Out Of The Friend Zone (21 page)

"Willow, honey, what do you want to ask? You can ask us anything you want. No one will get mad, and no one will laugh at you."

Willow hesitated. "Is Brynn going to be my new mom? And if she is, could she leave us too?"

Brynn looked at Chandler with sudden tears in her eyes. She opened her mouth to answer, but Chandler shook his head.

"Willow, come here," he said, and patted to his knee. Willow slowly made her way over and sat in his lap. Chandler took a deep breath. "Honey, your mom didn't leave you on purpose. She died in an accident, and no one could control what happened. If she could, she would be here with you now, but God wanted your mommy to be with him. Do you understand that?"

Willow slowly nodded.

"There are some things in life that we can't guarantee, but I know this for sure. Brynn will never leave you willingly, and neither will I. As for her being your new mom, that's something you will have to decide on, in time. If we get married, then you can choose whether to call her mom or not, but it's not something you need to worry about right now."

Willow nodded and hugged her father. "I love you, Daddy," she whispered, being brave and trying to fight the tears. But then she saw that Brynn was crying too.

Willow hopped off her dad's lap and put her arms around Brynn's neck. She hugged her tight.

"I think I'll call you Mom," she whispered in Brynn's ear.

Brynn smiled through her tears and nodded, not able to speak at the moment, as she didn't trust her voice. When Willow let go of her neck, Brynn wiped the tears away.

"Any more questions?" she asked.

The kids shook their heads.

"Now, who's ready for me to make some breakfast?"

"Me!" Both kids shouted in unison.

"I have an even better idea. Let's go out for the breakfast buffet. It's been quite a morning, and I think I need to treat my three favorite people to some breakfast!" Chandler told them. The kids jumped up and down. "Okay, go get dressed, brush your teeth, and we'll leave."

Barrett ran up the stairs like a shot, and Willow ran out the back door to go to her house to change, leaving Chandler and Brynn alone in the living room. "Well, that didn't go too horribly." Brynn said with a half-smile.

"I think everything is going to work out just fine. Now, go get ready or else I'll drag you to the buffet in your pajamas!" Chandler told her, and smacked her bottom when she turned to leave.

"Watch it, mister. I have the ability to make your nights very lonely, don't forget," Brynn teased, as she walked up the stairs. As soon as she was out of sight, Chandler walked out the back door to go home and change himself, and to help Willow get ready. He smiled the whole way.

As Brynn took a quick shower and got ready to go to breakfast, the conversation with the kids played through her head again. Something stuck out in her mind, something she was going to talk to Chandler about as soon as she could get him alone. She just hoped he wouldn't freak out about it, and given his previous actions, she worried that he might.

After breakfast and a stressful trip to the grocery store, the four were finally back at Brynn's house. Brynn and Chandler sat down in the living room, trying to plan the details of the party taking place the next day.

"We got all the food we'll need for tomorrow, as long as a million unexpected people don't show up. Now we need to call and invite everyone. Hopefully we won't have to make another trip to the store. Now, you call the people you want to invite, and write down who's coming on this pad of paper. I'll use my cell phone to call the people I'm inviting, and when we're done, we'll see how many can make it on such short notice. If I have to, I'll go back to the store, alone, to get more stuff," he said, looking over at the rambunctious kids.

They made their calls, and ended up with a pretty large list of people. Luckily, Brynn had enough food to feed everyone. She looked over his list, and saw that all the people who were coming were those she had met before. The only one she was nervous about was his mother. She knew she needed to talk to him before they told his mother about their relationship, to bring up what happened this morning.

"Chandler, remember our talk we had with the kids this morning?"

"How could I forget?" he laughed.

"Well, they brought something up. I had no clue how to answer them, and I wanted to know what you were thinking about it."

"Oh, you mean the marriage question?"

She laughed. "How'd you know?"

"Well, it was pretty obvious you were taken aback by it." Chandler shrugged. "I don't know what to tell you. You know that I love you, and you make me happy. I can't see my future without you in it, and that kind of makes marriage a logical step. Not that I'm ready for that right now, and I don't think you are either, but I'm not exactly opposed to the idea for the future."

Brynn was pleasantly surprised by how honest and forthcoming he was. Her worries were quickly fading.

"So if your mom corners us and asks that question tomorrow, I'm letting you field it, since you do such a good job explaining it," Brynn said, as she wrapped her arms around Chandler and kissed his lips lightly. "Now, let's get cooking. We can make some of the dishes today so we don't have as much to do tomorrow."

Chandler smiled and pulled her in for another kiss, ignoring her work orders for the time being.

On Monday morning, Brynn woke again in his arms. She looked up into his eyes, to find them open and looking right at her.

"Wow, you're awake before me this morning. That's rare!" she teased.

"Well, I wanted to watch you sleep for a change. Besides, you told me that we had to be up early to get ready for the party. I can't help it if you're lazy!" he joked.

"You're right. I better get moving!" Brynn said and went to climb out of bed. She almost made a clean getaway before Chandler grabbed her wrist and pulled her back to bed.

"Not so fast. I haven't gotten a good morning kiss yet. You aren't getting away that easily!"

Just before things started to heat up, Brynn pulled away. "You're just trying to sidetrack me. I have to get in the shower, and you need one too."

"Well then, let's save water and take one together," Chandler suggested with a sly smile.

A million thoughts ran through her head, all of them decidedly wonderful. Brynn walked to her bedroom door and twisted the lock. She then walked to the bathroom and turned the shower on.

She stuck her head out the bathroom door. "You coming?"

Chandler gave her a wicked grin.

Brynn got into the shower and let the water cascade over her body. As she looked out the glass panels of the shower stall, she could see Chandler coming toward her. He stepped in and ducked his head under the water before giving her a kiss.

"I figured the shower will help to cover up the sounds of us making love, but we still need to be quiet," Brynn said as she wrapped her arms around Chandler's neck. She carefully wrapped her legs around his waist, careful not to slam into him too hard to send them both flying out of the shower. He braced himself against the wall as he balanced them both under the water.

Chandler looked at her as her hips wiggled over him. "Are you ready already? No foreplay or anything?"

"I'm ready. Just give it to me!"

Chandler did as she asked of him. He slid into her, trying to find the best angle so that the water wouldn't wash away all her natural wetness. When he put his back to the water, he found that it worked, so he did just that. He backed her up against the shower wall as he quickly drove her to the brink of her climax.

The sounds she tried to muffle as she came triggered his own release. She watched him as he came, her smile huge.

"Sorry, I couldn't wait much longer," Chandler said, blushing.

"Chandler, that's what a quickie is all about," she said. "It was perfect!"

Now that their sexual desire was sated, they took turns washing each other's bodies, trying not to take too much time.

After their shower, Chandler ran over to his house to get dressed. Brynn got herself ready for the day, then got started in the kitchen. By the time Chandler got back, the kids were eating bowls of cereal for breakfast. Brynn offered one to Chandler but he declined, and helped her prepare the food for the party instead.

A few short hours later, friends and family started to show up for the cookout. Barrett was so excited to see that Mike Mussina was one of the first people there. He dragged the player into the house to show him how his mom had decorated his bedroom, then he introduced him to his dog named 'Jeter'. Mike laughed at that one, and couldn't wait to tease his buddy Derek about the dog that looked so much like him. Barrett hung on Mike's every word, and didn't want to leave his side for anything. Mike ended up in the back yard with Barrett and Willow, teaching them the basics of pitching.

Zaiden and Nyla showed up shortly after, carrying dessert to share. They had offered to help with more than that, but after all their help in the past couple of weeks, Brynn told them dessert was more than enough. Zaiden and Nyla were proud to see their hard work had paid off, and that Chandler and Brynn were both happy again.

Finally, Mrs. Tiller arrived. Chandler and Brynn were on the deck, grilling up the meat and chicken, when they saw Willow run a blue streak across the lawn. She shouted "Grandma! Grandma! Guess what! Daddy's got a girlfriend, and she's going to be my new mom!"

Chandler and Brynn looked at each other with wide eyes and shot down the deck. When they got there, it was worse than they thought. Not only was Chandler's mother standing there, but Brooklyn's mother had walked up also.

"Chandler, what's going on?" Mrs. Tiller asked.

"Mom! Nice to see you!" He hugged her, then turned to Brooklyn's mom and said, "Linda, nice to see you again. It's been a while."

"Linda called me up, and asked what I was doing today. I invited her to come along. I didn't think you'd mind," Mrs. Tiller said, not quite sure what to make of the situation.

Willow hugged both her grandmas, and went to stand between Chandler and Brynn, holding one of each of their hands. "Both my grandmas are here. Isn't that so cool?"

"Of course, we don't mind you asking Linda to come along," Chandler said, and gave her an awkward hug. He turned to Brynn, who was feeling very self-conscious around the two older women sizing her up.

"Brynn, you know my mom," Chandler said. The two women said hello to each other. Chandler went on and introduced her to the other woman: "And this is Linda Childs, Brooklyn's mother."

Brynn gulped and nodded. "Nice to meet you. Can I get you ladies something to drink?"

"Nice to meet you too," Linda said, without any warmth. "I don't think I'll be staying long, so I'm fine without anything to drink."

"Now Chandler, what is this nonsense that Willow is sprouting?" Mrs. Tiller asked.

Chandler turned to Willow. "Willow, why don't you go play with Barrett for a little while?" When Willow started to protest, Chandler gave her a look that said not to disobey him. After she left, Chandler turned back to his mother. "I think Willow is getting a little ahead of herself, but yes, Brynn and I are in a relationship."

Linda's jaw dropped. "Isn't it a bit soon?"

"With all due respect, Linda, Brooklyn isn't ever coming back. She died almost three years ago, and I think it's time I moved on with my life," Chandler told her, trying to remain calm. "Well, I've heard enough already! I think I will leave. Just know that I'm not through with you yet! Good day!" Linda said, and turned around and walked out.

Chandler turned to his mom. "I'm sorry you had to find out like this. But, yes, Brynn and I are together now, and I hope you can accept it."

"We'll talk about it later. Right now I need to calm Linda down," Mrs. Tiller said, and followed Brooklyn's mother out of the back yard.

"Well, that went smashingly, didn't it?" Brynn asked sarcastically, pale as a ghost.

Chandler sighed. "Brynn, I don't care what Linda thinks. All that matters is that you and I are happy with what we have. My mom will be okay. I think she's just in shock right now, especially with the way Willow told her about us. We really should have done it in private, not at a cookout. I realize that now." He pulled her into his arms and held her tight. He kissed the top of her head, then backed up to look into her eyes. "I love you. That's all that matters!"