Page 87 of Unbound

“Don’t be stupid.” Raven grabs Chevy’s hands to wipe some sauce from them before he starts to spread it all over his body and then rolls her eyes at me. “Of course he wants you there. I promise you showing up would make his night.” She smiles and adds with a wink, “Then in return, I’m sure he would be happy to repay the debt and make your night.”

My face flushes and I can’t stop my smile. The thought of a night alone with Rawley is definitely appealing. Especially somewhere I don’t have to worry about Lyric escaping from his crib or someone walking in on us.

My attention’s drawn to Lyric, still chewing on his pizza crust. Kissing his forehead, I entertain the thought of leaving him for the entire night, something I’ve yet to do since he was born. Now here he is, nine months old. I deserved one night, right?

“I’m sure Mia won’t mind watching him for the night.” Tyler’s eyes brighten at the thought, only Raven’s quick to dismiss it.

“No way. It’s excellent practice for us.”

Tyler grumbles something I can’t quite catch but throws me a sarcastic thumbs-up and returns to chasing Chevy across the restaurant.

Raven waves her hand in my face. “Go, it’ll be fun.”

“What about the weather?”

We both look outside to see the gray overcast sky and the frozen windshields in the shade. “Just drive carefully and by the time the storm hits tonight, you’ll already be cuddled up in-doors.”

She’s right. The snow storm isn’t supposed to hit until around midnight. I’ll definitely reach Seattle by then if I leave in the next few hours.

I glance down at Lyric and wipe the excess drool from his chin. “I’d need to get his clothes and blanket for you. And some extra diapers. I can drop him off before I leave.”

Raven smiles like I’ve just given her a hundred bucks. I had no idea watching babies made her so happy. “Yay! We’ll follow you over there and pick him up, that way you can take Tyler’s truck just in case the roads are bad.”

I didn’t even think about that. Of course my Nissan would make it, but if there’s snow, probably not.

“Are you sure Tyler’s okay with that?”

“Oh yeah.” Raven waves me off, completely dismissing any other thoughts. “He’s fine.”

We both glance over at him as we’re standing up from the table to see him staring at Chevy who’s taking someone’s beer from them and dumping in on the floor. It’s no wonder Lenny and Red don’t go out to dinner anymore. It’s not like my kid is any better though.

Nova walks over to us, her eyes on Tyler. “Uncle Ty can’t handle this. His face looks worried.”

As if it’s a natural reaction—and it certainly is for her—Raven of course blows her off as well. “We got this, people. We’re going to be parents some day and we’re going to rock the shit out of parenting.” She nods to the door. “Come on, Nova, let’s go rescue Ty before Chevy punches him again.”

RAVEN’S INSISTENT THEY watchallthree kids at their apartment which seems to bring a whole other level of panic to Tyler’s already stressed posture.

I have to give Tyler credit though, once we’re at Mia’s house, Lyric makes it known he needs his diaper changed and Tyler steps in. I don’t bother to tell him changing Lyric’s diaper is an Olympic sport in itself.

“Are you sure you two don’t want some help?” Mia asks, watching Tyler try to dress Lyric after he’s changed. It seems so important for him to prove he can do it. Alone. I’m not sure if he’s trying to convince himself or everyone else, but he’s determined nonetheless.

Watching him struggle, I’m beginning to think it may be too much for them. “Tyler, I can—”

“I got this,” Tyler says for the third time when Lyric straightens his legs and refuses to bend them.

“I don’t know why you’re making him get dressed,” Nova says, rolling her eyes at her stubborn cousin. “He’ll just take his pants off in the car like he does when he gets to daycare in the morning.”

No wonder he’s never wearing pants when I pick him up.

As if putting his pants on is too much to ask of my little man, he throws himself back on the floor. Lyric may be the happiest baby ever but dressing him is the real battle. The days where I got him to put pants on, he refused to wear a shirt. Or shoes.

“This brings back memories,” Mia notes, laughing and helping Tyler out with the pants by tickling Lyric’s belly to get him to bend his legs. “When Rawley was little, he rarely wore clothes. I once took him to the store wearing Spiderman underwear and red rubber boots.”

The reminder of Rawley as a boy sends a flutter in my chest, a reminder that in just a few hours, I’ll see him performing again. My mind races back to the wedding when I heard him play “Unbound” for the first time. The lyrics float around like leaves falling from a tree, reminders of everything we’ve overcome in the last couple of months just by finally talking and acting like adults.

I once heard a quote, or maybe read it on a fortune cookie, I’m not sure, but it said: “When someone is working hard to change, the worst thing you can do is hold them to their past. Forgive them and help them transform.”

There’s still so much about my relationship with Rawley that’s up in the air. We’d been waiting to discuss everything until he was home for a while, but those words came back to me as I left for Seattle. Some would think, how can you forgive him after everything he’s done to you?

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