Mom.”

Jeff opened my door for me as I climbed in. Reaching in, my father gave me a kiss. “Don’t worry about Luke, sweetheart. He’ll have so much fun he won’t even notice you’re gone.”

A sinking feeling in my heart hit me. I was going to miss him so much. “O-okay.”

“And don’t worry about the horses. I followed Jeff around and I’ve got it. Seems easy enough to do.”

Jeff huffed as he climbed into the driver’s seat. “Easy enough my ass,” Jeff spoke under his breath.

“Plus, Scott’s going to be stopping by each morning and evening. Turns out your husband doesn’t trust me to do the job.”

With a fake grin, Jeff stated, “He said it not me.”

Jerking my head over to Jeff, I said, “Stop already.” I looked back at my father. “Thanks, Daddy. I love y’all. Hey, where’s Matt?”

“He’s napping. All the swimming this morning wore him out,” my mother replied.

With a slight frown, I nodded. “Okay. Well we’re leaving I guess. Tell him bye and I love him. Hope he has fun here!”

Jeff started the truck.

“Be safe driving,” my father said as he pointed to Jeff. “If anything happens to my baby, I’m coming after you.”

I shook my head and turned to Jeff. He had a look of total fear on his face. “Right. We’re off.”

Daddy stepped away from the truck. I waved and shouted, “Bye, Luke! Be a good boy! I love you!”

Luke waved and blew kisses to us as we drove off.