JANUARY

Christmas was everything that we wanted it to be for Annabelle. She got every Frozen toy that we adults could find at the store. She was up at five in the morning banging on Wes’s door. Thank God we locked the door because we fell asleep naked after a few hours of mind-blowing lovemaking.

Well, that isn’t totally aurate, not every round was love making, there was some dirty quick sex too. It was perfect, all of it was perfect. What wasn’t perfect was Annabelle almost seeing us naked in the bed cuddling. Thankfully, we were able to get dressed quickly and Betsy kept Annabelle entertained downstairs for breakfast so we could shower and get ready.

New Year’s Eve was spent at the Watering Hole with the other Brown brothers, Tiff, Candy, Stacy, and Sheila. We ended up crashing at Jimmy’s old apartment over the garage since it was about 2 am when the bar closed and we were far beyond smashed. We hit up the diner for brunch that next day and then eventually made it back to my place by evening.

It has been really tough balancing the bakery and a relationship with Wes. Although Harlington and Valley View aren’t that far from each other, the ranch is a good distance outside of Valley View, and since we both work long and early hours, that 45 minutes to an hour that we have to travel to get to each other’s place is really hard at 4 am or earlier.

It’ll probably get even harder for Wes once Spring hits and they’re back to being on the ranch at 4 am, so right now we’re just making the most of it and spending what time we can together. Today, Annabelle is going to a follow-up ortho appointment to get x-rays. We’re hoping that they’ll give us a better timeline on her getting the cast-off.

Wes asked me if I wanted to tag along. I think he mostly wanted me to come to keep him calm. He still gets really frustrated dealing with medical professionals. When he gets angry, Annabelle feeds off of that and gets scared. So although I’m happy to spend the day with the two of them, I’m pretty sure I’m here to keep everybody was yelling and crying.

“Holly?” Annabelle speaks up from the back seat.

“Yes, sweetheart?”

“Do you have any more cookies?” She asks in her sweetest little voice.

“I’m not sure if your daddy wants you to have anymore. You already had two.”

“I know, but I’m three. So I get three,” she says so confidently.

Wes chuckles from the driver’s seat, “Well in that case, do I get 36?”

“That for sure isn’t happening.”

He glances over at me and winks, “Party pooper.”

“Don’t call Holly names!” Annabelle chastises her dad from the backseat.

‘Yeah, don’t call me names,” I repeat Annabelle.

Wes checks the rear view mirror where he can see the mirror that faces Annabelle, “Wait, whose side are you on here?”

“Holly’s!”

“What? I’m your dad!”

“Girls gotta stick together, Daddy.” I laugh and pass her back another chocolate chip cookie. Wes grabs the bag from me and grabs one too, shoving it in his mouth almost all the way.

“Chew your food young man.” He looks at me and gives a little growl.

After a not-fun four-hour drive, we finally arrive at the hospital. Some of the nurses that are there were the ones that helped to take care of Annabelle during her stay. They are all very sweet and usher us right up to the ortho department where Annabelle gets changed into a gown and we wait for the x-ray machine to be ready for us.

Annabelle sits in Wes’s lap until she needs to go back for her scan. “Is it going to hurt?”

“It won’t hurt, baby girl. They are taking it right through the cast. You won’t feel a thing.” Wes rubs circles across her back and kisses the top of her head.

“Promise?”

“I promise.”

“Hello, Annabelle!” The ortho doc walks in with a balloon animal dog and hands it to Annabelle. She immediately relaxes and gives him a smile. She may not be shy once you get to know her, but right away she’s always a little nervous.”

“Are we going to need to do any sedation today?” The doctor asks Wes and me.

I shake my head, “She should be fine. We talked to her and she understands what is going on.”

“That’s good, would you two like to come with?”

Wes looks surprised, “Are we allowed to? Last time we couldn’t go in with her.”

“We’re not going to the big x-ray machine, there is room in there if you two want to join her.”

I wrap my hand around Wes’s forearm, “Why don’t you go?”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, she’s going to want you more than me.” Wes gives me a kiss on the cheek and I give Annabelle a big hug right before the nurse comes in with a wheelchair to take her down to the x-ray room. I pull out my Kindle and do a little bit of reading while I wait for them to come back. The entire x-ray process is really quick, but usually, they have to wait and that can take some time.

About an hour later the two of them are back in the room and I change Annabelle into her clothes while we wait for the ortho doctor to read the x-rays and come update us. She’s cuddled up on my lap playing games on my tablet when the doctor comes back in and pulls up her scans on the screen.

“So, I think we’re looking really good. As I said after her surgery, kids heal so much quicker than adults and I would be confident with taking her cast off in two weeks.”

“Only two more weeks?” Wes and I look at each other with excitement.

“Yep! Now she won’t be able to run around and be back to her normal self, we’ll do a soft cast for a week or so and then get her fitted for a brace.” He turns off the monitor where the images were shown then turns back to us. “Were you able to find a physical therapist around you?”

“Yes, there is one in Waldorf which is only about two hours from our home,” Wes responds.

“Perfect! Let me get you a referral form so you already have it.” He leaves again and Wes and I both have huge smiles on our faces.

I squeeze her a little tighter. “Did you hear that baby girl? Two weeks and the cast comes off!”

Wes joins in on the celebrating, “That wasn’t that bad, was it?”

“No,” Annabella shakes her head. “Do you think I can keep it?”

Wes laughs, “Maybe, I guess we can ask him when we come back in a couple of weeks.”

It takes about another hour before we get all of the paperwork needed and make an appointment to get her cast off in a couple of weeks. We stop for lunch at McDonald’s before getting back in the car and heading back home.

Wes reaches over and takes my hand to get my attention in the car. “Do you want to spend the night tonight?”

“I will, but I need to stop by and get my car so I can drive in for work.”

“We can do that.” He runs his thumb over my knuckles. “You should bring some clothes over to keep at my place just in case. I’ll even clean out a drawer for you.”

“Do you think that would be okay? What’s your mom going to think if I start spending too much time there? Spending too many nights.

“She’ll think that you’ve corrupted her innocent son with your devil pussy.”

“Wes!” I quickly turn around to glance in the back seat, but I see Annabelle is fast asleep so I can exhale.

“Chill out, she’s asleep.”

I pull my hand out of his and push against his shoulder, “Don’t talk like that in front of her.”

“Why not? She didn’t hear anything. Plus you like it when I dirty talk,” he grins and winks at me.

“When it is just the two of us your dirty old man.”

“Old man? I’ll remember that later.”

I roll my eyes at him and go back to looking out the window as we drive. We travel a few more miles when I begin to feel nauseous and my lunch is threatening to come up. “Shit….Wes, pull over.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Over, over!” I’m banging on the window and he pulls over quickly. I jump out of the truck into the cold winter air and barely get to the side of the road before I throw up everything that I had at lunch.

“Shit, you okay babe?” I try to wave him away, but he rushes over to me and holds my hair back, and rubs my back.

“No, Wes, Go.”

“What? Do you think I’ve never seen somebody throw up before?” I shake my head, but he doesn’t go anywhere. I throw up a couple more times before it feels like everything is out of my system. I rinse my mouth with some water and lean up against the truck.

“Better?” He massages my shoulders.

“Yeah, I guess that greasy food wasn’t a good idea before the drive back.”

“Did you forget to take your Dramamine?”

I shake my head, “I took it, stupid motion sickness.”

Wes pulls me forward and into his arms for a hug. “Are you ready to get back in the truck? We can put the windows down a crack for the rest of the drive.”

“Yeah, I’m good. The fresh air will be nice.”

We get settled back in the truck and Wes puts the windows down a little bit. I feel a lot better getting the cool breeze in my face.