“I’ll take a rain check for tonight,” I say to the empty room as I quickly shower. I put on a pair of jeans before grabbing a white T-shirt. I slip my sneakers on before grabbing my phone and heading downstairs to the kitchen. I see her wiping down the counter, and she looks up at me. “I made you a coffee to go.” She points over to the thermal cup at the corner of the counter. I walk over to her, turning her to face me before I lean down and kiss her lips. “Thank you,” I say softly.
“You are very welcome,” she replies, putting her hands on my hips. “I’m ready to go when you are.”
“Lead the way,” I say, knowing she is in for the surprise of her life in about forty minutes.
I drive her over to her house, and she quickly changes out of her outfit from last night before turning to me. “What should I wear?”
“Casual,” I tell her, and she nods. Turning back to her closet, she comes back out a couple of minutes later wearing high-waisted, blue-and-white striped shorts, with the sash tied in a bow and a white short-sleeved T-shirt. She slips on her leather flip-flops before walking over to the bathroom, taking her hair out and combing it.
“Ready?” I ask her when she comes back out of the bathroom. She nods and slides her hand in mine as we return to the car to get Avery. She is sitting on the steps with Sofia and Matty.
We get out of the car and can hear Avery clapping her hands. “Momma!” she screams, running down the steps toward Addison, who holds her arms out and picks her up.
“Hi,” she says, leaning forward and kissing her neck. “How are you?”
“I had breakfast in bed,” she says, and Addison looks at Matty and Sofia.
“Your mother-in-law informed her this is what princesses do,” Matty deadpans. “It was fun for everyone,” he says sarcastically.
“Thank you so much,” Addison says. “We really have to have a chat about this royalty thing.”
“Stone called Ryleigh princess once,” Matty remembers, laughing, “she stuck her heel in his toe.”
I nod, laughing at the memory. “Thank God it was off-season.” Then I turn to Avery. “Guess what?” I bend down and kiss her. “I have a surprise for you and Mom.”
“A surprise?” she says with a squeal. “Bye, Aunt Sofia and Uncle Matty.” She princess waves her hand at them.
“We’ve been dismissed,” Matty says, looking at Sofia. “That hurts.”
“I’ll kiss it and make it better,” Sofia soothes.
“Eww.” I cover Avery’s ears. “There is a child.”
“Oh, please.” Sofia gets up. “Have fun with the surprise.” She winks at Addison, who looks at me.
“They know what the surprise is?” she asks me as I move her away from them and toward the car.
“You’ll know soon enough,” I tell her as she puts Avery in her car seat.
“For the record, I hate surprises,” she declares, huffing and walking away from my kiss. “Like hate-hate.” She opens the passenger door.
“Noted,” I tell her right before she gets into the car and slams the door. I laugh and look up toward the sky. “Please let her not freak out.”
I start the car and make my way over to the private airport in the industrial part of town. I pull into the parking lot before turning off the car. “Let’s go,” I urge, getting out of the car before she asks me questions. The chain-link fence shows a hangar with two planes outside. One plane has the stairs down with a rug.
“Where are we?” Addison asks as she looks around.
I get Avery out of her seat. “Look, an airplane.” She points at the plane as I walk around the car and slide my hand into Addison’s.
“What are we doing here?” Addison asks again, her teeth clenched this time as we walk toward the chain-link fence.
“It’s a surprise,” I tell her, holding her hand even tighter when I feel her slip away.
We walk over to the glass door, and I pull it open and step in. The long desk faces us, with the woman standing up and smiling. “Mr. and Mrs. Dimitris?” she questions, and I nod. “Right this way,”
she says, turning and walking out of the side door onto the tarmac.
Once we walk outside and head closer to the plane, I look at them. “Surprise,” I say nervously.
“Is that a plane?” Addison asks me, her face filled with shock. “Is this a private plane?” She continues to look at me and then back to the plane. “Are we taking this plane?”