Getting Back To Family And Friends

Since Josh and I were no longer dating, I no longer had any plans for my two weeks of vacation but I decided that I wasn’t about to let that get me down.

The first day I spent with Zack and his ‘honey do’ list and that night I spent watching movies with my nieces, sort of a mini sleepover because we had lots of movies, snacks and we all crashed in the living room. I had so much fun with them. While they were sleeping I started to think how the last six months I had been so wrapped up in my own problems and work I didn’t really spend that much time with them as I normally did.

Things had happened that I didn’t even know, like…

Cassie and Ben were talking again. “I‘m not sure if I want to date him again Aunt Anna but I did miss him, even though he was a jerk.” I understood where she was coming from, I didn’t know if I liked that she was talking to him again but I told her that if she ever wanted to talk about him or anything else, I would be there.

Lindsay had a crush on the nerdy new guy who transferred a couple months before school ended. “He’s so cute Aunt Anna! You wouldn’t believe it! He’s tall and blonde and he says all these big words that no one knows - except me! I understand everything he says and oh! He smiled at me! He’s sooo dreamy Aunt Anna.” She sighed, “But he would never like me, I’m too plain and boring.”

“Well if he thinks that about you Lins then he really isn’t all that dreamy now. You are a smart and fun girl, don’t let anyone every tell you any different.” Cassie told me that she tried to tell Lindsay the same thing but she didn’t want to hear it. “Well too bad,” I turned back to Lins. “You’re a great girl and don’t forget it.”

Even Natalie had stuff going on that I didn’t know about! “I have a husband like mommy does Aunt Anna! His name is Mitch and he had cookies but he wouldn’t share because he said his mommy said he had to eat them all himself. I told him my mommy says that you are supposed to share and that she gives daddy cookies all the time!” I asked her how they ended up married and she gave me an exasperated look. “Hello! I’m the mommy and he’s the daddy so we can both have cookies!”

It was missing out on all of those events and other little things that brought me to the kitchen just after 6 the next morning as Mary and Zack were having breakfast together before Zack went to work. I peeked my head through the doorway, making sure that they weren’t groping each other like they normally do when they are alone. When I saw they were just sitting down at the table eating, I asked if I could talk to them for a minute.

While Zack said yes, Mary started to get up. “Did you want something to eat Anna? Some toast? Eggs? Bacon?”

“No, no Mary,” I took a seat across the table from her. “I just wanted to talk to you guys about maybe…” I paused because I wasn’t sure what I was saying, I just knew it wasn’t what I wanted to say.

Mary sat back down, glanced at Zack and then turned her worried stare my way. “Is everything ok Anna? Is this about Josh? Because I have to tell you that you -”

“No!” I shook my head. “I’m good with the way things ended with us. This is about the girls..”

“What about my girls?” Zack leaned forward more into the conversation now that I mentioned the girls.

“Nothing bad Zack, just relax. I just wanted to know if they had anything big planned for next week.”

“Ahh…?” Zack raised a brow as he turned towards Mary with a confused look on his face. “Do the girls…?” Mary shook her head and told him that the girls were free next week as far as she knew.

“Good!” I exclaimed with a smile. “So I was thinking - if it’s alright with you guys and the girls want too - maybe I could hang out with them a couple days next week, just the four of us. Maybe drive into the city, spent a night, shop, hang out at the mall and…” I trailed off with a shrug.

“Wait a minute,” Zack shook his head. “No, there’s no way you can take the girls to the city for a night…”

“Well,” I sighed. “I guess we can make it a day -”

“You have to take them for two nights, maybe three. Hell, a whole week works for me too.” He chuckled as he took a sip of his milk.

Mary rolled her eyes and shook her head. “Don’t listen to him Anna, it won’t be a problem if you wish to spend a night or two with the girls in the city.” Mary reached for Zack’s hand giving it a gentle squeeze. “Don’t you think it would be a good idea honey? The girls, a couple nights in the city with Anna…”

Zack’s brow shot up and he turned to her, “Not here? We’ll be alone? For a couple nights?” He looked hopefully.

Mary kissed his cheek, “That’s right honey. And if Anna doesn’t mind, I think Tuesday would be a good day to go and Thursday would be a good day to come home.”

“I’m off -”

“Exactly!” Mary winked at him.

“Oh.” He turned to me again. “Yes take the girls. The days Mary mentioned. I’ll be forever grateful.”

I laughed at them, they were so lame but cute at the same time. And as I watched them, I wondered why I couldn’t find that with the guys I dated. I wondered if maybe I was dating the wrong type. I almost asked Mary about that but then I remembered the last time I mentioned not dating the right guys, she set me up with a crazy guy she knew from her volunteer work with the town.

With Zack and Mary’s permission, I returned downstairs to tell the girls about the plan and they went wild! They all started talking at once, I couldn’t make out much of what they were saying but I was happy that they were excited about the trip.

“Hey Aunt Anna?” Natalie tugged on my hand as her sisters were talking about what stores they wanted to shop and what they wanted to buy. “Will we get to see Uncle Mike and Uncle Eric?” I told her I didn’t know if they would be home because they were supposed to be coming out here some time that week.

The girls and I spent the rest of the afternoon talking about our trip. We called Mike to see if he would be home and he told us he would love to have us visit. He even suggested that we all go out for dinner one night. We made plans for dinner and talked for a little about Nick and Amy, Jordan and Eric.

The moment I hung up from talking to him, my phone rang, it was Nick.
“I need you to do me a huge favour Anna!” He said the moment I said hello.