A Puck Between Us

Chapter 31

The entire drive to my parents house, I couldn't help but smile. I had everything in the world. I had my one real love, who happens to also be my best friend. I had a great son, sleeping in the back seat. I had it all. 

I turned onto the street where my parents had moved to and decided I should wake up Addison. 

"Babe... Addi..."

"Wh- what? Yeah? I'm up."

"We're almost there." I said to her, still unable to wipe the smile off my face, as we pulled down the street. 

"These houses are gorgeous...." 

I looked over at Addison and her eyes were glued to the scene outside the window of the car. 

"Hey." I said, breaking her focus, and she turned to look at me. "Since when are you into all this?"

"All what?" She asked, noticeably confused. 

"All the houses and clothes. You were never a materialistic girl." I joked at her and she caught on.

"Well it was somewhere between the night before the draft and the day you left me..." She said sarcastically back. "Maybe around the time that I had our child-- alone." 

I turned away and sat there silently as we pulled into the driveway.

I moved to grab the door handle but stopped when I felt her hand on my neck. 

I turned and she was right in my face ready to kiss me. 

"I was just kidding. I'm sorry. You know I don't blame any of that on you." She said and she was so close that I could feel her warm breath on my face.

I leaned forward, barely at all, kissing her. 

"I know." I smiled, kissing her again. "I love you."

I pulled away, "Now let's go. We have to get my dad if we want to get to the airport on time."

We got out and I lifted the sleeping baby out of his carseat, placing him gently over my shoulder. 

I grabbed Addison's hand and we walked up to the door. 

I let go of her to knock and she attached herself to me, intertwining her arm with mine. 

"Jeff!!" My sister said, answering the door and beginning to jump in for a hug, until she noticed the little boy in my arms. 

"Hey shorty!" I said and Addison let go of my arm, knowing that I wanted to lean in to hug her. 

Of all my siblings,  Jill and I we're always the closest. 

I pulled her up to me and held her close for a minute then she pulled away and  more or less jumped up onto Addison.

"Congratulations!!" She screamed and Emerson jumped even though he was still sleeping with his head dug into my neck.

We walked into their huge new house. 

Noticing myself how beautiful it was, I looked over at Addison to see her reaction. 

As expected- she stared up the staircase, jaw dropped, catching every detail. 

She was broken up by the sound of my moms heels tapping on the floor toward us. 

"There's my boy." she said when he finally got to us and I gave her a weird look. 

"Really, mom?" I asked and Addison and Jill laughed.

"I think she is talking about the baby." Jill said and her and Addison began laughing even harder. 

Good to know they were hanging up on me already.

 Just like old times...

"Thanks guys. I was just kidding. I knew who she meant." I tried to over it up, but they could tell. 

"You guys ready?" My dad hopped down the stairs asking, while finishing tying his tie. 

"Hey dad. Yeah, we're ready when you are."

"Alright, then let's go. In the car, troop." He shouted and everyone started to laugh. 

"Oh, Andy... Tone it down. Emerson is sleeping." My mom scolded him.

She walked over and hugged me tight. 

"Have a good flight and I'll see you guys in a few days." She whispered to me. "I love you, honey. You all just have fun!"

She pulled away and moved over to Emerson, kissing his head lightly. 

"Make sure you spoil this little one a bunch until I get down there to do it myself!" She said laughing. 

She walked over and hugged Addison too and I saw her whispering in her ear too.

As we were walking out the door, Jill came running down the stairs behind us. 

"I will see you in 4 days! Get ready to party!" Jill joked.

"I knew I missed you!" Addison said back to her and ran back in to give her a hug.

I walked out and put Emerson in the carseat and threw a blanket on top of him. 

I went to get in and realized that Addison had still been inside.

I ran back up to the front and they were casually talking. 

"Hey girls! Let's go! Jilly, just come for the ride and you two can gossip or whatever you're doing."

~~~

We drove to the airport and said our 'goodbyes' and 'see you laters' once again.  

Emerson was awake and walking into the airport holding Addison's hand. 

We dropped our bags at baggage claim so that we would only have 2 carry-on bags and a baby. 

We went through all of the security and when we got to our boarding area, we had a half hour till we were going to be able to board.

"Daddyyy!" Emerson said, squirming out of Addison's arms and turning over to me. "Puter."

I pulled him onto my lap and got the computer out of my backpack.

I put in one of the DVDs I had bought for the plane ride so that he could watch it. 

"Wonder pets! Wonder pets! We're on the way!" He sang and Addison and I looked at eachother smiling. 

"Okay, two things-- I told her. One, how does he even know that you can watch these things on a computer? And two, how does he remember the theme song? He's a year old..."

"Yeah, but he is a genius like me." She joked to me. 

As soon as the cartoon ended, the rows at the back of the plane was called. 

I handed Addison the computer so she could put it back in the backpack before we got called. 

"Rows A through J may now board flight EC7 to Raleigh, NC."

Addison looked at me and get in her toes to kiss me quickly. 

"This is it." She said.

And with that, we were off. Off on our journey to begin our life together.