Lovesick -- A Rocky Lynch Story

Chapter 21

Needless to say, Rocky was much happier after our little excursion. Mason went down easy for his nap, and Ryland came through the door. He shouted he was home to us as he threw himself on the couch. "Well, welcome back?" I told him. "How's Karlee?"

"She's sick so we didn't do anything. She didn't even want me to stay." He rolled his eyes. "So I went and got coffee and I was gonna bring home bagels but I ate them."

"I guess it's the thought that counts," I looked at him skeptically. "Babe-" I looked at Rocky sipping his coffee, "we're supposed to ask Karlee to sit for us while we go to that class tomorrow night."

"Aw damn," Rocky looked fake sad. "Now we can't go to dance..."

"Dude, y'all do dance classes?" Ryland laughed at us and flipped through channels on the TV. "Laaaaammmeeeee,"

"I'm doing it for her," Rocky shot back. "You do things to keep your wife happy. You'll learn eventually, little boy."

"Hey if it gets ya close enough to feel her up, then go for it," he huffed and laughed at his joke. "But, uh, I can take care of the squirts tomorrow night if you need me too."

I looked up from my phone and instantly paid attention to his offer. "Um, Ry, that's really sweet, but I don't know about-"

"Karlee told me I did a really good job," Ryland defended himself and made his way to the pantry. "Are you gonna eat these?" he asked about a bag of potato chips.

"Go ahead," I sighed and rubbed my temples. It really was like having a fourth child enter our house, except this one was a teenager.

"So as I was saying," he came and sat down by me and Rocky, "I think I could handle them for... Whatever-- how long is this class?"

"45 minutes plus a 15 minutes drive there and back," I sighed in contemplation.

Rocky's eyes widened and he shook his head at me. "No, no, no, you're not actually considering this are you?" he questioned. "We're talking about the boy who tried to skinny dip last night in our pool at 11 pm."

"I'm not gonna let the kids skinny dip," he shook his head. "Come on, guys." We could hear Mason's cry come from the baby monitor and Ryland hopped up. "I'll even go get him and change his diaper and everything." He ran up the stairs quickly and I turned to Rocky.

"We're not actually considering this, are we?" he muttered into his hands.

"I think we are," I said.

"You know Ryland's kind of like having a fourth kid," Rocky blurted out my thoughts.

"He is," I nodded. "Like a teenager."

Soon enough, Ryland came down all smiles with my little boy, who was also all smiles. "Examine. Did I do it all right?" he asked me and handed him to Rocky.

Rocky looked him over and nodded. "Not too bad for your first try."

"I've watched you guys do it a bunch and I caught on." He shrugged and looked up at us with an excited expression. "So can I watch them?" he asked hopefully.

I sighed and looked at Rocky. "I can make them dinner before we go..." I said to him.

"And we could leave out their pajamas and write down their bed time and routines." Rocky made a couple faces at me non-verbally and I nodded at him.

"Fine," I said something I never thought I'd say. "You can watch them, Ryland."

* * *

The following day, I began to regret the decision to leave our three precious kids with the burp master of the Lynch clan. But every time I got scared, I remembered he has a stable job that normally requires responsibility, and lots of experience with kids with his nieces and nephews.