A Day In The Life...

Alexis and I have found our spot with the day care with relative ease, I thought it would be a lot harder to fit in with everyone because it was my first real job and Alexis hadn't really ever been around other kids that much, but we are at home at the center.

Besides Charlie, there are two other women that work with me; Nadine is 45 has been married to a welder for about 25 years, they have two kids and live on an acreage outside town. Penny is 24, she's been with the same guy since her senior year of high school.

Yesterday when Devon came down to see the kids, both of the women pulled me aside. "What is up with you and Devon?" Nadine asked me.

I was taken back by the question, I laughed, "Nothing at all. Devon is my boyfriend's best friend."

"So there's nothing going on with you two? Huh." Nadine looked surprised. I asked her why she thought that there was something going on. "Well, when Charlie told us about you, she said that when Devon told her about you, he seemed pretty infatuated with you."

"We had all heard rumors that he was in love with someone who isn't his nasty bitch of a fiancee," Penny threw in. "We thought it was you because of what Charlie said and the way he just has to talk to you every time he's here."

"Which is a lot more than usual since you started here," Nadine stated with a smile. "Not that we are complaining!" Penny shook her head and quickly glanced over her shoulder at Devon. "He's hot!"

I chuckled but shook my head. "It's not me," I told them. "I'm happily involved with Alexis' father." I knew I had this silly grin on my face but I didn't care, I was happy with Reed and thinking about him always made me smile.

The girls seemed a little disappointed by this. "If I was only twenty years younger..." Nadine stated with a sigh.

"I'd give your husband a run for his money."

We all turned slowly towards Devon. Nadine was blushing something fierce and Penny was hiding a smile behind her hand.

"Done already?" I asked him, I was the only one capable of speaking at the time. He nodded as he looked back and forth between the two girls before he gave me a questioning look. Shrugging, I smiled at him. "You snuck up on us," I told him. "We were discussing the men in our lives."

"Oh," he nodded, grinning he added. "And here I was hoping you were all talking about me."

Nadine quickly excused herself and almost ran back to the kids, Penny on the other hand stayed where she was. Only she seemed to have moved in closer to Devon and started to flirt with him, touching his arm and giggling all the time as she spoke with him.

As I watched I started to feel sorry for Penny's boyfriend, she seemed to just be waiting for Devon to show some sign that he would be interested and she would 'forget' all about her guy. I almost told her to go back to the kids but I didn't want anyone to think that I cared what they did. I don't.

So I excused myself and went to help Nadine get the kids all started on the afternoon's activities. Once we had them all occupied, I went to see how Alexis was doing. She had seemed to make friends with a couple of the girls and they would always want her to sit with them. They tried to get her to do the activities with them but some she couldn't do like they could. I also think they were 'encouraging' her try to walk because every time she was with them, she was always standing up and trying to move around the furniture.

"Hey snuggle bug," I sat next to her and she crawled onto my lap. We spent a few minutes putting together a wooden puzzle, she would giggle excitedly whenever we got a piece to fit in it's proper spot. "Your daddy would be so proud of you," I told her as she smiled up at me.

"Al'ces, come!" One of the little girls in her 'group' called out to her and she slipped off to join her friends.

I stood and was watching her interact with the other kids when a hand on my back made me jump.

"Sorry," Devon chuckled as I turned to give him a dirty look.

"It wasn't funny!" I hissed at him. "Don't you have to get back to work?"

He nodded, 'Yeah I should get back but lately I find myself not wanting to leave here."

I tried not to think about what the girls just said to me, there's no way he's sticking around because of me, I told myself.

"So," Devon turned to me, his hand was still on my back and he was way too close for my liking. "Are you doing anything after work?"

"Yes!" I said a little more forcefully than I planned on and it brought a couple looks from the girls and some of the kids. I blushed, "I mean Alexis and I are going over to Reed's tonight," I hoped mentioning his best friend would get him to back off me.

But it didn't, he glanced at Alexis for a moment and then turned back to me. "Reed is one very lucky guy, I hope he realizes that."

"Of course he does," I told him with conviction. "Reed knows exactly how lucky he is," I grinned. "I remind him every time we are together," I added without thinking.

Devon laughed, "I'm glad to hear that, a little disturbed that you would tell me but glad nonetheless, he deserves nothing less."

It sounded odd that he would say that, I frowned as I studied his features. "Are you ok?"

Instead of nodding like he did the other day, he shrugged. "I'll be ok," he moved his hand from my back to squeeze my arm. "Have fun tonight," he said with a wink before turning to leave.

I didn't have time to think about the exchange between us, the moment Devon left the room Penny came flying over to me, grabbing my arm as she tugged me further from the kids. "I thought you said there was nothing between you two, you just looked way too cozy for someone who is so in love with her guy" her tone was so accusing, I didn't like the accusation she was making.

"There's not," I pulled my arm from her grasp. "Devon is Reed's best friend, so of course we talk. Now if you'll excuse me, it looks like my daughter needs her bum changed." Alexis was laying on her back with her feet in the air, the sure sign she was poopy and she was...very poopy.

The rest of the day passed without anything major happening, I won't say there was tension but Penny kept giving me this look as if I betrayed her somehow.

Needless to say, I was super glad when it finally came time to go home. Alexis and I were about to go out the door when Nadine came up to me, "Hey don't let Penny get to you," she said in a whisper. "She thinks that every guy should want her but Devon ignores her flirtations and that drives her crazy."

"There's nothing between us," I told her.

"I know," she smiled. "I could tell just by the way you spoke about this little one's daddy," Nadine brushed Alexis' cheek with her fingers before turning back to me. "He sounds like a good man Amber, I hope that I'll get to meet him soon."

"He's the best, and I'd love it if you got to meet him." She said that maybe we can meet for coffee one day and she could get to know him.

Less than a half hour later, Alexis and I walked into Reed's house. He wasn't home, he was working later that's why I decided to go over there, plus he did spend all the days I wasn't feeling good, at my place.

I was feeding Alexis her supper when he walked in the door. "Hello," I called out as he shrugged off his suits' jacket.

"Hey," he sounded so tired as he made his way over to us. "Did you have a good day today?" He asked, leaning down to place kisses on Alexis' cheek before pulling up a chair to sit next to me.

"We had a great day," I told him. "Alexis has a small group of friends and she's pulling herself around the furniture more and more everyday."

"That's great!" Reed smiled at Alexis, "Great job Princess." He gave her another kiss on the cheek, this time getting a little of her baby food on his lips. "Well that's..." he screwed up his face as he turned to me.

"Yummy?" I offered because Alexis was looking at him intensely, like she was waiting for his take on the food.

"Oh it's awesome," he laughed as he reached for the cloth I had on the table to clean Alexis' face and hands after she was done eating. "If only I could have that for supper," he joked.

"Well, I could get you a bottle and leave the chicken for tomorrow," I chuckled.

"Oh no!" He exclaimed, then added. "I wouldn't want you to have gone through all the trouble of cooking only to leave it for tomorrow, I think I'll have what you are cooking." He turned to Alexis, reaching out to tickle her sides, "Although thanks for sharing with me Lexi."

After Alexis was fed, Reed took her to clean her up. When he brought her back, he set her down on the floor with some toys and asked if he had time to shower. I told him he did, so he headed upstairs to his room. I waited until I heard the water shut off before I put the finishing touches on supper for us.

By the time he came back down, I was just serving up the Chicken Santa Fe and rice that I made. "Smells so good," Reed told me as he slipped around the table to where I stood.

"Thanks honey, I was hoping that you...Reed!" While I was talking about supper, he turned me to him and lowered his head to my shoulder. His lips moved slowly against my collarbone, "I thought you were hungry," I managed to whisper.

"I am," he gently nipped at my skin. "I'm very hungry."

"Well, supper is ready honey."

He sighed, lifting his head from my shoulder. "That takes care of one hunger," he told me with a grin. "14 days," he reminded me like he did every day. "Unless you can't wait that long," he told me in all seriousness. "I don't mind if you can't contain your passion for me and need to have me earlier," he brushed his lips against my cheek. "I wouldn't complain at all."

I just smiled at him as I took my seat at the table, "I think I can control myself until the 21st," I told him and then winched. "I'm strong."

He chuckled, "I know you are, I just thought I'd throw that out there. Just in case."

While we ate we spoke about work, I told him about Nadine's suggestion of getting together with her for coffee one day. "I'd really like her to meet you," I told him. "I don't know if she believes that you really exist."

He raised a brow, "Saying really unbelievable things about me?"

I shook my head, "I just told her some of the things that happened with us and she is very impressed. She knows you are real maybe just thinking I'm bias."

"I'll meet whoever you want me to meet darling, I want everyone to know how happy we are together."

We spoke about our families, he told me that his mother called him to tell him she wanted to throw him a birthday party. "What did you tell her?" I asked him, I knew he hated his parents parties for him because they weren't actually for him.

"I told here I wasn't sure what you were planning," he laid down his fork and gazed at me. "This is the first time we are together for that day, I thought maybe you'd want to do something special to remember the moment we met."

"Are you sure you just didn't want another of your parents' parties thrusted on you?" I joked.

He frowned, "No I really thought you'd want to do something with me that day."

"Reed," I reached across the table and grasped his hand in mine, "I was joking. Of course I want to do something special with you that day but I would also like to have a party for you."

He groaned, "But my parents..."

I shook my head, "No I want to have a party for you, here." I looked around the house. "I want to invite only your friends and I guess our families if we must."

He nodded, telling me there was really no way to get around that one. "So what were you thinking?"

"Well, I thought it would be nice to have a laid back regular party for you."

"Meaning no business partners or clients? No catered food? No overpriced wait staff and all the snobbishness that is associated with those parties?" He sounded so hopeful, I nodded. "Oh do go on darling, I'm loving this so far."

I laughed, "Well I was thinking that maybe we could have just the people we want here, like I said. Have an afternoon on the beach, swimming, boating, whatever and then have a BBQ in the coolness of the evening and then when the sun starts to set we could have a fire in the fire pit and sit around it doing whatever we want. Totally laid back and -"

"Fun," he cut in. "I love that idea Amber. Now I just have to figure out how to get my parents to accept that it's what we are doing."

"Well if they don't like it, they can just plan something for the Sunday," I told him. "Like you said that day is special to us for more than one reason, I think we should be allowed to do what we want."

He agreed but asked, "So I just have to tell my mother."

"No," I smiled at him. "Let me tell her, if she gets mad I can deal with it but you would probably end up caving."

He gasped, "I resent that implication darling, even though you are probably right."

We agreed that I would talk to his mother and he would stand by the plans that we just spoke about.

I'm so excited, I can't wait until next weekend, it's going to be great.

Of course, I have to give Lucinda a call today and tell her what we are doing but I have to make it seem like she had some part of the planning, otherwise she'll get pissy and not want to be there. And I know that Reed would be upset if she wasn't there, he may not be a momma's boy but it still doesn't like to upset her.