At Sunday morning breakfast my thoughts are scattered! My brain is fried, and Jonny is literally spoon-feeding me oatmeal with fruit while I’m holding my head praying for the pain to go away. “What’s wrong with her?”, says Spin when he sees me. “Onset of a panic attack”, he says as he holds the spoon out to me. I shake my head no, but he doesn’t relent. “Amory!”, he eventually snaps at me, causing me to finally open my mouth. “Swallow it, Amory”. “That would be sexy if it wasn’t oatmeal”, says Gabe from the doorway of the kitchen, causing both Spin and Jonny to shift uncomfortably in their seats as I laugh. “Haha, G”, I say, easing the tension while Jonny uses the opportunity to spoon another lump of oatmeal into my mouth. Gabe laughs at my scowl before he says, “so who am I riding with”? “If you don’t come on your bike, you’ll be stuck in Brooklyn until the weekend unless you take the train back upstate”, Spin tells him. “I’d prefer everyone
I woke up on Sunday morning stressed out already, and walked into the kitchen to Loyalty sitting on the kitchen table with Jonny on a chair in front of her. Her elbows are on her knees as she holds her forehead, and her bare feet rest on his thighs. Jonny is holding a spoon full of oatmeal mixed with what I think is diced peaches up to her mouth. “What’s wrong with her?” I asked him. “Onset of a panic attack”, he says without taking his eyes off her and pushes the spoon closer to her mouth. She shakes her head no, like a stubborn child until he barks out, “Amory”! She opens her mouth and he shovels it in, but clearly, she just holds it there in her mouth. “Swallow it, Amory”. “That would be sexy if it wasn’t oatmeal”, says Gabe from the doorway of the kitchen, making Loyalty laugh. “Haha, G”, she says. But as she turns her opened mouth back to look at Jonny, he’s ready and spoons more oatmeal into her mouth. Gabe now laughs at the annoyed look on her fa
There is a rather awkward situation going on in my apartment when I wake up. Jonny is at the kitchen table with my daughter, while Spencer and Gabe snore loudly from the couch. “Why are they on the couch?” I ask quietly as I tiptoe by them. “Because Mike and Meme are in Gabby’s room, while Brenda and Danny are in Spin’s”, he tells me. I thought over his words for a moment, “so where did Gabby sleep last night?” I asked. “With me”, he says nonchalantly. “Jonny, you should have just brought her to my bed”, I told him. He shrugs, “then I would have climbed in too and I doubt that would have gone over well with your house guests”! “It’s not like it would have been the first time”, I say without thinking the thought through, even though it’s true. Stephany has climbed into my bed when I was asleep in it with Jonny, and we’ve all slept in his room together at Nina’s. “And yet the first time you were ever okay with her seeing us kiss was at the fair”
I wake up to the most beautiful sound, my wife’s laughter. “What’s so funny?” I ask her as I jump up from the couch I’m asleep on. “Jonny is threatening to force feed me oatmeal again”, she says, making me inwardly groan. But then the side of my stomach aches and I wince. “You okay, Spence”? “Yeah! Stomach ache, that’s all”, I tell her and head off to the bathroom to get ready but my stomach rips out through my esophagus and is released into the toilet out the wrong end. I rinse my mouth and face in the sink before walking back out. “You sure you’re okay, Spin?” Loyalty asks, sounding genuinely concerned. I shrugged it off and headed into my guest bedroom to wake Bren and Dan so we could head back upstate for work. When I came back out, everyone was sitting around the table with Stephany sitting between Jonny and Loyalty. I interrupted everyone to kiss them goodbye and headed out ahead of everyone. As I continue to ride my bike, the pain in my side only
We all spend the next two weeks upstate as Spin recovers from his surgery. I’m actually thankful that he insisted on putting the pool in this year, since Meme and Brenda spend almost every waking moment in it with Stephany. Spin acts like a pouty child when told he cannot work for the next two weeks, but it gives us the time we need to go over his contract and find a decent insurance plan to cover everyone on the Hart’s enterprise payroll. The construction on the colonial was done in ten days, while Jonny helped me paint the rooms of the lake house to reflect their future occupants. Then we headed over to the lake house to repeat the process and set up everyone’s furniture. Jonny literally spends every waking moment by my side, and I honestly have never felt more loved by a person… Even more than at the highest point of my and Spin’s relationship! We talk about everything and anything as we paint and set up everyone’s rooms! Courtney and Melanie decide that they’ll ea
I’m released from the hospital after the second day, but my physical limitations are felt as I lean on Loyalty like a crutch to simply walk from the car to the couch. Of course, she takes it in stride as she becomes my caretaker. However, she still sleeps upstairs, and I see on the cameras that Jonny climbs into her bed in the middle of the night almost every night. He always just cuddles around her, but still! On most days we all just hang out back during the day, with Meme and Brenda tending to Stephany in the pool so Loyalty can stay focused on the business documents she’s working on while tending to me at the same time. She sits across from me at the table with Jonny next to her as she goes through every single document, one by one, and enters the last ten years of financial data into a program on the new laptop that Gabe ordered for her in pink. I didn’t even know Apple made pink laptops until hers showed up! I have no idea how she stays so focused as she enters
Waking up in Jonny’s bed was interesting… I heard an unfamiliar female’s voice calling him, and as the bedroom door opened the covers were being pulled up over my head. “Lo siento mucho, no pensé que estabas aquí cuando no respondiste. Volveré más tarde”, (I’m so sorry, I didn’t think you were here when you didn’t answer. I’ll come back later) she says. “Está bien, Tia, solo comienza en una habitación diferente”, (It’s fine Tia, just started in a different room), Jonny says so quickly I couldn't even translate what he said, raspy with sleep evident in his tone as he sits up letting the sheet slip from my head. The girl startles when she sees me, and looks from me to the picture on Jonny’s dresser and back at me again. “Amory, this is my housekeeper Tia! Tia, mi novia, Amory” (Tia, my girlfriend Amory). “I thought Amory was your boss?”, she questions casually. “I’m that too”, I answered. “Why? What was it he said… Novia, what’s novia?” (girlfriend) I asked n
I woke early, to a deathly quiet apartment lacking in the now familiar smell of fresh brewing coffee. It hits me like a ton of bricks that both Jonny and Loyalty are not here, because they’re at his apartment, alone together. Even though it’s four blocks away, it might as well be miles away! I brew my own coffee, which summons Meme from Loyalty’s room where she slept last night. “Morning”, she chimes to me happily. I can’t blame her for her giddiness, she’s heading back upstate today and will spend her weekend with Mikey, who she hasn’t seen all week! “Morning Mems, do me a favor? Text me when Loyalty gets in”, I asked her as she started fixing herself a cup of coffee. She nods her head, “yeah! Sure thing Spin! I’m sure they’ll be here soon. You know Jonny can’t sleep once the sun is up, and we’re supposed to stop by his mother’s before we head back upstate. That woman is obsessed with Lala apparently, so I wouldn’t be surprised if she’s already texting and calli