Make a Wish (Spark House #3)(87)
We stop and pick up pizza and junk food, and watch a movie with Peyton when we get home. Peyton is so exhausted from her broken sleep the previous night that she passes out on the couch before nine. We transfer her to her bed and make sure she’s settled before he opens a bottle of wine and pours us both a glass.
“I’m sorry our weekend got cut short,” he says once we’re back in the living room.
“What happened with Karen?”
He sighs. “What she always does. She did this before, when I was dating Trista.”
“Did what, exactly?”
“She … meddles, is the best way I can explain it. I honestly thought I’d dealt with it last time. I thought this weekend was her way of apologizing, but really her whole plan must have been to make it as difficult as possible. If it isn’t one thing, it’s another. I’m sorry I rushed us out of there like that, but I needed to leave before I said something I couldn’t take back.”
“I don’t understand why she would offer to take Peyton for the weekend and then sabotage it.”
“I can tell you exactly why. Fuck. I can’t believe I didn’t see this coming. She did the exact same thing the last time I was in a relationship.” He huffs and shakes his head. “And it ended because Trista couldn’t deal with how much Karen meddled. Half the time our dates ended prematurely because there was always some kind of emergency.”
“Do you think she even realizes what she’s doing?” I ask.
“She has to know.” He runs a hand through his hair. “I owe you a do-over. But next time I’ll ask my parents to take Peyton. At least then I can be sure we’ll get an entire weekend together.”
He sets his wineglass on the table and takes my hands in his. “I’ll make this up to you. We can have a naked weekend. No interruptions.” He kisses my knuckles. “This will be the last time Karen interferes.”
I want to believe he’s right, but I worry that we’re just scratching the surface, and that there’s more to deal with than just Karen.
Twenty-Four
AT THE EDGE
HARLEY
On Monday morning my sisters and I gather in the office to go over the plans for the week, and I fill them in on my botched weekend with Gavin.
“Karen sounds almost as bad as Declan’s mom, minus all the divorces.”
“Karen and Kyle probably sleep in twin beds with a nightstand between them. I can see her in Little House on the Prairie sleepwear.”
“She’s that uptight?” London seems disturbed by the prospect.
“Why can’t we find guys with normal parents? Why do they always have to cause problems?” Avery rubs her stomach. She’s getting to the point where she’s always uncomfortable. Her hips are achy and she’s constantly rubbing her low back.
“Gavin’s parents are great. It’s just the in-laws who are a problem. I really hope we can find some kind of balance. At least we have some time before the holidays. I feel like I need to mentally prepare myself for what that’s going to look like.” I would prefer to have home-field advantage with Karen the next time we see her. “Enough about that.” I change the topic, because I need to focus on something positive. “I need to ask you two for a favor.”
“What do you need?” Avery asks.
This seems like a good opportunity to broach my idea and see what my sisters have to say. The majority rules stipulation might be the one thing standing in my way on this, but I won’t know if I don’t at least put it out there.
“I know that we said birthday parties for kids were a no-go, but I was hoping we could host one for Peyton. We could do it on a Sunday afternoon, that way we’re not interfering with our own events.”
Avery and London exchange a glance.
“Do you have time to organize something like that?” Avery asks.
“Yeah, I already know what Peyton wants, so it would be easy. And I wouldn’t expect you guys to help. I would organize it on my own, so it won’t interfere with anything else we have going on.”
“I think it should work, but it would be good to check the calendar and make sure it’s not going to conflict with the events we’re already hosting,” London says.
“I can run it by Gavin and see what weekends would work, since I know we’re basically booked out for the next eighteen months.”
“Two years, actually,” Avery says.
“Right. Yeah, I’ll ask if something during the week would work, just in case. Hopefully we’re planning out far enough in advance that it should be okay.” I flip a pen between my fingers. “There’s something else I wanted to talk to you about.”
“Okay, what’s going on?” London flips a puffy star between her fingers, probably trying to read my expression.
“I have an idea, and I’m not sure what it would look like in the grand scheme of things, but I wondered if maybe for one of the upcoming weddings, we could offer in-house daycare for parents with young kids.”
Avery frowns. “How would that work? We’d need to hire extra staff for that.”
“I would be the person in charge of running it, and maybe I could see if there’s anyone in my program who would be interested in helping out.”