Trailer Park Princess (27 page)

“I promise I will play nice and be civil. I just want to hold her.” I can hear the sincerity in his voice.

“OK, follow me.” I stand, and he follows suit. He goes down first. I can’t help but wonder if it’s so he can check out my butt. Thank God, I am still tiny. Not that it matters, but no chick wants to look like a blob around her baby daddy. I step off the last broken piece of the ladder. “I haven’t been here much lately,” I tell him as I adjust my top. “I don’t really need to anymore, not with my star at home with me now.” I smile at Toby. I want him to understand life is good.

“I haven’t been here since prom night. I never wanted to be around anything that reminded me of you.” He gulps at h
is admission, but I am OK. I understand.

“This whole town reminds me of you.” I walk towards the bike, but stop to talk as I reapply my riding set. “Follow me to the house. Rome’s already talked to Saige, and she is expecting you.” I kick my leg over, and I am about to start it when I hear his voice again.

“You look hot as shit riding that bike.” He looks like the old…or well, the younger Toby. The one I remember. I smile at him and rev it up.

“I am hot, Tobias West. Always have been.” I move forward, and he gets the hint, jumping in his truck. I pull up beside the window, and he rolls it down. “You are actually gonna have to stop, too! You can’t just talk to her as you drive by.”  His face falls, and I almost feel bad for saying it…
ALMOST
. I hit the gas and gun it all the way home.

I pull into the yard and hop off as Toby pulls up on the street right in front of the house. “I went by the trailer park, and you weren’t there,” he states as he gets out. I walk over, smiling.

“Nope, been here since before we brought her home. Rome would never have let me raise her there.” He shakes his head like he understands. Toby can’t deny where Rome triumphed and he failed.

“Sounds like I owe him a lot. He took care of my girls.” I stop dead I my tracks.

“I am not your girl. Saige is, but she is his girl, too, and you need to remember that.” He scowls, but when I raise my eyebrows at him, about to say something else, he smiles and starts to walk. I open the door. “We’re here!. . .Hellooo!” I hear the pitter-patter of tiny toes coming my way.

“Mommy, you took forever,” she squeals as she jumps into my arms, wrapping herself around me. I laugh and hug her tight. I peek up at Toby, and he is smiling like a fat kid who just got free roam over the candy buffet. “Daddy said you were bringing my dad to see me,” she says as she looks up and locks eyes with Toby. “Hi! I know you. Are you my dad?” I put her down, and she steps towards him. He bends down to her level.

“Yep, that’s me. Dad.” He smiles up at me with tears in his eyes. She hugs him, but only briefly before she is running from him, screaming, “Daddy, he’s here! My Dad is here!” He laughs a strangled laugh.

“She calls Rome ‘Daddy?’” I nod my head.

“She has for a few years. The kids at daycare have Daddies, and she picked it up from them. I’ve told her about you, Toby; that is why she is so open about the concept. She knew who you were. We’ve never lied to her.” We both look up when Rome walks into the kitchen holding Saige’s hand. I giggle when I see what they are wearing. Rome has a shirt that says, “I’m With the Short Chick,” and Saige’s says, “The Tall Guy Is My Daddy,” with arrows pointing at each other. Shaking my head, I walk to him and go on my tiptoes to kiss his cheek but he isn’t going to have that. He takes his free hand, scoops me up, and rams his tongue deep in my throat. I return the kiss, but push back and give him a classic ‘OMG’ look. I can’t help but laugh at his territorial behavior, though. Saige lets go of his hand as he releases me.

“Can I talk to him?” she asks, pointing at Toby.

“Yes, sweet girl. Let’s get some snacks and go sit in the living room. Maybe you could show him your bedroom?” She jumps up and down, screaming in delight, as they take off toward her room while I fix drinks and grab chips. I even grab Toby a Capri Sun because I’m almost sure he still drinks them. “Pissing contest much?” I say without looking at Rome. I turn, my arms loaded with stuff, and he is smiling at me.

“Sorry. That obvious?” He asks sheepishly. I smile in return to show him I’m not mad.

“It would’ve been less obvious had you just peed on us.”

After a few hours of talking and listening to Saige go on and on about her stuff to Toby, we are all getting tired. We fill him in on her life and talk about visits, deciding to try to do it without the legal hassle. Toby’s a busy person, going pro and all, so he can’t do regular visit every other weekend. His job will place him states away during the season. We’ll kind of be working it out as we go. He will be here all summer and will take that time to get to know her.

“Can I help put her to bed?” Toby asks, and the next thing I know, Toby and Rome are heading off to put her to bed together. Maybe this sharing will not be so bad. Toby knows he messed up; there’s no way around it. He messed up by driving off all those years ago and never listening to me. I never cheated, and now he realizes that, I think. I get all the cups and chips put up and start loading the dishwasher as they come in talking. I laugh because when I open the dishwasher, I pull out the cutest little Disney panties.

“Looks like Saige wanted to do her own laundry!” The guys burst out laughing while Rome gets them each a beer. “If it weren’t so late, I’d call Clay and Ashley to come over and play cards.” We both notice Toby’s face at the same time. Rome reaches his hand out to steady him.

“Man, you’re white as a ghost. You OK?” Rome asks. Toby takes a seat.

“Yeah, I’m OK
. I just need to deal with Ashley now. I was so desperate to get to Saige, I forgot about talking with her.” I sit down beside him and place my hand on his knee. He looks up at me sadly.

“Toby, she’s OK
. And she knows you never knew anything. She doesn’t hate you either.” He starts blinking rapidly.

“Wait…you know? Both of you?” We both nod to confirm it. “GOD! My parents are something else! No, I swear it; I never knew. I mean, she told me, but I didn’t believe her. Then when I asked her about it later, she said it was wrong. I believed her and went on. I am so stupid.” I hug him. I can’t help myself. He’s hurting, and we’ve all had our share of hurt.

“You aren’t stupid, Toby. Your parents are just mean, weirdly overprotective, and vindictive. You aren’t, and you are righting their wrongs now. It’s all going to be OK.”

Life is well…life. Toby’s been around and has actually been a blessing. He helps with Saige, but never pushes anything.  They seem to have hit it off, too. I always knew they would, had he just been given the chance.

Mando is finally home. She about busted face when she realized she was a few days late on the whole
chaos
! In true Mando form, she adds flair and fakes it like she was there. My heart is whole. She, too, is done with school. I missed her graduation because, well…it was across the country and someone had to run The Diner while her parents were gone.

It’s open mic night again, and I smile as I sit around the booth looking at my family. We now take up the two biggest half-circle booths here. “I’m up! You sure you don’t want to do it with me?” Rome asks. I plant myself solidly in the booth. “No, I’m good. You rehearsed it alone anyway. I just want to enjoy it from here.” He stands, walks to the makeshift stage, and grabs his guitar. He is so at ease, and so beautiful. I love him so much.

“Hi, Everyone! You all know me, so I’m just gonna get down to business. This song is for my girls.” He throws a quick glance over at our table. Then he looks down, his fingers working over the strings. The room fills with a beautiful tune, and his voice is the icing on the cake. I could die a happy girl right now. Everyone in the booth is either listening to him sing or huddled close together chatting. Regardless of their actions, they are all smiling and happy.

I look around, smiling. It seems to be all I do these days. “I cannot believe we’re here,” I laugh.

“You say that every time we come. It’s been three years now, Rory. SHUT UP!” I cut my eyes at Mando and stick my tongue out at her.

“It’s just so…I don’t know…lavish!” I say all properly.

“It’s just a skybox, bitch, not the White House.” Lord, she’s cranky today. Maybe I should leave her alone.
NAH!

“Mando, Clay will never pop the question if you don’t stop being so mean!” She throws her head back and laughter fills the entire room.

“He won’t ask because he can’t afford the rock I want!” She is so matter-of-fact that I almost believe her, but I know she wouldn’t care about the ring. Just him. I also happen to know he has
THE RING
in his pocket. I hear the kids coming in, and I look over my shoulder at them as they come running through the door. Rio and Denver have grown into handsome young boys, standing almost as tall as Rome now at eleven & fifteen years old. They are good boys.
They were raised right!
I smile to myself.

“Hey, Mrs. Tate, you doing OK
?” Rome kisses my ear, and I smile.

“Yes, Mr. Tate, I am fine. Could we go back to Princess? I know you love saying it, but I actually miss hearing Princess.” He grins ear to ear.

“Of course, Princess Tate,” he says and walks off.

“Hey, where are you going?” I ask as he heads to the door again.

“Nowhere. Just holding the door open so Ashley can hustle those two bad boys of theirs in here. They are a handful. Toby needs to hire them a nanny.” He’s right. Ashley needs serious help with those two; they are wild. And with her being three months pregnant again, she’s just too tired to deal with them.

“Where’s Thax?” I ask as I see the twins round the corner. It’s weird. They look so much like Toby that, minus the eyes, they are spitting images of Saige. I look around, making sure I haven’t missed Thax sitting somewhere.

“Princess, stop worrying. He had to finish his paper. He can’t play this week if he doesn’t get it turned in. He isn’t going to miss Toby’s first game of the year. He’ll be here; just wait.”

I still cannot believe my baby brother is playing college football this year. I settle into my chair and try to get comfortable, which is impossible with my belly being the size of a freaking beach ball. Just one more month and I will be free to tuck my legs under my non-pregnant ass! I hear the announcer and look down at the field. The guys are all huddled along the side. Toby steps out a little. He is very handsome in his red and black jersey. He waves up, and Saige goes ballistic.

“That is my dad! Hey, Dad! Hey, up here!” He sees her somehow and smiles. The door opens again, and Thax walks in. Turning back around to watch the game, my cell rings, and I reach for it. I groan when I see The Diner 2 is calling.

“I’ll deal with it babe; just watch the game.” I smile as I hand Mando the phone.

“Thanks.” It’s nice when she’s in town. I love running my own restaurant. I love knowing the Riazes trusted me enough to open it so we could be closer to Toby. Saige was so attached to him by the end of their first summer together; I knew we could never stay states away. The offer to open one in Atlanta and have Rome and I run it was a great opportunity, though Rome isn’t really the restaurant type. He started his own garage once we were settled, and Clay moved here to help him out. Everything has gone wonderfully, and the only time Saige doesn’t get to see her dad is when he plays on the road. He has taken her with him a few times, though.

Before we know it, the game is over, and Saige is gone. I would look for her, but I already know where she is. I look down and, sure enough, she is wrapped in her dad’s arms screaming. Her face lights up on the big screen and so does the locket hanging around her neck. It’s the locket Toby gave me years ago. Now, it holds a picture of her and Toby on one side and a picture of her and Rome on the other. She loves them both equally. I couldn’t ask for more in this life.  A girl’s confidence is a direct reflection of the attitude of the guy in her life, and Saige is the happiest, most content seven-year-old girl ever. She knows she is the star in both of her fathers’ eyes.

Toby was my best mistake. But he was the road that led me home. Who knew when he plowed me over all those years ago in the hallway, it would land me right here? Not just taking up space, but residing in Rome. This is my life. I am home.

Did I mention? If you want to know more about Zac’s life, he gets visitation on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Can we say…
“Don’t drop the soap
?”

Remember when you stop searching, hunting, and digging for love, you FALL in love.

The End!