Locked in Marriage 3: Forever After

Chapter Twelve

Colton was tasked with making sure all of the kids were properly dressed for their grandparent's 50th wedding anniversary and he was freaking out. Kayla gave him one job and he had no idea what he was doing. Katie and Charlotte were in Charlotte's room helping to get each other together and Kayla was out at meetings for the charity.

"Are you girls getting ready?" Colton asked walking into the room and standing at the door. They turned around to look at him in a condescending way and then went back to looking in the mirror.

"Dad, which dress? The red one or the black one?" Katie asked pointing to the dresses hanging off her sister's bed frame.

"Umm," Colton said scratching his head looking at the dresses and then looking back at Katie. He had no idea; girls' dresses were not in his area of expertise. Ryder walked by behind him and looked at the two dresses and then looked at Katie.

"Red," he said simply as he walked past them. Colton looked behind him but Ryder wasn't there and then looked back at Katie looking confused.

"Agreed, the red one," he said pointing to it. Katie and Charlotte smirked at each other.

"How should I wear my hair? Up or down?" Charlotte asked moving her hair up into a bun on top of her and then letting it fall around her face. Colton was dumbfounded; he had no idea. They both looked nice to him and he just stood there shrugging his shoulders and choking on his words.

"Up," Ryder said again as he walked by chuckling. Colton turned around again wondering what his son was even doing walking the same hallway, but nodded in agreement and began to leave.

"Just please be ready for when your mother comes home," he said turning around to look at them. They both nodded and he smiled at them and left the room. He walked down the hall to Ryder's bedroom and pushed the door open. There were clothes all over the floor, binders and papers thrown around the room and his Xbox controllers were all over the room. Colton just rolled his eyes and kept walking in. It was what his room used to look like when he wasn't married.

"Lovely room, son. Do you have your suit and everything ready?" Colton asked laying himself across Ryder's bed as Ryder came walking out of the bathroom.

"Yeah, I was going to do a bit of a workout, then shower, then get ready," Ryder, said putting on his fluorescent yellow Nike workout shirt. "Mikey and I are heading down to the gym right now if you want to join."

"Yeah I'll just grab my stuff and I'll meet you down there," Colton said jumping off the bed and running down to his room for his workout clothes. Colton changed into a pair of black shorts and a grey Under Armor t-shirt and joined his sons in the basement gym. None of them spoke to each other while they were down there as they enjoyed the silence of blaring music and weights hitting each other. They had been down there for almost two hours when Kayla came storming down the stairs. She turned the stereo off and they all stopped what they were doing and looked over at her. They all knew they would get in trouble, they weren't ready and the dinner was soon.

"Shower please," she said sternly staring at Ryder and Mikey and Colton began to follow them out of the room but Kayla's arm flew out from her side and he stopped walking.

"The girls are all ready to go and our suits are hanging up, we just wanted to workout a bit before the party," Colton said trying to defend him and the boys. Kayla dropped her arm and began to chuckle at him. He was confused. "Why are you laughing?"

"I just think it is so funny that the first thing you do is attempt to defend yourself," she said turning around to walk up the stairs.

"You looked pissed," he said shrugging his shoulders and following her up the stairs.