All in the Game

Chapter seven || Making dreams happen

𝐀𝐛𝐛𝐲 

I will admit attacking Rosemary wasn't my best moment, and I will probably come to regret it later on. God knows what revenge Rosemary has planned for me? 

"Night night mommy." Baxter tells me as I tuck him into bed. Looking over Ace is already out cold in his own bed. "Night my love." Leaning down I kiss him on the forehead before making my way to my room. I have given it some thought for months now, Nathan left me to follow his own dreams. 

I have dreams of my own. Dreams that I have long since buried since becoming a mom. My sons are my world, and I love them to death. Yet something feels empty inside me, I think it's because all these years I haven't been following my dreams, now it's time for those dreams to come out of the dark and see the light of day. It's equal parts scary and exciting, but I'm more than ready for this new adventure. 

I wake up early the next morning to look up places around town selling. If I'm going to do this, I'm going to do it right. I won't rush things, and the place I'm looking for has to be perfect. So far none of the places seemed like the one for me. My phone tweets as a text from my mom comes in. 

𝐌𝐨𝐦: 𝐇𝐞𝐲 𝐀𝐛𝐛𝐲 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐨𝐲𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐨𝐝𝐚𝐲? 

𝐀𝐛𝐛𝐲: 𝐖𝐡𝐲? 

She doesn't normally text to ask me if the boys are coming in advance unless something has come up, or is seriously wrong. When she doesn't answer me my thoughts wander to terrible things. 

𝐌𝐨𝐦: 𝐒𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐮𝐩 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐬 𝐦𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐚𝐬 𝐈 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐡𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐬, 𝐈 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐈 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐞 𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐰𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 𝐭𝐨𝐝𝐚𝐲. 

𝐀𝐛𝐛𝐲: 𝐌𝐨𝐦 𝐢𝐭'𝐬 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐈 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐨𝐝𝐚𝐲. 𝐈𝐬 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐤? 

𝐌𝐨𝐦: 𝐀𝐛𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐲 :) 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐭'𝐬 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐞? 

𝐀𝐛𝐛𝐲: 𝐀𝐛𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐲! 

"Sorry I'm late." I tell Val stumbling through the back door with the boys attached to me. I hadn't been expecting to have them with me but when you are a single mom what else can you do? Val takes one look at the state I'm in; messy bun, no makeup, and the boys still in their pj's, and takes pity on me. 

"Boys why don't you follow auntie Val while your mom gets breakfast ready?" It works they follow her all the way to a deserted booth, and I whip up two plates of chocolate chip pancakes. 

As the boys dig into their food Val joins me at the counter. It's a quiet morning, we get most of our business during lunch. "You should really think about getting another babysitter." 

"I know—"

"Why not Lucy? She loves the boys so much." 

She can't be serious? Sighing I say, "you know perfectly well why it can't be Lucy." 

"Something else is bothering you, what?" Val knows me so well; it's getting harder and harder hiding things from her. "I have been giving a lot of thought about my dreams." 

She pauses staring me down. "Do the dreams include opening up your own bakery?" 

"Val...I'm not trying to complete or anything. It's been a dream of mine since I was a little girl."