Something's Gotta Give

Skye's Point of View

I was waiting on my ex-boyfriend Kellin to drop our daughter Kendall off for the weekend when my phone went off, alerting me to a message from Jade. We texted for a few minutes, making a plan for her and Jack to come over for dinner, until I heard Alex call for me. I told Jade I had to go and walked down the hall to his room, where he was sitting on his bed.

"What's up?" I asked.

"I think I'm going to ask Isabel to marry me tonight, at dinner," he said nervously.

"Are you sure? I mean, you've been together for a long time and she seems like a great person, but that kind of commitment is major,” I told him.

Alex looked at me. I could tell he was serious and extremely nervous. I walked over to his bed and sat down next to him.

"Look, if you really love her, then do it. The worst she can say is no," I said.

"You're right.” He stood up and shook his nerves off. “I’m going to do it. Thanks, Skye.”

I was going to say something when I heard the front door open. I could hear Kendall going on about something and Alex and I headed out to the living room. Kendall didn't know that Alex was back yet since she’d spend the last week with her father, so when she saw him, she screamed with excitement and ran over to him.

"Uncle Alex!" Kendall yelled.

"Hey peanut! Why don't we catch up and let mom and dad talk," Alex said.

Kendall dragged him down the hall to her room and I let out a small chuckle. Those two were peas in a pod whenever Alex was home.

"I'll pick her up in the afternoon on Sunday?" Kellin asked.

"Yeah, that's fine. What's the plan for Christmas?" I asked.

"I figured we could do it together? I mean, I don't want things to be awkward, but I think Kendall would like us both to be there. We can come Christmas morning or in the afternoon. I know my mom wants to see her as well, but I figured we could spend the day as a family," he answered.

"Just take her to your mom's first,” I said. “I can wait. It's your weekend next week, so as long as I see her for her to open presents, whenever is fine.”

Kellin and I went through a bad break up a couple months ago. We agreed that I would have Kendall full time from the spring to the end of summer and he would have her from fall through the end of winter as long as he wasn’t touring. Then every other weekend we would switch off so we could both still see her.

"Skye, don't be like this. I want to do this as a family, we can make this work," Kellin said.

"You should have thought about being a family months ago," I told him.

The look on his face was enough to tell me that I’d hit a nerve. I sighed and Kendall and Alex came back out. Alex said his goodbyes and headed out for his date. Kendall gave Kellin a hug goodbye and went back to her room.

"I work this Sunday, so Alex or Jade will have Kendall. I'll let you know," I said.

Kellin nodded and then left. I looked at the clock and it was already four thirty. I had told Jade to be here around six for dinner, so I figured I should start. I pulled the chicken put of the fridge and got the oven preheating. Once I heard the oven beep, I put it in and set the timer for forty minutes. I started working on the rice and corn we’d have with the chicken. While I worked, Kendall came out and sat at the table with her tablet. She told me about her week and about school while she played a game on her tablet.

A little while later, the oven went off and there was a knock on the door.

"Want to go get that? Bet it's someone you've missed seeing," I said to Kendall.

Her eyes lit up and she ran to the door. I took the chicken out of the oven and I heard a shriek come from Kendall when she opened the door. I heard her giggling and turned around to see Jack holding her by her feet and her dangling upside down. Jade came around the corner and smacked Jack upside the head.

"Put her down before the blood rushes to her head, you idiot," she told him.

Jack did what as she said and we all sat down at the table. We started to eat and had fun getting caught up with each other. When we were done and clearing the table, we heard the front door open. Alex came into view. He looked crushed and hurt, like he had been crying for a long time. He stood there not saying anything to any of us. I told Kendall to go hang out in her room for a bit before she had to get ready for bed. Once I knew she was in her room, I looked at Alex.

"Lex? What's wrong?" I asked.

"She cheated," was all he said.

Before any of us could say anything else he took off for his room. Jack, Jade, and I all looked at one another.

"Well, shit.”

Jack had said what we were all thinking.