Page 126 of The Blessing

It’s going to be a small affair, which might make the awkwardness between Evelyn and my parents even fucking worse. At times like these, I’m sad to say Ronnie and I don’t have a ton of friends to help run interference. We’re both such recluses, we mainly hang out with each other and our baby. However, all the people we did invite are very close to us. I’d rather have a few close friends than a bunch of people that are just acquaintances. We invited: Eden, Quinton, and Harper; Jaxson and his girlfriend—who’ve I’ve never met—Josie; my mom, my dad, and Evelyn; Travis, and Cat’s parents—who couldn’t afford to fly down, despite how much they wanted to. I even dug a little deeper and found the names and addresses of some of Cat’s extended family and sent them an invitation, too. None of them live in Colorado and declined to come because they couldn’t afford the trip down for the party. As bad as it may sound—I wasn’t too broken up to hear that. I’m terrible when it comes to making small-talk. I didn’t really want to deal with meeting Cat’s extended family for the first time when I’d be trying to focus on Grey’s special day. Luckily, I don’t really have any extended family… well, at least not technically. Evelyn has a sister she barely sees and I invited her to be nice. However, I doubt Kimberly will come. Despite being Grey’s great aunt, she’s only seen him a few times and that was before I became his legal guardian.

“Everything’s going to be just fine,” Ronnie tells me, pulling me from my contemplations.

Am I really being that fucking obvious? I give her an embarrassed smile and continue to drink my coffee.

“Maybe we should’ve gotten him ready after we had breakfast,” Ronnie giggles as she tries to prevent our little guy from making a giant mess of himself.

“I can wash him up again if I have to,” I assure her.

His face is covered in pancakes and he appears to be on cloud nine. I can’t resist taking out my phone and snapping another picture. How many pictures am I going to take today? Fuck, like it matters. My entire camera roll is pretty much filled with pictures of Grey… and a few pictures of Ronnie I took while she was sleeping after we made love the other night. I’m sure she’d kill me if she knew I’d taken them.

“I’m going to finish getting everything set up. Maybe you and Grey could watch a movie?” she suggests, obviously wanting her space in the kitchen.

“Of course, babe.”

I grab a handful of paper towels to clean my son up before heading to the living room to put on a movie. I find one of his favorites, The Lion King, and quickly pop it into the DVD player before settling on the couch with him. As soon as the opening titles come on, his eyes widen with excitement. I chuckle at the huge smile on his face before wiping up the remnants of his breakfast.

I have to admit, I don’t really pay attention to the movie. Instead, I pay attention to my fuck-hot fiancée as she gets the party stuff setup. I bite my lip every time I watch her bend over to adjust the treats on the dessert table. It doesn’t take long to tell she’s doing it for my benefit. When she “accidently” drops something and bends to pick it up, I can see my favorite pink lacy thong. I can see it’s covering her beautiful pussy as the loose shorts of that dress thing she’s wearing moves aside. I’m happy to be rewarded with the smallest peek. A faint groan escapes my mouth and she turns her head back to wink at me. She’s so fucking playful today. If we weren’t having guests over soon and my son wasn’t watching a movie in the same room, I’d pull that onesie thing off of her and fuck the shit out of her for teasing me this way.

“Are you feeling okay, babe? You look really uncomfortable,” Ronnie teases.

“I’m fine,” I reply, adjusting myself before rolling my eyes at her.

She responds with a giggle and practically skips back to the kitchen. What a beautiful tease.

She returns with a two-layer, honeycomb inspired, bright yellow Winnie-the-Pooh birthday cake in her hands. She’s focusing on it like she’s certain she’s going to drop it. I resist pointing it out to Grey until she has it placed safely on the table.

“Buddy! Look at the cake Mommy got for you!”

I gently shake Grey’s shoulder to get him to take his eyes off the television to look at the cake. When he does see it he squeals and tries to climb off my lap to get a better look. I chuckle and help him down before taking his hand in mine and helping him walk across the room toward the dessert table. He’s getting so good at walking. I’m sure he’ll be doing it without my help soon.

“This is your birthday cake, baby boy,” Ronnie tells him as she picks him up and allows him to get a better look.

“My,” he says, pointing toward the cake.

He’s learned another word and he’s only been one for a matter of hours! What a smart fucking kid!

“Yes, it’s yours, Grey! Happy birthday, baby,” Ronnie says, misty-eyed as she kisses his forehead.

Eden’s family is, of course, the very first to arrive. They bust through the door twenty minutes early with a giant pile of gifts in their hands. Harper has a box that is almost as big as her body. Quinton laughs at his struggling daughter and explains that she insisted on carrying it and would cry every time he tried to take it from her. Apparently, she wanted to make sure Grey was most impressed with her gift, since it was, by far, the biggest. Although she’s struggling with the box, she doesn’t show it on her face. She’s smiling and her smile grows when she sees her best friend.

“Grey!” she screams, dropping the present on the floor and running over to my son. He’s sitting on the floor in the midst of all his stuffed animals.

He looks completely overwhelmed as the little girl runs his way but smiles as she takes a seat next to him and kisses his cheek.

“I’m so happy they’re such good friends,” Eden comments as she watches the pair. “They both have another new little friend on the way.” She runs her hand over her stomach, which looks just as flat as it did the last time I saw it.

Ronnie steps forward to help them with their packages before ushering them into the living room. Eden looks around the room as if this was her first time seeing the decorations. She freaks out over every single detail, going on and on about how wonderful it looks. Quinton and I stand back and give the girls time to gush over the décor. I guess now would be the time when we men would normally go into the kitchen and grab a few beers while our girls talk… This is one of the hardest things about being sober, the social aspect of drinking fucking kills me. It seems like you miss out on so much when you can’t drink since so many events revolve around consuming alcohol. Hell, I can’t even go out to eat without being reminded of my former vice.

All I have to offer Quinton is punch, which he’s more than happy to drink. It’s nice to have a friend who understands my issues. Honestly, Quinton is probably the closest friend I have now. Travis is… Well, despite how close we’ve become, it still feels like there’s something between us which makes me uneasy. While Quinton is just one of those guys I really feel like I can be myself around. One of the luxuries of coming back to a town where no one really remembers me, is I can start completely fucking fresh. I can be whoever the hell I want to be. He didn’t know me before or during my problems with drugs and alcohol; he only knows the man I’ve become during these past eight months. He and Jaxson are the most solid friends a man could ask for.

As we stand back, sip on our drinks, and watch our girls play with our kids, I think about how my life has transformed. It all feels so fucking normal. I can’t believe it! I remember the days when I wasn’t sure where I was going to crash that night. Now everything is so different—it still catches me off guard at times.

Jaxson and his girlfriend arrive next with a huge gift in hand. I almost laugh when I see them. I’ve been friends with Jaxson for months now; we’d always talked about going on a double date, but we never actually went through with it. So, this is the first time I’m seeing his girlfriend. This girl is his polar opposite. He has his usual carefree smile on his face, while his girlfriend has, what could only be described as, “resting bitchface.” I’ve never truly understood that phrase until this moment. She’s incredibly hot, though. I’ll give her that. I can definitely see why he’d want to date her. Luckily, her cold demeanor fades away as soon as Jaxson introduces us. She seems more than excited to meet her boyfriend’s friend.

“You don’t seem like the usual assholes he hangs out with,” Josie comments, smirking at her boyfriend.

I’m taken aback for a moment. I can’t believe this girl is so laidback!