"Paul," Stephanie sat on the edge of the couch with her hand on Paul's leg, "its time for you to wake up, your mom made plans this weekend, for all of us."
He squinted his eyes at her, noticing she was fully dressed holding Madison in her lap, "what do you mean she made plans? What are we doing? I thought she was going to Laurie's for the night."
"Actually, we're all going with Laurie to her boyfriend's parent's vacation home," she smiled and squeezed his thigh, "trust me, I tried to say I didn't feel like going, or that you probably didn't want to go, but your mom, she…"
"I know, you can't tell her no," he rubbed his eyes and sat up, "you look like you're all ready to leave, where are you going?"
"Well its already noon, and we're leaving for the house in like two hours." She pulled her hand away, blushing, "I packed a bag of clothes for you, but you might want to go and see what's in there."
"Two hours?" He got up and stretched, "where's my mom? Did she ask why I was sleeping on the couch?"
"Yeah, but she said she heard me slam the bedroom door, she just figured we had an argument or something. But she's in the shower right now, go look at your bag and make sure I packed it right."
"Okay," he went to his room and was greeted by his mom coming out of the hallway bathroom, "oh, hey mom, Stephanie just told me what's going on this weekend. Where's this house?"
"You haven't met Laurie's new man yet. His name is Kevin, he invited her and all of us to come stay at his parent's vacation home in El Segundo. They haven't been dating that long but I've met him, he's really sweet, and his parents are loaded, almost like us." She laughed and went to her bedroom.
"So we're going to El Segundo?" He rolled his eyes, "where does he live in El Segundo?"
"Right on the beach, like you. It's supposed to be pretty hot out there so bring a bathing suit. Laurie's kids can't wait to go swimming."
"Paul, did you check your bag yet?" Stephanie stood next to him, knowing Paul didn't really like surprises, and this was two surprises at once, "come on Paul, this is gonna be fun," she pushed him towards his room and closed the door, "don't act all upset."
"I'm not acting upset, I just don't get why I have to go stay at someone's house to go to the beach when I have the beach as my backyard."
She unzipped his bag and sat next to it, "its three days, if we end up not liking it we'll come back home. But I don't think that's what's bothering you, I think it's the other surprise."
"What other surprise?" He pretended he was fine as he rummaged through the neatly packed bag, unfolding almost everything, "I don't like any surprises."
"I know, and Laurie's new boyfriend is a surprise. That's what you're upset about." She started to fold everything in his bag again, "just go take a shower and I'll have everything else ready. Laurie is going to stop by on her way down to El Segundo to pick up your mom, so it'll just be you and me and Madison driving down there."
He looked at her and smiled, "alright, maybe you're right, it could be fun. I'll just suck it up and go, so I can meet this guy."
"Good," she waited for him to close the bathroom door, then she turned around to play with Madison.
"Stephanie, is he alright?" Leona opened the door, "he sounded like he was upset about having to go stay at the house with everyone."
"Yeah, he doesn't like sudden changes in plans so he got kinda irritated, but he's fine now, I told him I would take care of everything and he's okay now."
"Oh okay, I just wanted to make sure, I know how he feels about some of the guys Laurie dates, some of them turned out to be real jerks, but I like Kevin so far, he's great to her and the kids."
Stephanie nodded, "well that's good, don't worry about Paul, he's just been a little stressed out recently." She bit her lip when she heard the shower turn back off.
Leona blushed and came closer, "you know what's good to relieve stress, you know all that lingerie I got you as your wedding present? Just put it on one random night after he's had a stressed out day and see what happens."
"Well I haven't worn any of it yet," she paused to come up with an excuse, "because Madison's been in our room, and it seems like every noise she hears in the middle of the night makes her wake up."
"I can't wait until Maddy's just a little older and she can come stay at Grandma's house." Leona tickled Madison, making her giggle uncontrollably.
Paul stood on the other side of the bathroom door, listening to his mom talk. He sighed and opened the door with a smile on his face, "what? Were you talking about me?"
"Maybe a little," Leona smiled, seeing the way Paul was looking at Stephanie, "you two need some alone time, maybe when we take the kids to the beach we'll have you guys stay at the house for a little while."
"Mom," Paul cleared his throat, "when is Laurie coming to get you?" He went back to the bathroom, "Stephanie, where's my hairbrush?"
"I put it in your bag already, you can use one of mine in there," she nervously was waiting for Leona to leave, but it didn't seem like she was going any time soon.
"Laurie should be here within the next couple minutes. We could take Madison with us if you want, Laurie would be more than happy."
"No, its fine, she can drive with us. Laurie has all her kids to handle." They sat in silence until the doorbell rang, "that must be Laurie," Stephanie picked Madison up and followed Leona to the door.
Laurie and all four kids were standing at the door, "hi mom, Stephanie, hello Madison," she reached out for Maddy, "are you ready mom? Kevin wants to go grocery shopping before everyone gets there."
"Yeah, I have my bags packed, you want me to go put them in the van?" Leona turned to get her bags but Paul was behind her.
"I'll get them for you, hi Laurie," he smiled and took all the bags to the front door, "hey kids, how are you guys?" He was answered with blank, tires stares.
Samantha followed him outside, "Uncle Paul, can I ride with you and Stephanie if you have room?"
"Sure, that's fine with me, why don't you want to ride with your mom?" He opened the trunk of Laurie's minivan and stuffed his mom's bags inside, "so who's this new boyfriend of your mom's?"
"Kevin? You haven't met him yet? They've been dating for hecka long, before you and Stephanie got married they were together. He's really nice to her, and us."
"Does your dad know?" He closed the door and slowly started walking towards his house, "I had no idea she had a boyfriend, nobody told me anything."
Sam nodded, "aren't you guys close though? I'm surprised she didn't tell you," she opened the front door and walked inside, "you'll like Kevin, he's cool."
Paul pulled into the driveway next to his sister's van and took his glasses off, "alright, we're here, let's go in and meet Kevin," he sarcastically yelled and opened his door, "the one thing I want to know is how are we all gonna sleep in this house?"
"We'll figure it out, just don't be an asshole," Stephanie started to get Madison out, waiting for Samantha to close her door, "if you need to go smoke something to keep yourself from being a jerk, go do it."
He turned around and glared at her, "shut up," he slammed the truck door and started to get their stuff out of the back, "don't go there Stephanie, just don't."
"I was kidding, jeez," she grabbed her purse and Madison's diaper bag, "maybe you need to, you're being a dick." She closed her door and followed Samantha to the front steps, "Paul, I'll help you with the stuff, let's just meet up with everyone first."
"Alright," he put one of his arms around her and knocked, then an older gray-haired man opened the door, "oh, dad, hi, I didn't know you were gonna be here."
"Yeah I just got here, I thought I'd hang out with the rest of the family this weekend," he gave his son a hug and smiled at Sam and Stephanie, "hey girls, come on in, say hi to everyone."
Stephanie turned red when she got inside, having extended family who loved to see her made her feel happy, she didn't get that growing up with just her mother and eventually step-family, "hello again Laurie, Leona," before she could say anything, Laurie snatched Madison from her arms and started to play with her, "she's excited to see her auntie again," she smiled at Paul, who had his nephew Trevor in a headlock.
"Hi, Paul, I'm Kevin, we haven't met yet I know," Kevin held his hand out to Laurie's brother, who shook it, smiling, "Laurie and the kids talk about you all the time, they call you their favorite uncle."
"Their favorite huh?" Paul chuckled, "well yeah, I'd have to agree with them, I'm Paul, as you already know, and this is my wife Stephanie and her daughter Madison, well our daughter Madison," he wiped his forehead and gave Stephanie a slightly distressed look.
"Paul and I are gonna get our bags out of the truck, we'll be right back," she pushed Paul out the door, "our daughter? I can't believe you said our daughter," she smiled, "its okay though."
"I didn't think then was the time to explain your whole life story to someone we barely know, so I skipped all the confusion and just said our daughter, even though she's not ours, she's just yours," he gave Stephanie all the light stuff, "where are we even putting all this stuff?"
"I don't know," she smiled, "you know, your mom did tell me to talk you into adopting her, so she can call someone her daddy," she waited for a response, looking into the front window of the house, "they're watching us out here, through the window."
"I know, they've been watching us the entire five minutes we've been here," he closed the back of the truck and leaned closer, "do you want me to adopt Madison?"
She turned her head away from him, "I don't know, I guess so, just so she could call someone dad and it actually meant something. I'm worried about the fact that she'll probably call you daddy, but when she gets older and we," she looked around and leaned towards his ear, "get divorced, she'll be all confused and I hate explaining emotional stuff like that."
He nodded, "I'm surprised she hasn't called me daddy yet, with how much my mom and Laurie talk to her, she's been yelling and screaming, but not talking yet."
"I know, it's coming soon, once they start talking, they don't stop until they're older. I'm just excited for when she can walk, that's what I'm looking forward to." She started to roll her bag up the driveway, "wanna talk about this later? You know, the whole 'adopting' thing?"
"Sure," he followed her to the front door and opened it, "I wouldn't have any problem doing it for you if you want, I would do it for her," he smiled and she could hear in his voice the love he had for Madison, and that he would probably do anything for her.