Page 56 of Sean
The group assembled for the party clapped as the song ended.
Sean lifted a cupcake with a single candle and placed it in front of Jace in his high chair.When the baby reached for it, Sean grabbed his hands.“Not so fast, buddy.We have to get that candle blown out.”He tried to demonstrate what he needed Jace to do, but he was only frustrating Jace and amusing the crowd.
Admitting defeat, Sean closed his eyes and blew out the candle.
When he opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was Monica with her sweet smile, her eyes shining with obvious love for his son.His heart lurched, and he closed his eyes a second time, bracing for the pain that always followed.But when it came it was a gentle wave in comparison to the normal flash flood.
Maybe it was time.
Chapter 15
Six days after theparty and with only a week remaining until Christmas, the unpredictable Oklahoma weather blessed Garfield with a serious cold snap.Temperatures hovered in the mid-thirties, but that didn’t stop the operation in his new apartment.
“Lift your end just a little higher,” Sean said as he struggled to keep his gloved fingers from losing their grip on his end of the couch.
“Remind me why we’re doing this today?”Benjamin’s voice was ragged and breathless as he struggled with the heavy piece of furniture.
“Can we talk about this when we’re in the apartment?Just one more inch on your end.What are you, a wimp?”Apparently the mild insult was all the encouragement Benjamin needed.Sean almost lost his footing as his brother put his back into the chore and surged forward.They cleared the front door and set it down, both men breathing heavily.“There, that wasn’t so bad, was it?”
Before Benjamin could answer, Monica and Kinsley materialized from the kitchen, where they’d been organizing cabinets.Monica motioned to the west wall while Kinsley looked, deliberately, at the south.
Monica frowned at her very pregnant friend.“Really, if we put it on the west wall, it’ll open the room up and make it look bigger.”
“Maybe,” Kinsley said.“But the south wall is longer, and there’s more room for the end tables.”
Benjamin groaned and bent to grasp the end of the couch.“Come on, bro.”
Sean pulled his gloves off with his teeth and tossed them on the couch.“I haven’t decided where I want it.”
“You’re kidding right?”Benjamin grunted as he picked up his end and swung it south.“You forfeited your opinion the moment you allowed these women in the room.Now, we have to let them see it in both places so that they can come to an agreement.It’s one of those unwritten laws in the female handbook of conduct.”
Things had been much better between Sean and Benjamin over the last week.His brother could still be an insufferable goofball, but Sean’s talk with Monica had cleared away a lot of his bitterness.
Ten minutes later, the couch sat in the middle of the room while the women, having seen both arrangements, discussed Sean’s living room decor among themselves.
The sofa had been the last big piece of furniture.The men carried in a few boxes, a couple of lamps, and the end tables Kinsley had been so worried about.On their third trip, they found the women sitting on the sofa with satisfied looks on their faces.
