This, I did.
Then we went over to Mickey’s.
Epilogue
Buckle Up, Baby
“I’m going.”
“No, I’m going.”
“Oh for goodness sakes, I’m going.”
Mickey and I were bickering about who was going to pick Ash up from her date with Kellan.
Rhiannon had come around for the aftermath girlie discussion, which was also why Pippa was there with me.
Auden and Cillian were virtually attempting to kill unknown kids somewhere else on the planet on some online game they were playing on the Xbox in Mickey’s family room. And from their shouts, they were succeeding.
Mickey wanted to pick his daughter up in order to give her date the evil eye.
I was not about to subject Aisling to that.
Rhiannon, who already had her coat and was at the door, agreed with me.
“I’ll be back in twenty minutes,” she declared and before Mickey could reply, she walked out.
“I hope he kisses her,” Pippa said dreamily.
I felt a wall of flame come from Mickey.
“Pip!” I snapped, looking to her to see she was gazing as dreamily as her voice at the door, which was when I felt Mickey’s pain for Pippa was going to be next.
She looked to me. “What?”
“Gross! Kissing Ash!” Cillian shouted, showing that clearly the loud explosions coming from the TV weren’t drowning out our conversation.
Or he was listening.
“Not gross, dude. She’s cute,” Auden replied.
Mickey turned menacing eyes to me.
“Auden doesn’t lie, honey,” I said gently.
He stormed off and not long after he disappeared down the hall I heard the fridge open and close then the sliding glass door open and close.
He was drinking beer and brooding about his daughter becoming a woman.
I grinned.
“He’s hot when he’s all dad-who-doesn’t-want-his-daughter-dating,” Pippa observed and I looked to her to see her gaze aimed at the hall.
She was right.
She looked to me and grinned. “He’s a total score, Mom. All the girls at school say it. They even get in heated debates about who’s the hottest dad. Amber Spear’s or Aisling Donovan’s.”
“Obviously, it’s Aisling Donovan,” I stated haughtily.
“Totally,” she agreed, still grinning.
My eyes drifted back to the hall as I mumbled, “Maybe I should go to him.”
“Maybe you should let him get used to it,” Pippa advised, shifting up to sit on her knees on Mickey’s couch in his front living room. “He’s gonna have to. Kellan is into Ash big time. They’re both movie freaks. She knows all about boxing. They watch the same TV shows. For high school, all that is serious. They sit with us at lunch but they’re totally into each other and never stop talking.”
The idea of Ash never stopping talking was one I couldn’t wrap my head around.
But I loved that she found a boy she could open up to.
“Anyway, I want some ice cream. Do you think Mickey would mind if I had some ice cream?” she asked.
“No, kiddo. Just ask to see if the boys want some too.”
“Okay, Mom,” she replied, got up and bumped into me playfully as she passed me.
I watched her disappear in the hall and heard her talking to the boys about ice cream and even heard her opening the sliding glass door to make her request for ice cream officially of Mickey. When it was granted, I also heard her asking him if he wanted some too.
When I heard the door close again, I wandered into the hall but stopped at the baby picture of my guy.
I stared at it wondering if his parents knew what a remarkable man he would become.
I moved away from it knowing from experience with Auden and Pippa that they absolutely did.
Five minutes later, the sliding glass door opened and I looked from helping Pip scoop ice cream to the door.
Mickey was about to step in when, eyes never leaving the TV, Cill called, “Get this, Dad! If Ash marries Kellan we’ll have a Kellan and Cillian in the family. Isn’t that hilarious?”
Mickey didn’t answer. He swung right back out the door and slid it shut.
I would have made it if I hadn’t heard Pippa snort.
Since she snorted, I didn’t make it.
So I had to dash to the dining room so Mickey wouldn’t hear me burst out laughing.
* * * * *
“Hey, Amy?”
I was wandering down the hall to Mickey’s room where he had moved his brooding after the aftermath girlie discussion took epic proportions and lasted hours (and may have diverted onto other paths, like online shopping on Ash’s tablet).
Auden and Cillian were still attempting to kill people in the family room.
Rhiannon was gone.
As far as I knew, Pippa was still ensconced in Ash’s bedroom, carrying on the aftermath girlie discussion the two moms couldn’t hear.
Now, just Aisling’s head was out her door and she was looking at me.
“Yeah, blossom?”
“Dogfight,” she whispered then grinned a small, sweet grin. “I win.”
After delivering that, she closed the door.
Needless to say, the date went great.
Mickey was in his bedroom brooding.
I was headed that way smiling.
* * * * *
I winced even as Auden flipped his opponent to his back.
“Good, bud! Stay at him!” Mickey, sitting beside me, shouted.
“Don’t let up!” Cillian, sitting beside Mickey, yelled.
“Ash and me are gonna go get some sodas,” Pippa, sitting next to me, announced.
She and Ash got up from the bleachers as I looked to them then, with a mother’s sense, turned my head the other way and looked across to the end of the bleachers in the gymnasium.
Kellan was loitering there, eyes to Aisling.
Pippa was Ash’s cover.
They moved in front of us, but Ash abruptly stopped when Mickey’s hand darted out and caught her wrist.
I looked to him to see his head tipped back, eyes on his girl.
“Go to your boy but I don’t lose sight of you, hear me?”
“All right, Dad,” she huffed resignedly and irritably.
He let her go.
Pip aimed an amused grin at me.
I returned it.
The girls took off.
I jumped when Mickey shouted, “That’s it! You got it!” and the rest of our side started clapping.
I looked to my son on the mat just as the referee slapped his hand down and yelled, “Pin!”
Auden took his feet to more applause and Cillian jumping up and down on our bleacher, yelling “Right on! Auden rules!”