Never Thought We'd End Up Here
Little Aiden ran through the front door, his boots tracking in snow across the hardwood floor. Rebecca wasn’t too far behind him, her little shoes squeaking.
“Woah, woah, slow down,” Alicia said, putting out a plate of snacks on the counter. The little ones stopped in their tracks, Rebecca bumping into Aiden and nearly causing him to collapse to the floor.
Alicia walked over and picked Aiden up, carrying him back towards the door to help him take off his boots. As she pulled them off his feet, she looked over to see little Rebecca pouting. Alicia smiled as she watched Nathan sneak up behind her, picking her up and throwing her over his shoulder as she giggled and squealed.
He brought her over to the front door and sat her down, pulling off her little pink snow boots and placing them on the mat. Once the kids were out of their heavy coats and wool hats, they ran over to the counter and hopped up on the stools.
They each had a shoebox in their hands and the biggest grins on their faces. The boxes were covered in red paper with pink little hearts. Nathan had been up late last night helping them decorate and he still looked quite proud of his work.
“Mom! Mom! Look! Look at all the Valentine’s we got today!”
They poured them out on the table. Some were the traditional hearts, others had themes like Disney Princesses or Transformers. Most of them had a lollipop or some other candy attached. Those, of course, were the ones the kids liked best.
Rebecca pouted as Nathan reached over and grabbed one of her bags of skittles.
“Daddyyyyy!!!!” she whined. He just reached over and poked her nose, causing her to giggle. He opened the bag and laughed as Alicia stuck her hand in and grabbed a handful.
“So, kids, how was school?” she asked, her mouth full of skittles. They’d had their little Valentine’s Day party that day and Alicia had spent the entire morning baking them heart-shaped cookies with pink frosting and sprinkles.
“So much fun!” Aiden said loudly, clearly excited about all of his Valentines. “Look at all the candy I got!”
“Wow, sweetie! That’s a lot!”
“I got a lot too!” Rebecca chimed in, not wanting to be forgotten. Nathan reached over and ruffled her hair.
“What did you guys do today? Isn’t Valentine’s day supposed to be all lovey-dovey for grownups?” Aiden had a funny little grin on his face as he looked at them.
“We did the same thing we do every year, silly. We go to work! Though we met up for a nice lunch.”
“That’s sooooo boring,” Rebecca said with a pout. Alicia and Nathan laughed, leaning in for a quick kiss.
“Ewwww!!!!” Aiden yelled, scrunching up his nose.
“Hush, silly. One day you’ll find someone you love,” Nathan said, leaning over to kiss the top of Alicia’s head.
“How did you find mommy?” Rebecca asked, grabbing a lollipop and sticking it in her mouth. Of course, it was a bright blue lollipop, meaning that her entire mouth would be tinted a lovely shade of light blue in a few minutes. But that could be dealt with later.
“Well, back when we were younger…”
“As young as us?!”
Nathan chuckled and ruffled her hair. “No, silly. Not as young as you. When we were younger than we are now, I met your mother at one of my concerts.”
“Ohhhh, so this is back around the time when you met Uncle Jay, Uncle Max, Uncle Tom, and Uncle Siva?” Aiden chimed in.
Nathan nodded and resumed his story. “I thought she was the prettiest girl I’d ever seen. Of course, I was shy. It took a lot to get me to go over and talk to her. Your Uncle Max convinced me to ask her out on a date. My words came out all jumbled and I probably looked like an idiot,” at that, Alicia let out a giggle, “but she said yes.”
“He took me to a cute little diner and we sat and talked for hours. There was just something about him, I couldn’t help but fall in love,” Alicia said, looking up at him.
Both kids wrinkled their noses at the idea as Nathan put his arm around Alicia’s shoulders.
“Don’t worry, kids. One day you’ll figure all this stuff out.”
“I hope not,” Aiden muttered. Rebecca, whose lips, teeth, and tongue were a bright, sticky shade of blue, simply stuck out her tongue at the idea.
“C’mon, kids. Want to help get dinner ready?”
At the mention of that, both kids hopped off the counter and headed into the bathroom to wash their hands so they could help. Alicia laughed as she saw Nathan grab a piece of chocolate from the kids’ candy pile and place it in his pocket. He pulled her in for a quick kiss.
“I never thought we’d end up here but I’m so glad we did, love. Happy Valentine’s Day.”
