Rachel and Jackson were sitting at the island eating breakfast. Nick was going to be here at any minute to pick them up. I was not looking forward to seeing him. After the fight we had yesterday, I didn’t want to look at him.

“What are we going to do at daddy’s?” Rachel asked her brother. He shrugged his shoulders and continued to eat his cereal.

I heard the door open. It must be Nick. “Good morning Rachel. Good morning Jacks.” He placed kisses on their head. He looked at my, but I looked away.

“I’ll be back in a minute. Don’t leave until I say goodbye.” I quickly walked out of the kitchen. Nick stared at his wife’s sexy body. He missed touching her.

“Rachel and Jackson, go get your backpacks. I need to talk to your dad.” Kevin walked in the room. The kids scurried out of the room, leaving the men to talk.

“What’s up Kevin?” Nick didn’t look pleased having to talk to Kevin. This wasn’t going to be a pleasant conversation.

“I’m not going to beat around the bush. If I ever see you grabbing my sister like you did, I will personally kick your ass.”

“I didn’t mean to grab her like that. I just wanted her to come inside with me. You know how she gets.” He would never hurt Ashton physically. His anger had gotten the best of him yesterday. He certainly wasn’t proud of that moment.

“I know Ashton can have a temper, but yours is just as bad. I think you should stay away from here as much as possible and get your head on straight. If you don’t love her, stop putting her through misery. Divorce her and let her move on with her life. If you love her, then you need to get yourself together and work it out. Just stop messing with her heart.”

“Don’t you think I’m hurting, too? This isn’t just about Ashton. It’s about our marriage. I never thought this would happen. I expected to grow old with her.”

“From what I see…it’s all about you. You’re being selfish because you aren’t thinking about the vows you took on your wedding day. Instead of working on your marriage, you move out and stop communicating with your wife. Nick, you always take the easy way out. Grow up before you lose everything. Kevin walked out.

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“Daddy will you play babies with me?” Rachel smiled at her dad.

“Sure Pookie.” He tickled her side and she giggled.

“Oh, Daddy you are so silly. Here is your baby. Her name is Muffy.” She handed Nick a rag doll with bright pink hair. “Her diaper is dirty, and you need to change it.”

Rachel went to her bag and got Nick a diaper for the doll. “Eww…baby Muffy you stink. What did your mommy feed you?”  Nick spoke to the doll as he changed her diaper.

Rachel burst into a fit of giggles. She thought it was funny to see her dad talking to her doll. Jackson sat on the couch rolling his eyes at his sister and dad.

“Daddy, Muffy is hungry. Here’s her bottle.” She placed the bottle in his hand. He started feeding the baby.

“Dad you look stupid playing with a doll. That’s for girls.” Jackson sat on the couch playing DS.

“Muffy fell asleep, Rachey. You better put her to bed.” He gave his daughter the doll and scooted over to his son.

“What are you playing?”

“101 Shark Pets.” Jackson continued to play as he talked to his dad. Nick watched his son enter his shark in a talent show. He was enjoying spending time with his kids. They were so full of life. He missed tucking them in at night. He missed eating breakfast with them. His missed not being with them every day.

“What do you want for lunch?”

“Pizza” both kids said at the same time.

“Ok. Let me get the phone.”

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“Nia you look beautiful in that dress. Kevin would drool seeing you in that.” Patty exclaimed at her sister-in-law.

I walked out of the dressing room wearing a dark green knee length spaghetti strapped sundress. “Oh, my! You look stunning. You have to get that dress.”

“Thank you.” I twirled around. “Where would I wear it?”

“Who cares where? You look so hot. That would make Nick come crawling back to you.” I rolled my eyes at Stephanie.

“I’m done pleasing Nick. He doesn’t care about what he’s missing. I’m not going to play his game. If he doesn’t want me…it’s his loss.” I said confidently.

“You go girl!” Nia screamed loudly in the store. All of us women started laughing.

I went back into the dressing room and changed my clothes. I thought about what I told the girls. Could I really beat Nick at this game? If he didn’t want me, I wasn’t going to mope around anymore. That was easier said than done. At least with everyone visiting, I didn’t have time to worry about Nick Carter. I could focus on enjoying my family.

I paid for my dress and we decided to go eat lunch.

“Stephanie, when is Jer going to pop the question?”

“Soon I hope. I think it will be soon. He keeps hinting about it.”

“Aww…you too are so cute together. We can’t wait for you to be a Richardson.” I hugged her.

We continued talking about kids, our men, and weddings. For the first time in a long while I enjoyed myself.