I was awoken by a pair of hands on my shoulders, massaging them firmly but perfectly. “Mmm,” I crooned happily without opening my eyes or rolling over onto my back. One of the hands stopped and made its way around my side, hugging me around the stomach tightly. I felt Clare’s chin on my shoulder. I opened my eyes and sighed contentedly, “hey baby.” I turned my head and kissed her lips quickly.
“Morning,” she said pressing her cheek against mine. “It’s almost seven.”
“Do we have to get up?” I whined rolling onto my back. My wife’s hand slipped to the front of my shoulder. She leaned over me and rested her head on my chest. I rubbed her back gently and took a deep breath, exhaling hard, her head moving up and down with my breathing. I kissed her forehead and smiled. “Happy Valentine’s Day, Mrs. Hanson.”
Clare kissed my bare skin and looked up at me, “ditto, Jordan.” She patted my stomach and sat up. “Time to wake up Zoë.” She swung her legs over to the other side of the bed and reached for her bathrobe and slippers.
I quickly kneeled and grabbed her around the waist from behind so she couldn’t get up. I caught her lips and kissed her passionately. She grinned and patted my cheek, “hon, I really have to go.”
“Noooo,” I whined playfully letting my muscles relax so she could get up from the mattress. She winked at me and left me to get dressed alone.
I had to go into the studio today right after I dropped Zoë off at school. My
brothers and I were in the midst of recording a brand new song that had been concocted around eleven the night before. It came to me randomly while we were having a round of beers with my record label pals. We were laughing and telling stories when all of a sudden I was hit with an inspiration. We quickly left the bar with the napkin I had written some notes on when I was hit with the idea, and booked to the studio as fast as we could. We worked from eleven until two and then decided to continue the next morning. I had big plans for later on in the night and needed some rest. I finally crawled into bed around three but slept very well for four hours, considering how hyped I had been just an hour before.
Even though I had protested Clare’s leaving the bedroom, secretly I was happy. I needed to get out her Valentine’s Day gifts without her knowing it. I grabbed clean clothes out of the drawer, and tossed my boxers in the laundry basket and sweatpants onto the floor. After sloppily pulling on clean underwear and jeans I started searching through my closet for the gifts. Along the way I found a T-shirt and a sweater and pulled them on. I located the gifts right where I had left them originally, and of course where I forgot they were, and laid them down on the bed for the time being. I had purchased a box of heart
chocolates for my wife, a smaller one for my eldest daughter, and a stuffed bear for each of the kids. The florist should be coming around noon to deliver the big gift to my wife. I just had to make sure that she wasn’t leaving during the day.
I bounded down the stairs gifts in hands and entered my warm kitchen. The first thing I saw was Avery laying on the floor, raising her head the second I walked into the room. Her tail wagged and her tongue fell from her mouth, her eyes wide.
Zoë was sitting at the table drinking orange juice. “Morning, baby,” I said to my daughter, kissing her forehead. I handed her a teddy bear and the candies. “Happy Valentine’s Day.”
“Thanks, Daddy!” Zoë squealed, hugging my neck with one arm, keeping the bear close to her with the other arm.
“You’re welcome, Zo-ster.” I smoothed back her hair as she sat back down,
keeping my hand on her forehead for a moment. I put the rest of the presents on the kitchen table and smiled at Zoë before kneeling down next to the puppy. I petted her head while she licked my fingers. I scratched her ears before going to the counter to get out breakfast supplies for my annual Valentine’s Day pancakes.
“Where’s your mother?” I asked my daughter.
“She’s upstairs getting Anya,” Zoë informed me. I turned around and smiled at the little girl. She was sitting in her school’s uniform, her feet not nearly touching the floor, kicking the legs of the chair while she waited for me to make breakfast. On the ground next to her was her bookbag and lunchbox. I turned again and started mixing pancake batter. When Clare and Anya entered I had already made a batch of heart shaped pancakes.
I put a full dish on the table and within a minute they had been snatched up by the three girls. I finished off the rest of the batter and placed the last bunch on the table.
“That’s all I’ve got,” I said sitting down across from my daughter at the head of the table. “Let me get that,” I said to Clare, taking Anya’s fork from the dish on the table in front of her high chair. We had learned not to place things like pancakes on a kid’s highchair tray, it only lead to a mess. Cheerios and cookies were OK, but anything sticker than that was just a wrong move.
“Are you sure?” Clare asked allowing me to take the fork from her hands. Anya’s mouth was open, waiting for food.
“Yeah, baby,” I insisted, spearing a small cut piece of pancake for the baby. “You eat.”
Clare happily shoveled the food onto her plate and pretended to argue, “what about you?” I leaned my elbow down on the table, holding the baby’s fork in the air the food still speared in it’s teeth, and looked at Clare. “OK, OK,” she said, giving it and pouring syrup on her pancakes.
I was taken off-guard when two hands came out of nowhere and grabbed my
wrist, pulling my arm towards the left. Anya had grabbed my arm and pulled the fork into her mouth. She had had it with waiting for me. She let go of my wrist and opened her mouth for another piece. I shook my head and laughed, “My turn.”
“You take too long,” Clare said in a baby’s voice. She giggled. I stole some of Anya’s food, and opened my mouth to show the baby that I was eating it. “Ew, Taylor, please,” Clare begged in a disgusted voice. “Don’t teach her that.”
“Mommy doesn’t like that game,” I warned my daughter, feeding her another
piece of her food. “One day I’ll remind you about that.”
“Taylor!”
“Heh heh,” I chuckled evilly. “So Clare, do you have any plans for this morning?”
“Well,” my wife started, sitting up straight in her chair, “I figured since you’ll be home late I’ll call my boyfriend from Brooklyn. He’s a lawyer, you know, a very successful lawyer. I figure he’ll come over and try on all your clothes.”
“Tell him I got a new Versace suit,” I told her, continuing with her joke.
Clare laughed. “Of course I will. He’ll roll around with it on in the Jell-O pit that I’m turning our bathroom Jacuzzi into.”
“Good. Make sure it’s red Jell-O, strawberry to be more specific.”
“Don’t worry, I will.”
I leaned over and kissed her lips. “You’re crazy.”
She laughed and nodded, wiping the syrup away from underneath her bottom lip. “Zoë, you know Daddy and I are just kidding with each other, don’t you?” She asked our daughter.
Zoë nodded. “Mommy doesn’t have a boyfriend.”
Clare didn’t take her beautiful sparkling eyes off of mine, “and Daddy certainly doesn’t have a Versace suit.”
“What’s a Vir-Sache?” Zoë questioned.
“Versace,” I corrected. “He’s a very expensive clothing designer who designs clothing that famous people wear on TV.”
“Daddy’s a famous people,” Zoë pointed out.
“Yes honey, Daddy’s a famous person but Daddy would never spend money on a Versace. Daddy’s cheap when it comes to buying himself things.”
“But Daddy’s not cheap in buying Mommy and you things, is he?” I asked. I put down the fork for a moment and reached for the huge heart shaped box. I handed it to my wife, “happy Valentine’s Day, Clare.”
“Aw, bear, thanks!” She crooned, reaching an arm over and hugging my neck. “Happy Valentine’s Day to you, too.” She reached under the table and handed me a small but long wrapped box.
I opened the paper and took off the top carefully. My eyes grew wide when I saw the glitter of silver in the white paper surrounding the gift. I pulled out the watch and excitedly clasped it around my right wrist. “I love it,” I told my wife, kissing her cheek. “It looks so expensive.”
Clare shied away my attempt at asking her how much she had to pay, and said, “it suits you. I knew you needed another.”
“Is it the right time?” I asked without glancing up.
“Yes,” Clare confirmed.
I pushed back my chair and stood. “Unfortunately, I have to take Zoë to school now.”
Zoë moaned until I shot her an authoritative look. Then she obediently picked up her backpack, lunchbox, and new teddy bear and went to get her jacket from the coat closet.
Before I left, I handed Anya a teddy bear and kissed her giggling face. “Happy Valentine’s Day, An,” I told her. “The two others are for the babies,” I explained to Clare.
She nodded. “You can give them to the girls when you get home. When will that be exactly?”
“I’m not sure,” I lied, knowing perfectly well what time I was coming home. “It won’t be too late,” I admitted. I leaned over and kissed her briefly. “Listen, call me if you are leaving the house any time today.”
“Chances are I won’t be,” she said gesturing around the kitchen at Anya and the mess that we had left.
“Sorry, honey. I’d help you if I didn’t have to work.”
“I know,” she said.
“But please, do call me, even if you decide to go for a walk or something with the kids.”
“I will,” Clare said.
“Promise?”
“All right, Taylor!” She said, confused. “I promise!”