“Aria doesn’t need to deal with you even though we share a kid. My relationship with her has nothing to do with you.”
“We have a child together, so it kinda does,” she snaps, and I jerk my fingers through my hair. “So like I said, I’ll see you at your parents’ at six.”
“No, you won’t.”
“All right, then I’ll pick Olivia up at the scheduled time.”
“Right.”
“At three, which is the time we agreed we’d trade off when our weeks are up.”
“What the fuck?”
“Or you could just agree with me spending the evening with you guys.”
Feeling stuck and pissed the fuck off, I bite out, “All right, we’ll see you at my parents’, but I’m not dealing with any bullshit. If you even think about starting drama, I’m calling it a night and dealing with you in front of the judge.”
“Sounds good.” She hangs up, and I tighten my hand around my phone, tempted to either crush it or throw it against the wall. Since I might need the money it would cost to replace it for my lawyer, I shove it in my pocket, then spend a good five minutes trying to calm down before I go back to the kitchen to finish breakfast. After we eat and Olivia heads to her room to play and pack up her stuff, I break the news to Aria about tonight. Like she always is she’s more concerned about me and Olivia than Anna showing up and because of her easy acceptance of the situation I relax. That doesn’t mean I’m not still annoyed
________________
“About ready?” Aria asks, and I turn to face her, pretty sure I shouldn’t be turned on by her dressed like Elsa from Frozen. But fuck, she looks beautiful with her hair braided back away from her face, her makeup making her eyes brighter, and the satin baby blue dress showing off her curves, with high heel beige boots on her feet.
“You look beautiful, baby.” I straighten the thick red belt around my waist, and her eyes roam over the hat on my head with the large pompom, the fur-lined tunic stretched across my chest, down to my pants that are tucked into my boots covered with the overlay that came with the costume.
“Well, I’m oddly turned on right now,” she says, and I laugh while I close the distance between us and nip her bottom lip. When she gasps, I tip my head to the side and take the kiss deeper, sliding my tongue between her lips and listening to her whimper.
“I don’t think it would be good if my sister caught us making out.” She drags her mouth from mine, panting, and I laugh again.
“You’re probably right,” I agree as she releases my shirt that is fisted between her fingers, smoothing out the wrinkles she created.
“Is everyone about ready to head out?” I ask, shutting the door as she walks to the mirror to lean over the sink and check her reflection.
“Just about. Gia was getting Gino dressed when your mom took Olivia downstairs to wait for Anna, and I came in here to check on you.”
“You worried about Anna coming with us?” I wrap my arms around her from behind, unable to keep my hands to myself, especially with the way the dress she’s wearing is molding to her ass.
“A little.” Her gaze meets mine in the mirror. “I just don’t want Olivia’s night ruined.”
“Olivia will hopefully be too distracted by all the candy she’s getting to even notice Anna is with us.” I slide my hand up the outside of her thigh, then grab her ass, and she spins around to face me, placing her palms against my chest.
“Tide.” The warning in her tone makes me grin, and I pull her dress up and cup her over her panties before sliding the silky material to the side.
“Yeah, baby?”
“Olivia… your parents…” she whispers as her eyes go over my shoulder to the closed door before locking with mine once more.
“You better be quiet,” I whisper back, cover her mouth with mine, and drink down her whimpers as she comes around my fingers. It takes a few minutes for her to get herself together after her orgasm, and me to talk my hard on down, but it’s worth the pain seeing her more relaxed. By the time we get downstairs Gia, who has dressed up like Olaf, is putting Gino in his stroller she’s fastened antlers to that go with his Sven costume. And Olivia, dressed like Anna, is high off sugar and bouncing off the walls, ready to go out and get as much candy as she can, even though she’s eaten more today than she does in a month.
When the doorbell rings, Mom goes to answer it, taking her bowl of candy bars with her, but it’s not trick-or-treaters. It’s Anna, dressed in a costume similar to the one Aria is wearing, only hers ends at midthigh and is showing off most of her chest. “Anna,” my mom says, then her eyes widen when Anna steps inside to give her a hug, something she’s never done in the past.
“The house looks great, Jolene.”
“Thanks.” Mom sends me a look, and all I can do is shake my head at the ridiculousness.
“Well, this should be fun,” Gia mumbles to Aria as Olivia comes around the corner with my dad and stops in her tracks.
“Why are you dressed like Elsa?” She asks her mom then looks at Aria. “Aria is supposed to be Elsa.”
“This was the only costume they had at the store,” Anna says, smoothing her hands down her dress.
“That must be why it’s a kid’s size,” my dad mutters under his breath, and Gia laughs while I reach for Aria’s hand.
“You should have dressed as one of the trolls. Now our costumes don’t even make sense.” Olivia looks at me and Aria. “Now we don’t make sense.”
“It’s okay, sweetheart. I think it’s awesome there are now two Elsa’s,” Aria says quietly, then asks, “Are you ready to go get all the candy?”
“I guess.” She drops her eyes to the ground before wandering over to her orange bucket and picking it up.
“Aren’t you going to give me a hug? I haven’t seen you in a week,” Anna says when Olivia walks toward the door, and she veers in her direction and wraps her arms around her quickly before looking at me and Aria over her shoulder.
“Ready?”
“Yeah, angel,” I say as Aria grabs a blue cloak that matches her dress and wraps it around her shoulders, putting the hood on over her head.
“Before you guys take off, I want to get a few pictures.” My mom opens the door for us, and I help Gia outside with Gino’s stroller while Aria puts Olivia’s cloak on her. Thankfully, the weather tonight is warm for the end of October, so the kids should be good while we’re out, unlike last year, when we had to end the night early because the temp had dropped into the forties by six. Once we are on the porch, Mom snaps a few photos, which I’m sure will never end up in one of her photo albums. Not with Anna attempting to push herself between Aria and me, and Olivia becoming more and more frustrated with her mom’s behavior.
Like, Aria tends to do, she takes the whole situation in stride, her focus on Olivia, whose mood has drastically deteriorated since her mom showed up. And although Anna has noticed, she hasn’t done anything about it—or doesn’t know what to do. I’m sure she assumed she would come over, and Olivia would see her parents in the same space and want them together, but my girl is smart. She knows Anna and I are not a couple; plus, she likes Aria. And with Halloween being our day, she wanted tonight to be just like she pictured it, so now that it’s not, she’s acting out, and I don’t blame her.