Nessie

"I think I'm in trouble, guys," I suck in air through my teeth as I scroll through a bunch of text messages from Jake and two calls that I missed.

When we arrived at the nail salon it was packed. I guess we weren't the only ones showing up for a fresh manicure the day before NYE. I texted Jacob to let him know that we had about an hour wait before they'd take us. He said that it was cool and to let him know when I was heading back.

Once we were finished with our nails we weren't ready to return to the chaos back at the chalet with all the kids so we went to the lodge for drinks and nachos.

I scroll through the messages.

Jacob: how's it going?
Jacob: hey, how much longer?
Jacob: hey, I can't find Sarah's bag
Jacob: are you coming back?
Jacob: I need help here!
Jacob: hello?
Jacob: ?
Jacob: ?
Missed call: Jacob Black
Missed call: Jacob Black

Leah looks down at my phone, "damn, tell Jake to chill. Can't you have a drink with the girls in peace?"

I smile and shake my head, "I guess not. Excuse me," I tell Leah. I grab my wine and get up from our table and walk over to one of the leather chairs by the windows that overlook the mountains and call Jacob.

He picks up on the first ring, "how the hell long does it take to paint you fucking nails?" Jacob snaps at me.

"Excuse me?" I blink.

Jacob takes a deep breath, "I'm sorry," he apologises, "I can't find Sarah's bag. She spit-up all over her outfit. It's not in our room. I checked the SUV. I checked the hallway. I checked to see if Rach took it by mistake… it's not here."

I bite my lips and try to remember where I saw it last, "fuck," I sigh, "I know exactly where it is," I groan. "I put it down on the floor of the garage when I took AJ back inside to use the bathroom."

In true AJ fashion, he waited until he was all strapped into his car seat to inform me he had to use the bathroom. He claimed it was an emergency so I tossed Sarah's bag on the garage floor and ran him inside… His definition of an emergency needs to be adjusted.

"Oh no. Ness…" he sighs.

"I'm sorry," I reply, "I didn't do it on purpose."

"What do you suggest we do?" he asks, "she has diapers and a snowsuit."

"The chalet has a washer/dryer, did you wash the outfit she spit up on?" I ask, taking a sip of wine.

"It's in the dryer," he replies and lets out a long exasperated sigh.

"Okay, you seem to be really stressed out over some clothing. Yes, I screwed up but it's fine. We'll buy her a few new things for the week. Is something else wrong?"

"... No, everything is fine," he says.

I don't believe him. Something is definitely up. He was so cheerful this morning and now he's snapping. It reminds me of when we took Sarah to the ER two weeks ago for that UTI. He was fine on the way there and then something changed and he was all grumpy for the rest of the night.

"Okay…" I don't push it, "once Sarah's outfit is dry, change her into it and bring her to the lodge and we'll get her some new things from the village."

"You're at the lodge?" he asks, his voice is flat.

I clench my jaw. His tone get's to me.

"The girls wanted drinks and food. What is it? Am I not allowed to have an afternoon out or something?" I ask, my calmness is wearing thin. I glance over at the table of girls who are drinking and chatting apart from Leah who is looking in my direction with concern on her face.

"I just like to know where you are, Ness," he replies.

"Why don't you just chip me with a GPS? That way you'll always know my coordinates," I grumble.

"Are we fighting right now?" he asks.

"Text me when you get here," I hang up.

I head back to the table.

"Guess who forgot their daughter's luggage back home and now has to buy a week's worth of new clothing?" I announce to the table and as I sit down. I stuff my mouth with a couple of nacho chips.

"At least you didn't forget a whole child," Rachel mumbles, with a straw in her mouth from her gin and tonic.

"You have five kids, Rach," Winnie replies, "we forgive you."

Rachel and Paul were backing out of the drive this morning when Rachel noticed that her second oldest, Gracie, was not in the van.

"I need a vacation," I mumble, finishing off my glass of wine.

"We're on vacation, hun," Leah laughs.

"I need a childless vacation," I clarify.

Leah, Bijou, Winnie, Rachel and Emily collectively sigh at the idea and then laugh. Claire looked around at us, confused. She'll understand someday.

"Don't you have someone to watch the kids for an evening or something so you and Jake can just hang out?" Bijou asks.

I stare at her, "no… not really. Billy isn't mobile enough to take care of the kids. My family are all in Scotland right now. Charlie is on duty most nights and I'm not going to just throw the kids at Sue."

Leah presses her lips together. Sue usually takes care of baby Harry during the day and picks up Sophia in the afternoon to watch before Leah and Roger get off work. She's way too busy to take my kids.

"So you don't get any breaks? None at all?" Emily asks.

"No… I guess not," I shrug.

"But then how do you… uh, I mean, how do you, um… Find time to... you know?" Winnie asks.

I suspect she's asking me how our sex life is. I'd be lying if I said it was robust these days.

"I should hurry up and get a second drink before Jacob gets here," I say, dodging the question. I don't see a waiter anywhere nearby. "You know what, I'll just go to the bar."

I walk over to the bar and sit down, relieved to get away from that conversation. I order a glass of chilled dry white wine and place my phone on the bar so I can see when Jacob texts when he gets here.

I knew I was forgetting something. It's so hard sometimes… If I had packed the SUV last night, like I was planning to, we'd be fine. But AJ needed help with his puzzle and then Sarah needed a bath. Jacob wanted to change the tires on the SUV so I had to do the whole bedtime routine by myself. And because he was going to be driving for 7hrs, Jake went to bed early as soon as he was done with the tires. But the kitchen was a mess and I couldn't just leave dirty pots and pans to grow mold while we're at the chalet so I cleaned the kitchen. The next thing I knew it was 11:30 PM, so I just went to bed. I hardly got any sleep and before I knew it, it was 4:00 AM and I was trying to get two sleepy kids ready for the road while packing the SUV and making sure the house was all locked up and secure.

I really wish we would have waited until next year to do this trip. The kids are such a handful at this age.

I am almost finished with my white wine when I see Jacob come into the dining area with Sarah. I glance down at my phone. He was supposed to text when he got here. He comes over to me.

"Hey… your nails look nice," he says softly, looking down at my glittery taupe nails, "I'm sorry for how I was on the phone," he says, apologising for snapping at me.

"I thought you were going to text me when you got here," I exhale and start to dig through my wallet for my credit card to pay for my drink. I'm not really in the mood to accept his apology. I just want to buy Sarah her clothing and go back to the chalet.

"Leah called. Said to come inside," Jacob swallows. His expression is strained, observing my aloofness toward his apology.

"Hey!" Leah quickly makes her way over to us.

"What's going on?" I look to Leah and hand my credit card to the bartender.

"So… first of all… Gimme this one," she says, taking Sarah from Jacob and props the baby up on her hip. "The girls and I were chatting and we have all decided that you two need a break. So we pooled some cash together and got you a suite here at the lodge," she says handing a key card to Jacob.

"What? Why?" Jacob looks confused, holding onto the white card hanging off of a silver keychain shaped like a mountain.

"Because you need it," Leah says, "so… give me your car keys," Leah says taking the keys to the SUV from Jake's hand, "we'll take Sarah to grab some new clothing and then watch her and AJ for the night so that you two can have some time to yourselves."

"This really isn't necessary," I look to Leah and then to Jacob whose face has turned desperate.

"Nessie, don't be a hero," Jake replies, pocketing the key card and then hugs Leah, "thank you."

Leah chuckles and hugs him with one arm, holding Sarah up on the other, "now, we've only covered the suite for the night. Your check-out time is tomorrow before noon. If y'all want room service you need to leave your credit card with the front desk."

"Save the receipts for Sarah's new clothing," I tell Leah.

Leah grins and then motions to the girls. "Come on, ladies. Let's go!" Leah starts to leave with the girls who are all giving me little grins.

I feel my cheeks become warm.

"Have fun… but like sexy-time fun not baby-making fun cause I think y'all got your hands full already," Leah winks as she backs away with the crowd of girls.

"Hell of a wing man you got there," I compliment Jake. Leah's going to all sorts of trouble to help Jacob get some.

"Yeah…"