Thawed Out (Merry Everything #4)

Chapter 10

10

“ A re you about done in there, kiddo? You’re looking kind of pruny. I think it’s time to get out of the bath.”

“Okay, Dad-Mom.” Cassidy stood up in the tub and stuck her arms up in the air so Kiren could wrap her up in a towel. He lifted her out of the water and hugged her, then set her on the bathmat to drip a little while he let the water out.

“Hey, babe? Do you have a nightgown for Cassidy?” Flynn had been folding mountains of laundry on their bed. There had to be a nightgown in there somewhere.

“Sure do!” Flynn called back.

“Okay, girlie. Let’s get you into a toasty nightgown.”

Cassidy nodded, shivering in the cool air.

He dried her off and scooped her up, carrying her to their room. He hadn’t even put her down when he heard Jasper running for their bedroom. He could hear those feet on the hardwood floor.

“I need jammies too. I want the Star Wars ones okay?” Jasper jumped up on the bed, nearly toppling the tower of neatly folded clothing Flynn had going.

“Hey! Careful, son!” Flynn reached for the laundry, and overbalanced, whacking Jasper with the tips of his fingers as he went over.

Jasper immediately began to scream. “You hit me!”

“What? Whoa.” He dumped Cassidy on the bed and reached out to catch Flynn. “Got you.”

“That hurt , Daddy.” Jasper crossed his arms.

Cassidy started crying for no reason at all.

Flynn’s eyes were wide, lips parted in shock. “I’m sorry, kiddo. It so was an accident.”

“Nuh-uh! You hit me!”

“Jasper, Daddy didn’t hit you on purpose, he was trying to catch the laundry that you almost knocked over. It was an accident.” He scooped Cassidy up, hoping that holding her would calm her down. “Sometimes that happens.”

“Yep. Especially when I topple over.” Flynn was aggravated but using what Kiren always thought of as his ‘nurse’ face. “I’m sorry I caught you, though. I didn’t mean to.”

Jasper looked between them, frowning with the strangest little suspicious look on his face. “Why are you two being so nice to each other all of a sudden?”

He shrugged. “We love each other, buddy.”

“You didn’t love each other before Christmas. You were mad. You threw your phone because Daddy didn’t answer.”

“Uh. Yes. I did do that because I was mad.” He glanced over at Flynn. “You were at the cabin; I was trying to call…” Which is why he’d driven up there in the first place. As it turned out, he wasn’t being ignored but at the time, he thought maybe he was.

Flynn started putting clothes away. “Grown-ups fight sometimes, and it’s hard, because you feel like you’re in the middle, huh?”

“Yeah, and you broke up, and now you’re not. What if you fight again? What if you decide to start other families with other kids and leave us behind?” Jasper was beginning to yell, and Cass was crying.

“Don’t leave us! We love you!”

“Oh my goodness. Never. Never, ever, ever.” He hugged Cass tight. “Even when we were mad at each other, you guys were the most important thing to us. We thought about you all the time. We love you both so much. Nobody is leaving.”

“But you did.” Jasper stared Flynn. “This is all your fault, because you wanted to go back to school. If you just did that before you had us, we’d be fine!”

Flynn nodded, holding Jasper’s gaze. “You’re right.”

“Hey, Jas. Here’s the thing. Life is full of surprises and unexpected things. We can’t control everything, right? You know how that feels. Daddy wanted to go back to school so he could spend more time at home with us and not be working all those weird hours when we were sleeping or at school. And what he did was really hard. School is hard, right? Well he had to do school and work and take care of us. It’s a lot. But he did it for us.” He knew that. Deep down he’d known that all along. Jasper and Cassidy were young; they’d figure all of this out.

“I just want you to be my soccer coach!”

“All right.” Flynn didn’t come back at Jasper with forceful energy. “I can do that this spring.”

Jasper stopped. Blinked. “Cassie too?”

“If Dad-Mom helps, yes.”

He didn’t know the first thing about soccer, but they’d cross that bridge later. “I’m at school anyway, right?”

“You’re at the big kids’ school, Dad-Mom.” Cassie loved to correct him.

“You are totally right, baby girl. I meant that I have the same schedule that you guys do, mostly.” He added the ‘mostly’ so she couldn’t correct him on that one.

“Oh. Oh, okay. Right. You are a teacher, and Daddy is a nurse.”

“Pretty soon Daddy is going to be a physician’s assistant, and he’ll have regular patients and everything. But that takes work and that’s what he’s been doing. That, and soccer it sounds like.” He smiled at Jasper. The kids had every right to be upset and confused. It was totally understandable. He just wanted them to know he and Flynn were listening.

“I don’t like it.” Jasper frowned, the full weight of his anger landing on Flynn.

“You don’t like what?” Flynn’s temper was beginning to flare around the edges, and Kiren could tell that Flynn was fighting to keep it together.

“I don’t like any of this. I want you to be normal. Why aren’t you normal?” Jasper’s voice began to rise.

“What’s normal?” Flynn kind of frowned at him. “What is it that you want?”

Jasper’s eyes filled with tears. “To be happy. I want you and Dad-Mom to be happy! To have hamburgers and milkshakes, all of us as a family! I want there not to be any more fighting! I want this to be over!”

Flynn simply nodded. “Me too.”

“Me too, buddy.” He took Flynn’s hand and squeezed it. Flynn didn’t deserve all of the blame, but that was hard to explain to a kid who only knew Daddy had been very busy. “It’s not all Daddy’s fault, okay? I’m going to be better too. Come here you guys, we all need hugs.”

Cassie pressed in close, but it took Jasper a hot minute to come to him. It took just a breath longer for Flynn to.

He’d expected that from Jasper, but Flynn worried him for a second. He knew what he needed to say to his husband, but it had to wait until the kids weren’t around. “Oh, that’s better. Isn’t that better? We all have big feelings, and that’s okay, but at the end of the day, we love each other, right?”

“We do.” Flynn kissed the top of Cassie’s head. “And big feelings are normal. This is hard, when grown-ups do things and kids have to just adjust.”

“You promise you’re not going to fight? You promise you’re not going to move out again? I hate that apartment.” Jasper was quieter now, but still upset.

“We’re going to pack the apartment and move back here,” Flynn told them all. “And we might fight, but if we do, we’re going to work it out. Together.”

He was proud of Flynn, this whole conversation had to be tough for him, but he was doing great. He gave everyone one more squeeze. “Okay. It’s bedtime. Should we read? Cassie, go pick out a book and climb in bed. I’ll be right there.” He kissed her forehead.

“Okay!” Cass was gone like a shot.

God, she was so much easier than their little man.

“Jas? You ready for bed?”

“I don’t want a book. I’m too big for stories.” Jasper slid off the bed, and this time, when the laundry started to lean again, he reached out and steadied it. “But you and Daddy can tuck me in.”

“All right. I’ll be right in. Do your teeth.” Flynn started putting the clothes away again, face still, lips tight.

He gave it a minute, made sure he heard water running so he knew the kids were getting ready for bed, and then he gently took a stack of shirts out of Flynn’s hands. “Hey. Look at me, babe. Look right into my eyes.”

“What? Did I fuck that up?” Flynn’s eyes were a little red already, and the expression there was worried.

“Oh, no, baby.” He grabbed Flynn’s hand. “You were great. That was hard, and you did great. I just wanted to say that I’m really proud of you.”

“Oh.” That earned him a shocked expression, but then the most beautiful smile ever.

And a kiss.

The kiss rocked.

He pulled Flynn closer and spun him in a circle, happy that he could still set Flynn’s mind at ease despite all of this mess. It had been a while since he’d seen that kind of smile—the sunny one he loved so much.

“I’m so glad I’m home, love.” Flynn brushed a soft kiss against the corner of his mouth.

“This is where you belong.” He smiled against Flynn’s lips. “Let’s tuck the kids in, hmm?”

“I’ll start with the grumpy boy. You can read to our Cass.” Flynn winked at him.

“Ooh. Taking one for the team. Thank you.” He bumped hips with Flynn and headed for Cassie’s room.

The team was back, baby.