Brooke closed the door and set her keys down on the end table by the door. She walked to the living room and pressed the PLAY button on the answering machine.
"You have two new messages." The machine spoke. "Message one…"
A woman's voice spoke on the recorder, "Hey Brooke, it's Jenna. I just wanted to let you know that I need to take my vacation time early for the next few days because my husband's surgery was rescheduled for this week. but I talked to Sara and she has no problem covering for me, if you don't mind. Okay, well that's all. Call me when you get this, thanks."
The machine beeped and Brooke continued listening while she sorted through mail.
"Message Two, Sunday, 1:15 p.m."
When a familiar male voice began to speak on the machine, Brooke stopped looking through bills and smiled and sat down to listen better.
"Hey Brooke, it's Mouth. I wanted to call and tell you I had a great time talking to you at the reunion. And I would really love to talk and hang out again soon. So I thought maybe we could get together this weekend, even bring the kids along, maybe. Well, I guess that's it. So, um, if you could give me a call and let me know, that would be great. Thanks."
The machine beeped twice and after a minute of silence, Brooke pulled her cell phone from her purse and searched through her Contacts list. When she came to Mouth McFadden, she pressed send and put the cell on her ear. She anxiously waited for someone on the other end to say hello. After nearly four rings, Mouth finally picked up.
"Hello?" He answered and Brooke stood up, feeling full of adrenaline and complete excitement.
"Hey Mouth." She said. "It's Brooke."
"Oh hey Brooke." Mouth suddenly sounded just as excited as Brooke. "How are you?"
"Oh I'm good. How about you?"
"I'm great. So I take it you got my message?"
"I did. So you said you'd like to get the kids together?"
"Yeah, I had so much fun last night but we really didn't get to hang out very long. And I would really like to get together and talk some more."
"So would I." Brooke said, a smile growing wider on her face.
"Great. The only thing is, I'll have to bring Noelle along since I haven't had time to hire a new babysitter for her since I moved back. so I thought maybe you could bring Lilly and the girls can play while we talk."
"That sounds great to me."
"Awesome. How does Saturday afternoon at the park sound to you?"
"Works for me."
"Okay, then I guess Noelle and I will see you and Lilly at Hillside Acres around 1:00?"
"Alright. We'll see you then."
"Bye, Brooke."
"Bye." Brooke said before she clicked off the phone. She smiled as she made her way across the hallway to the kitchen to start dinner. But before she could look for a meal idea, the doorbell rang. She wandered back into the hall to open the door.
"Hi, Mommy!" Lilly said, waving as she and Keith entered the house.
"Hey guys." Brooke said. "Did you have fun?"
"Yeah." Lilly replied. "I'm going to take my stuff to my room, Mom."
"Hold on," Brooke said and Lilly stopped, "is there something you want to tell grandpa Keith?"
Lilly smiled and said, "Thanks gramps!"
"Anytime, Lil"
Lilly continued running to her bedroom.
"So do you want some coffee or something?" Brooke offered.
"Oh, no thanks. I've got to get home. Karen invited Whitey over to dinner and I really want to see him."
"Oh, of course. Tell him I said hello?"
"Sure." Keith replied as he exited out onto the porch. "I'll see you."
Jake entered the living room just as Peyton arrived home with Jenny and Emma. He smiled when he saw his family and Jenny looked over at him and smiled too.
"Dad!" She said in a surprised tone of voice and Peyton noticed Jake.
"Hey," Peyton said with a smile, "You're home. I thought you didn't get off until, well, like now."
"Well the boss let the whole crew off early today." Jake replied as he hugged his eldest daughter before kissing Peyton's lips. "I just got home about an hour ago."
Jake saw Emma reaching for him and took her from Peyton's arms and kissed her head.
Jenny sniffed the air and asked, "Oooh, what's that good smell Dad?"
"Spaghetti and meatballs." Jake replied confidently.
"Cool." Jenny said. "I'm going to put all my stuff in my room before we eat."
She left the living room and walked down the hall to the only bedroom on the left hand side. As Jake placed Emma on the floor, Peyton said, "What's going on with you?"
Jake stood up and replied, "What do you mean?"
Peyton smiled and responded, "What do I mean? You're home early…you cooked dinner…it's not very like you. Did you all of a sudden decide to become all domestic and Mr. Mom on me or do you have something else up your sleeve?"
Jake smiled and said, "Can't a loving husband and father just make dinner for his family, whom he'd do anything for, without any questions asked?"
Peyton thought for a second then answered, "Oh, I guess he could this time considering how exhausted his very pregnant wife is."
They kissed for a minute and when they were finished, Jake said, "Wow, that was amazing. And you were sort of right…there is something I want to tell you."
"What?"
"Yeah, what?" Jenny asked as she reentered the room.
Jake waited a moment before saying, "I am now officially the new Head Crew Manager for Tyler Construction."
Peyton and Jenny both smiled and Jenny said excitedly, "That's so great Dad!"
She hugged him before kneeling down in front of her baby sister, who was turning the pages in a colorful children's book. Peyton wrapped her arms around her husband's neck.
"Congratualtions." She said. "I'm so proud of you."
"We're proud of you too, Dad." Jenny said before looking at Emma and saying, "Tell him, Emma. Say good job, Dadda."
Emma looked away from her sister and up at her parents. She smiled, clapped her hands together and said, "Yay, Da-da!"
Everyone chuckled then Peyton looked at Jake and asked, "So does this mean you will be home more?"
"Definitely. I promise." Jake answered as he threw his arm around his wife. "Now let's eat. I'm starving."
Jenny slowly lifted her sister from the ground and Jake and Peyton followed their girls to the kitchen.
"I must say Karen," Whitey Durham announced as Karen removed his plate from the table. "That was the best home cooked meal I've had in a long time."
"Thank you, Whitey." Karen replied, placing her and Keith's dinner plates in the sink along with that of her guest's. "I am glad you enjoyed it. Are you up for some dessert?"
"Oh no thanks. I've got to watch my blood sugar."
"How about some coffee?" Keith suggested.
"Sure, why not?"
Keith pulled three mugs out of the cupboard over the sink and began pouring coffee from the pot while Karen sat back down at the kitchen table across from Whitey.
"So how long do you plan on staying in town?" Karen asked.
"Oh, just a few more days." Whitey replied as Keith set a full, steamy mug in front of him and one in front of Karen. "Thanks. I've got to get back down to Florida to pack my things."
Karen and Keith both gave confused looks and Whitey explained further.
"I've forgotten how much I love Tree Hill. The people, and the weather are always nice. I don't even see why I retired further down south when it is so much nicer here. When I retired from coaching, I thought there wasn't much reason to stay. But this little visit up here has shown me reason to come back."
He paused and Keith asked, "What's that?"
"All of you." Whitey stated with a smile. "Everyone I've ever know really well live in Tree Hill and you all have been great friends. And Camilla too. she loved this wonderful town and I don't know how I could've ever left her alone here."
Karen smiled and said, "Well, it will certainly be wonderful to have you back around here."
Haley entered her home to find two of her boys together in the family room. Andrew was playing with action figures on the floor while James colored at the blue Fisher Price play table.
"Mommy!" Both bouys shouted in unison when they saw Haley. Haley smiled and knelt down as Andrew and James came running up to hug her.
"Hey guys." She said happily as she hugged them back.
"Where have you been Mom?" Andrew wondered as he pulled out of the hug.
"I had some things to do. But I sure did miss you guys."
"We missed you too, Momma." James said with a smile.
Still smiling, Haley asked, "Where's your dad?"
"In the kitchen." Andrew answered, walking back over to his action figures.
Haley noticed her husband enter the living room from the kitchen with Cooper in his arms and a toddler cup. Then she spoke to hersons again.
"Hey guys, it's almost bed time, so how about you go get changed into your pajamas and brush your teeth."
"Okay, Momma." James agreed before running down the hall to his bedroom.
"Mom, how come I have to go to bed at the same time as James all the time." Andrew asked picking his toys up from the floor.
"Because you need your rest." Haley replied.
"Not as much as James needs."
"Andrew, honey, please just do what I said."
"But—"
"Andrew," Nathan interrupted as he walked closer to Haley. "Don't argue with your mom. Do what she said and get ready for bed."
Andrew sulked down the hall to the bedroom he shared with James. Haley smiled at Nathan and said, "Thanks. So is this little guys ready for bed too?"
"Yes he is." Nathan replied. "I was just on my way to put him down."
"I'll come with you." Haley said before she followed Nathan down to the bedroom across from the older boys' and next to Nathan and Haley's.
"Good night, buddy." Nathan said as he layed his two and a half year old in the light brown wooden crib.
Haley moved the blue blanket up over her son and kissed his head. She smiled at Nathan before they both left the bedroom. They tucked James and Andrew into bed and said goodnight before heading back to the living room.
"So how was your doctor's appointment?" Nathan asked when they were both seated on the couch.
"Fine." Haley replied. "She said I just need some rest. I'm actually feeling better."
"Are you sure?" Nathan sounded concerned. "You look like you're still not feeling well. Or is something else bothering you?"
Haley thought about the baby. She remembered what her doctor had told her and what she herself had explained to Peyton, Brooke and Deb. Haley wanted Nathan to know about the baby and she wanted to tell him. Even now, as he stared so worriedly at her and was so concerned about her, she wanted to tell the man she loved that she was pregnant with his baby again.
But she was still afraid, not necessarily of what Nathan thought anymore, but more of what she thought. She needed more time to work through her thoughts and her fears and figure out why she was afraid and why she couldn't seem to bring herself to tell him. But she was ready to try and be closer to Nathan again. She needed to be closer to him again and reassure him of how much she truly loved him.
"Haley, what's wroing?" Nathan asked when he noticed the tears that had built up in her eyes.
Haley wiped them away and said, "I'm sorry Nathan."
"Sorry about what?"
"I'm sorry I haven't been sharing with you and telling you how much I love you. Because I do love you, Nathan. I love you so much."
"I know you do, Hales. I love you too. I just thought you were upset at me because of what I said about having another baby."
"No, that's not it. I'm sorry I let you think that."
"Then what is it? I know something has been seriously bothering you that you haven't or won't talk to me about. I want you to tell me, Haley. I want to help you and make you feel better. I'm your husband Haley, you can trust me."
"I know I can, Nathan, and I do trust you. It's just…I think I'm just sort of lost right now. I have all these feelings I need to work through before I can talk to you about them."
"Well, I want you to feel better, Haley, but maybe if you told me what is wrong I can help you feel better again now."
"You're right." Haley said after a moment of quiet. "But I need to some time to work through it on my own first. But I promise I'll be able to talk to you about it soon."
Nathan nodded his head and said, "Okay. You take whatever time you need. And whenever you are ready to talk about it, I'll be waiting. I'd wait for you forever, Haley."
Haley smiled with tears and said, "I love you, Nathan."
In almost tears, Nathan replied, "I love you too, Haley. Always."
Haley kissed Nathan's lips and he kissed her back. they held their kiss a full minute before pulling each other into a hug and holding the hug an even longer time.
