Breakeven

Chapter 60

"Get yourselves changed then, we're going out tonight." I told the kids as we arrived home. I took Alleysha to her room and helped her to pick out an outfit before taking Keira to get her dressed.

Inevitably, once the kids were changed and ready to go I got the constant stream of 'What time are we going Mum?' from the kids. I'm going to kill Danny if he's gone out with the lads and forgot about our family night.

I pressed my phone to my ear waiting for him to answer.

"I'm 2 minutes away babe, did you think I'd forgot?" he laughed as he answered the phone.

"No, not at all" I lied "Just wondered what time we were going"

"Don't lie Kay" he laughed "Anyway, I've just pulled up outside" he said as he hung the phone up.

He came in, smiling from ear to ear. "What you looking so happy about?" I asked him with a smirk, his smile was infectious.

"Just had a good day" he said as he kissed my cheek before going to find the kids.

I walked into the living room and found Danny with the kids. "So you've all got to agree, but you 4 can decide where we go for dinner tonight." He told them.

"Pizza" Adam said immediately

"I don't want pizza" Jessica protested.

"Erm, ice cream" was Alleysha's input, she looked really proud of herself.

"What do you want, Jess?" I asked.

"I don't know Mum, but not pizza" she said.

"Why don't we go to a nice Italian restaurant, then Adam can have pizza, Alleysha can have ice cream for pudding and you can get something else from the menu?" I suggested

"I want Pizza Hut though Mum" Adam said

This is why we should never hand over control of anything to the kids.

"Adam, you heard your Dad, you've all got to agree." I told him as I looked for my car keys.

"I'll go to an Italian restaurant but I'm not going to Pizza Hut" Jessica said.

"OK, whatever" Adam said in a sulk.

"Enough of that" Danny warned. "We're going to have fun tonight"

And with that we all got into the car and headed off for dinner.

We had a really nice meal together and the sulks over where we ate seemed to have subsided. The kids were just finishing their ice creams and as Danny's fingers traced patterns on my thigh, he leaned over to me and with a smile he whispered "We did that, we created the perfect family"

I smiled at him, I know we are obviously biased, but in that moment, I felt it. We really do have the perfect family.

"Done" Keira said as she pushed her half-eaten ice cream away from her.

"That's OK honey if you've had enough" I said as I took a napkin to wipe her face.

"Can I eat Keira's too?" Alleysha asked as she was practically licking her bowl.

"Don't make yourself sick" Danny said as he placed Keira's ice cream in front of Alleysha.

"So, where are we going next?" Jessica asked.

"Who said we're going somewhere else?" Danny asked her.

"Dad, it's family night, I know we're going somewhere else" Jessica said, with a hint of sarcasm because when she was younger she used to believe whatever Danny said, now she knows he just likes to wind her up.

"Ok, ok" he said, acknowledging that it's probably only Alleysha and Keira who still hang on his every word. "How does bowling sound?"

"Cool, can I be with you Dad?" Adam asked.

"OK, girls versus boys, how does that sound?" Danny asked

"That doesn't sound very fair Dad, there's more of them." Adam argued.

"Yeah but your Mum's rubbish at bowling, we'll easily win." He said with a glint in his eye as he glanced over to me waiting for me to bite.

"Can we get the bill please?" I said to one of the waiters who was passing our table, deciding that I wasn't getting drawn into Danny's comment.

We headed over to the bowling alley and prepared for our family battle, girls versus boys. It was a real laugh playing together as a family and even though Danny and Adam are way better at bowling, the girls managed to win. Largely because we had 2 extra players and despite Alleysha and Keira's scores being very low, they were enough to see us to victory.

"I thought you were going to easily win?" Jessica teased Adam and Danny as we went to change back into our own shoes.

"We'll beat you next time" Danny said as he threw his arm around her shoulder and pulled her into his side.