A second chance at true love

Chapter 10 – Routine

.Meredith.

I honk my horn again. Marley finally comes running with her friend.

“Sorry, Mom.” She climbs into the car and helps her friend into it. When they are seated, I immediately drive away.

“Are we going to bake the cookies after the soccer?” she asks me.

I shake my head. “No, I’ll get all the groceries later and we’ll bake the cookies tomorrow.”

Marley attends middle school with Mallory and Megan, and every year the school holds a market where kids sell products to raise more money for projects at school. All three girls wanted to bake something to sell, but to make cookies three times? We thought all three were a bit excessive. So Marley gets soccer cookies, Mallory wants cupcakes with pink frosting, and with Megan, I’ll make little sandwiches with her favorite cucumber dip. Megan has never had a sweet tooth, if she could get cucumber or paprika, she’d rather have that. So who am I to say she has to make sweets to sell? It is helpful to have a child who wants to try or likes all the vegetables.

I stop at the side of the parking lot and Marley clicks her seatbelt open.

“Bye Mom.” She kisses my cheek as she leans over the seat and then she gets out of the car. I shake my head and call her back. Marley starts laughing. As always. I hold her bag up and hold it out the window for her. She comes to grab the bag and when she’s inside I look in the mirror at Madison.

“Maddie, swimming lessons!” I shout.

“Yeah!” She claps her hands. Madison is my easy child, I always say. She likes almost everything and finds almost everything alright. Learned a lot from her sisters, but knows very well what is and is not allowed. She eats almost everything and is almost always cheerful. If she is not happy, I immediately know that something is really wrong.

I park the car and we walk into the public pool building together.

“Hey!” I hug Camilla.

“Hey Maddie, are you ready?” she asks. Madison nods happily. “See you later, Mom!” Madison hugs me and then runs to the locker room. “Thanks, Cam.”

“Always! If I have to take her home?”

“No, that’s sweet, but I have to pick up the rest anyway, so I’m not home this afternoon,” I answer her.

“All right. At least I’ll wait until you get back.” She tells me.

“Thanks!” I shout again and hurry to the car and the supermarket for all the groceries.

Not only for the cookies but also for the rest of the week and some extras for Miles. He’s getting some friends over tonight and I had promised to get snacks.

Last year we converted the garage into a mancave. Especially for him.

He is the only boy in a women’s home and I thought it would be nice for him that he also had a place to retreat. Together with my brother Brian and my father, they made the space the way he wanted it, with a new television, a new sofa, a mini fridge, and all his other ‘toys’. The girls were jealous of him at first, but when Miles and I explained together why it was so important to him, they understood.

Madison, the sweetheart that she is, had made several trays out of clay that we baked in the oven for Miles to use. And she had cut off slices of a wine cork and glued them together on a piece of paper to make coasters. She was afraid that otherwise, he would forget who his sisters were. Miles responded so sweetly to her and once a month he asks if Madison would like to watch a movie with him there.

Every time, Madison has tears in her eyes of happiness. Miles always leaves the door open and every time I walk by she is sleeping against her big brother while he watches the movie she has chosen. And every time my heart almost explodes with so much love. Miles may look like his father, but there’s something soft about him. Something loving. Always making time for his sisters. They can always come to him and if one of the girls is sad, he always wants to comfort them. Sometimes I think it’s unhealthy. But Miles assures me it’s okay. I just don’t know if I believe him one hundred percent.

He should be a kid, right? Fighting with his sisters?

When I have all the groceries in the car and have cleaned up at home, I have to drive around again to pick everyone up. First up is Megan’s turn at the Tennis Club. On the way, I call Maxwell about next weekend.

“Meredith, what can I do for you?”

“Hey, I need to talk about Melissa next weekend.”

“What’s the matter?” he asks.

I talk about junior prom and buying the dress. After a bit of being a pain in the a.ss, on his part, he agrees, but he wants to come over when she actually goes to prom. I’m fine with it all. “I think that’s fine, but also ask Melissa herself. You know how she can suddenly change her mind.” I answer him. “Max, I have to go, I’m at the tennis court.”

We say goodbye and Megan pulls the door open.

“Hi, Mom!”

“Hello, sweetie,” I answer her. She leans over the chair kisses me on my cheek and sits down. On the way to Mallory, she tells me all about her morning and about the upcoming tennis tournament.

Megan also recently got a phone and I give her the phone I grab out of my bag.

“Just send me a message with the date and everything I need to know,” I tell her.

This is how we practice. She’s eleven and I think that’s too young to have a phone in her pocket all the time. So I keep her phone and when we’re together she can use it.

Only Miles, Melissa, and Mallory are allowed to take their phones upstairs to their rooms, but when it’s bedtime I check that the phones are no longer on the bedside table but downstairs in the kitchen at the charger.

And I have to say, my kids do that very, very well.

So Megan already has a phone, but she doesn’t have it with her all day like the others. She gets to play games at home, I practice with her that she sends messages, that she learns how our joint agenda works, and when she goes to bed, the phone stays with the rest of the phones in the kitchen. I feel my phone vibrate.

“Done!” yells Megan and I see her put the phone back in my bag.

Mallory is already waiting with her backpack in her hands and is quickly in the car.

“Hey, Mom.” She kisses my cheek just like Megan. “Hello, sweetie.”

She also sits down and I drive on to the swimming pool. Along the way, Mallory talks about her morning and the upcoming performance she has with the ballet school.

“Will you send me a message?” I ask her and I see in the mirror that she is nodding.

Megan tells her about her tennis tournament and I drive into the parking lot by the swimming pool. Camilla waves and Madison comes running to the car with her bag.

“Mom, I have a bow, look!” she says as she gets into the car and turns her head. “I lost my hair band, but Camilla put a bow in it.” She moves her head to show once again that her hair is going in all directions but is stuck in the bow.

“Good girl. Sit down quickly. Then we’ll go to Marley.”

Along the way, the girls are all talking to each other. I park the car in the parking lot and the girls run away before I can say anything. This is the routine we always have. I know Maxwell does it differently, but I think that’s why when they’re all here they’re enjoying themselves more. I know I leave them much more free than Maxwell does.

I lock the car and walk onto the soccer fields.

“Hey, Meredith right?”

I turn around and look into his blue eyes. My heart jumps madly when I do.

“Yes, hi,” I reply and do my best to sound as neutral as possible. But let’s be honest. I feel the nerves rush through my body. I always had that with handsome men and anyone with eyes, can see how handsome this man is.

Sofia’s father.

All the single moms are talking about the man. Every single woman wants this man. Probably all non-single women/mothers want him too.

He is the father of my daughter’s best friend. I don’t want to embarrass anyone, certainly not myself, so look another way.

“Mom, our snacks?” Megan pulls on my sleeve.