The rest of the day Paige waited. Because of the serious pending conversation with Chad, she wanted to see if he would initiate the phone call. Nothing. Well, not exactly "nothing." At 8:00 pm she got a text from Marie, "So much excitement today! Any chance you could come over?" She finished the message with an emoticon wink!
Paige tapped out a response, "Still waiting for Chad to call."
"Don't wait too long! Wink/Wink!"
At 9:30 she was still waiting; Paige was in the bathroom peeing and fretting. "Why?" she said out loud, "Why can't men seem to prioritize?" She wiped herself, washed her hands, picked up her phone, and stepped out onto the front porch. It was difficult to calm her nerves; half of them were raw from Chad's lack of consideration, the other half were worrisome because of what she would have to admit to him.
He picked up on the second ring, "Hi Babe! I was waiting for you to call!"
"Arrgghhh!" her head screamed! In as calm a tone as she could muster, she replied, "Why didn't you call me then?"
"I figured you'd be busy with the kids."
"Other than the lunch, I was free all day."
"Oh yeah, sorry; I should have called."
Arrrggghhhh! Paige shook herself and said, "Okay, tomorrow I have a shopping day planned for us over here. We're going to do the preparations for school early this year. But I could come over tomorrow night after the kids are in bed, or maybe Sunday afternoon; what do you think?"
"Let's do Sunday; I'll text you when the ballgame is over and then you come, how's that?"
AAARRGGGHHHH! "Okay, we'll figure on that; see you then."
When she hung up the phone, Paige rocked herself for ten minutes. "Shit, Fuck, Asshole!" she thought. "Do I really REALLY want to do this for the rest of my life?" She thought about the offer from the McCullers. "I don't need a husband; do I? I can have as much dick and pussy as I want and not have to put up with this crap!" But the more she rocked, the more her rational, sensible, logical, softer self reemerged. "No, the smart thing to do is have this conversation, then decide; anger and worry do nothing." The more she thought about the smart thing to do, the better she felt...but he was still an asshole!
The next day they all piled into the car for the trip to the mall. Paige hadn't seen her daughter this excited since her last birthday. No, she was more excited than THAT! She decided to tease Sophie a little by saying, "When we get there, I really need to find me a new purse, this one has had it!" She was watching for the reaction in the rear-view mirror, and the look that swept over her face was hilarious!
Olivia noticed and burst out laughing! "Yeah, I need a new purse too!"
Even grandma joined in, "Maybe I need one too!"
That was when Sophia wailed, "MOM!" The whole car broke up!
When they got to the right department in Target, it soon became apparent that Sophie didn't really need a bra, but Olivia needed to go up a size. So Paige let Sophie pick out two from the training bras, while she and Olivia found the right ones for her. It made her smile and sigh all at the same time...how fast her girls were growing up!
For the next three hours it was all about backpacks, folders, markers, you name it! By the end of this spree, they had spent $350 in the blink of an eye! While they were sitting at lunch in the food court, Paige thought, "Oh my God, I better sell another house...fast!"
They got home at 1:30 just as Jamie was getting cranky. Paige put her down for a nap and then spent the next forty-five minutes answering emails and paying on-line bills. When she got up from the computer, Jimmy was watching a show; checking in with the girls, Olivia was on the phone with a girlfriend and Sophie was organizing her new school supplies. So she went in search of her mother and found her on the porch.
Mom was sitting in the rocker reading Oprah's magazine so Paige sat down on the swing. Nothing was said for about ten minutes, but eventually the older woman looked up, "Want to have that conversation we never finished?"
"Not really, but okay."
"It's alright if you don't; but I've found talking it out can help. Some things are just complicated."
Paige smiled at her mother's use of that particular word and said, "That's certainly true, and while we're on the subject, Chad and I are going to have a serious discussion tomorrow...probably around four o'clock or so."
"Oh, you are! Well, that's good. It was getting to the point of crazy, wasn't it? Engaged for six months and no date set. That's very strange, I must say!"
"Strange isn't the word I would use; I kinda liked the word you used a minute ago, 'complicated!'"
Her mother smiled, "I was talking about how thoughts get complicated. Not your relationship with Chad. You love each other, you decide to get married, you get married; what's so difficult about that?"
"If it was as simple as that, we'd be married already. No, I'm thinking there's more to it; anyway we're going to find out for sure tomorrow."
"I hope so; not knowing is wearing us all out!"
The rest of the day and Sunday morning were uneventful. Marie and Michelle joined them for breakfast. Marie had bought the board game "Candyland" for Michelle and they spent an hour and a half teaching it to the three younger ones. In between all of that the two moms tried to piece out all the talking points for the afternoon. Not that anything new was mentioned; the only real talking point was getting Chad to open up about what he was thinking...and Paige being honest with him.
At 3:45 the text came, "Cubs won! C'mon over!"
When she pulled up at his house, Robert was just about to climb into his car. Coming around to open her door, he gave her a hug, "Hey there, pretty lady! Uhh...good luck to you!"
"Oh, Chad told you why I was coming over?"
"Yep, to be honest he called it, "One of those conversations women like to have!"
Paige snorted, "Yeah, US women! I would hope you stuck up for me?"
"Paige, I said it right to him, 'Do you even know how LUCKY you are to have her?'"
"Thank you, that means a lot. What did he say?"
Just then Chad appeared on the doorstep, "Hey you guys! If you're gonna talk, don't do it standing in the middle of the street!"
Robert waved him off and said, "Go talk, he seems very positive about things; you'll see."
As she turned to go inside, Paige said, "Thanks Robert...see ya!" Stepping up to Chad, she gave him a smooch. "So, the Cubs won, huh?"
"Yeah, Heyward got hit with a pitch with the bases loaded and walked it off," he enthused. He saw the look on his fiancee's face and stopped. "But hey, let's get some drinks and go sit in the yard, it's a beautiful day!" They went to the kitchen, got a couple hard lemonades from the fridge, and took them out to the deck in back.
"It certainly is a beautiful day, and it is so nice out here!" She took a sip from her drink, "we should spend more time outside!"
"Yeah, we should. Maybe I could build something back here for the kids; maybe a jungle gym of some sort attached to a playhouse?"
Paige gave him a wistful look, "That would be so great! I wish I could get Sophie and Olivia to go outside more!"
"Technologically distracted, huh?"
"Oh yes, among other things. I've heard Olivia on the phone some; talking with friends about boys, no less! She's twelve!"
"Those fuckin' hormones!" Chad laughed, "What's a mom gonna do?" Paige smiled and kept looking at him. So Chad continued, "I know that look; I guess this is a good time to start our talk." When she tipped her head to the side and raised an eyebrow, he said, "You want to set a date, right?"
"Do you want to?"
"There are a lot of variables, Babe!"
"Sorry, Chad. In the past that was acceptable, but a lot is happening. The question remains, do you want to or not?"
"I do want to, I just don't know when to set it."
The little redhead took another draw from the lemonade and let it burn down her throat. She stared off into the back corner of the yard, thinking hard. The next part of this was going to be tricky, and she needed to choose her words carefully. Turning back to face him, she said softly, "Chad, I just want you to know that I want to marry you badly! I'm see this long-range; when we're seventy years old, I think I'll still be glad I married you. That's what I think!"
"I believe that too!"
She shrugged, "Then what's the problem?"
Paige was surprised but not shocked when he said, "I think I'm just scared."
"Of?"
"The responsibilities involved."
"Four kids and a mother-in-law?"
"Basically, yes."
"Okay, and because of that you're quite comfortable with how things are now?"
"I guess that's right."
"Alright, now that THAT question has been answered, let's move on to the next part. Is there anything else that's bothering you? Anything you're not sure about?"
He was silent. His face revealed a conflict of some sort; a battle even. They sat in the silence for several minutes, long enough for her to finish her drink. She put the bottle down on the side table, "You might as well tell me; I'm not leaving until this is settled."
Chad sat for another minute, his eyes steely and staring straight ahead. All of a sudden, his head started tick-tocking back and forth like a metronome, it only lasted maybe ten seconds and then he said loudly, "Oh, fuck it!" He turned to her and said, "Babe, I love you; I love everything about you...no question." She was going to interrupt but he held up his hand, "But the thing is, I can't shake the feeling that there are other women I'm attracted to; FUCK...there, I said it!"
Paige's mouth dropped open! At that precise moment she was no more expecting him to say that than she was expecting a check for a million dollars to drop out of the sky right in her lap! She smiled at him. "Oh really?"
"Yeah, I don't know...maybe I'm just nuts!"
"No, you're not nuts; I just wish you would have told me sooner. This explains everything. I was starting to think you're an asshole just stringing me along."
Right then Chad noticed the smile on her face, "Hey, you're taking this pretty well; I was sure you'd be crying by now."
"Sweetheart, you did surprise me, but this is nothing compared to what my ex put me through. Actually I'm very relieved to finally understand it all."
If a face could shrug, Chad's face did it, "Wow, okay then...so what are we gonna do?"
Paige got up and extended her hand, "Come with me." She led him back into the house, sat him down on the sofa, and snuggled in next to him. "Hold me, my love; hold me tight!" Chad wrapped a big arm around her and drew her close kissing her on the forehead. They sat in silence like that for several minutes. "I like the honesty...A LOT! So tell me, honestly; have you cheated on me?"
The question made Chad's whole body jolt. Paige felt it. He didn't answer immediately, but quickly enough; which was good because she did not want to drag it out of him. "Yes, once; it was before I proposed." When she didn't flinch he continued, "It was with a girl from work, you don't know her."
Paige allowed her hand to trail down his chest toward his groin, "What happened?"
"It was just one of those things; an opportunity. Remember when you were occupied with the lawyer and the custody hearing for a couple weeks? Well, I worked maybe an hour later a lot of those nights. She had just broken up with her boyfriend and was kinda down." Paige looked up at him and he quickly added, "I'm sorry, I'm not excusing it...but that IS what happened."
"Tell me more, how did the conversation go?"
Chad was flummoxed, "Why do you want to know this? Shit happens and it happened."
