Page 11 of A Trident Christmas Baby

“Oh, yes, I am,” she replied as she held up her phone and smiled. “Say cheese!”

“Tenley!” she shouted, but it was too late as the flash from the phone blinded her.

Tenley was laughing as she tucked her phone into her pocket.

“I can’t wait to show everyone that.”

“Just grab my hands,” Alex told her, trying not to laugh at herself.

“I think we should call for backup. Maybe the guy down at the end of the street who has the forklift?” Tenley said as she doubled over in laughter.

Alex’s mouth hung open, but then she burst out laughing, making Tenley laugh even harder.

“Alright, give me your hands,” Tenley said, laughter still evident in her eyes.

As soon as their hands met, Tenley started to gently pull as Alex rolled a little bit to the side to get her legs under her.

“This better count as my workout for the day because I’m working up a sweat here,” Tenley commented, and Alex almost lost it.

“Tenley, please stop before we both start laughing again, and you drop me. And that won’t be good because I have to pee, and I don’t want to pee my pants.”

With one last good pull, Alex found herself back on her feet. As soon as they let go of each other, they burst into a fit of giggles as the absurdity of the situation was too much to contain.

“Only you, Alex,” Tenley said, shaking her head as she picked up her flashlight and the baby monitor. “Now explain. How in the world did you end up in the bush to begin with?”

Alex grinned before explaining how she had left Zuma outside and then how, when she found him, he was so excited that he bumped into her and made her lose her balance.

“This is definitely one moment to add to our list,” Tenley said, giving Alex a hug.

“I think this one is going straight to the top of the list,” Alex replied, still giggling.

“I can’t wait to get back to the house, pull up the security camera, and watch it all unfold,” Tenley said with a shit-eating grin on her face. “In fact, between our cameras and yours,” she said pointing to the camera attached to the house and aimed at the patio, “I’m sure we will have some pretty good angles of your gracefulness.”

Alex completely forgot about the cameras. But the thought of watching it made her laugh again, knowing that it had to look hilarious.

“I’ll never live this down,” Alex muttered to herself, and Tenley laughed.

“Not a chance in hell.” Tenley then sobered, and her nurse persona came to the forefront. “In all seriousness, you’re okay, right? Nothing hurts or feels weird?”

Alex smiled. “I’m good. I promise. I can feel the baby moving around.”

“Alright. Well, I better get back over to the house. I’ll see you tomorrow for our baking day.” She hugged Alex. “Call me if you need anything else.”

“Will do. And thanks for saving me,” Alex said with a grin.

“Finally! I get to be the hero,” Tenley joked before saying goodnight and walking back over to her house.

Alex looked down and shook her head at Zuma, who was prancing around the deck. “Now that you’ve had your fun, are you ready to go to bed now?”

Zuma looked up at her, his head tilted to the side, and barked as if answering her question.

She reached down and patted his head. “Come on, boy. Let’s try and get some rest. We got a big day of baking tomorrow.”

As the two of them walked into the house, Alex locked the door and headed upstairs. The first thing she did was go pee. Then she gave herself a quick look over to make sure she wasn’t bleeding anywhere or anything before she changed her pajamas since she had been lying on the ground.

When she walked out of the closet, she found Zuma already curled up in Ace’s spot on the spot and half asleep. When Ace was home, Zuma either slept at the foot of the bed or on the floor.

All the excitement made her sleepy. She hit the button on her sound machine and hit the light next to the bed. As soon as she slid into the bed and wrapped her body around her body pillow, she found herself quickly falling asleep as the sound of rain echoed in the room.

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