I was practically bouncing with excitement once we reached my house. I missed the kids so much, I couldn’t wait to hug and kiss them. As soon as I opened the door I heard “MAMA!” and saw Cameron sprinting from his bedroom, right toward me. I bent down to pick him up. “Hi baby! I missed you so much! Were you good for Granna?” I asked him, hugging him tightly.. “Yep I was. Brian! Mom, Brian is here!” he said, reaching behind me for Brian, who laughed and grabbed my excited son. “Mom?” I called out, walking further into the house in search for Madelyn. “We’re in here baby.” she called from Madi’s room. “I was just changing her diaper. She has a full belly, and a clean diaper. She’s ready to see her mama.” my mom said, smiling at me. I walked over to the changing table and looked down at my daughter. “Hello gorgeous.” I said sweetly. Once Madi realized who was talking to her, she lit up with a grin and immediately started cooing. I waited until my mom had put her pants back on, and I scooped her into my arms. “Oh I missed you baby girl, were you a good girl?” I asked, kissing all over her face. “They were both good, did you have a good time last night?” my mom asked, sitting down in the rocking chair. “I had an amazing time. It was so much fun, thanks for watching them mom.” “You’re welcome. Did Brian ask you the other question? The one about living with him?” she inquired. “How did you know he was going to ask me?” I asked, a little shocked. “He asked my opinion, how do you think I knew about it? He asked me yesterday before he went to wait on you. He asked if I thought it would be okay if you moved in with him, because he didn’t want you and the kids to be alone in this house when he’s got plenty of room for the four of you. I told him I thought it was a fantastic idea, but if he hurt you I would hunt him down. He quickly understood.” she grinned, “he really loves you baby, and I can tell you love him. Let him in, I think he’s a keeper. Oh, I have to go check on dinner.” she quickly kissed my cheek and walked out of the room. I sat down in the rocking chair, thinking about what my mom had said. I can’t believe he asked her opinion first. That makes me love him even more, that he cares what my family thinks. I got up out of the chair and walked into the living room when I heard the doorbell ring, signaling the arrival of our family.

Once everyone had arrived, we were all scattered throughout my living room eating, since the table in my dining room wasn’t big enough for everyone. My mom seemed to love everyone, but I think her favorite was Jimmy, of course. “So, next time Brook comes to Georgia you’re all coming right?” she asked with a smirk. “I’d love to show ya’ll our home, and where Brook grew up.” “You can count me in Cathy, as long as you’re cooking.” Johnny said, earning a smack from Lacey. “We’ll be there Mrs. Cathy,” Matt said, “We don’t get to see much of Georgia while we come to town for shows, so it will be a nice change of pace.” “And besides, we’ll get to see awesome pictures of B from when she was a little kid.” Zack said with a wicked smirk plastered on his face. “Oh jeeze.” I said, hiding my face with my hands, “I forgot all about pictures. Oh well. I was an awesome kid.” I shrugged. We finished our dinner, and the guys were all outside smoking, while the girls, mom, and I were all in the living room with the kids, I was sitting in the floor coloring with Cameron. “So guys, I have to tell you something.” I started, getting their attention. “Brian and I talked about a few things last night, and the kids and I are going to be moving into his place.” I looked up from my coloring and all the girls, other than Leana and my mom, had their mouths wide open. “WHAT?! REALLY?” Gena screeched, jumping up from the couch to come hug me. “That’s awesome! We’re practically going to be neighbors!” “Jeeze. I only needed one ear drum anyway.” I said sarcastically. “Oh shut up.” she said, smacking my arm. “So when are you moving in?” Lacey asked. “We’ll all come help you guys move stuff, and take care of the kids. It’ll be fun!” Val spoke up from her spot on the love seat, grinning widely. “Oh I can’t believe it, I didn’t think he had the balls to actually ask.” “Why does everyone keep saying that?!” Brian whined, walking inside with the guys. “Well Bri, you’re kind of a chicken shit.” Zack said, patting slapping his back. “Bad word!” Cam yelled, pointing at Zack. “Yeah Uncle Zack, you said a bad word.” Johnny said, chuckling. I laughed and turned back to the girls, trying to answer Lacey’s original question. “We’re going to be moving some time next week. We bought paint and Brian insisted on buying the kids new bedroom sets, so we picked those out today too. The guys are going to paint the rooms while I’m here packing all my crap.” I sighed looking around. “If you girls want to come help you’re more than welcome to.” “That’s a great idea! We could bring wine and snacks and have a packing party!” Leana said excitedly. “And I’ll be here for at least another week, so I can help out too babe.” mom spoke up. “You girls. You’ll use anything as an excuse to have a party and drink wine.” Jimmy said, shaking his head. “Oh right, like you guys aren’t going to get beer and pizza and have a painting party?” I asked with a raised eyebrow. “Oh yeah. You have a point.” Jimmy said, scratching the back of his head. The crew stuck around for a few more hours, talking to my mom and playing with the kids. Once everyone left I put Cameron and Madelyn to bed and mom called it a night early, saying that she was exhausted from cooking. Brian and I were cuddled on the couch, watching Gone in 60 Seconds, because it was one of my favorite movies. “You staying tonight babe?” I asked, tilting my head up to look at him. “Nah, I’m gonna go home tonight, Pinkly needs to be fed and she needs to go out. I should probably head home and do that. The guys are coming over tomorrow so we can get those rooms cleaned out and start painting.” He said, kissing the side of my head. “Okay, I want to paint the bathroom myself. I’ll see if the girls want to go on a shopping trip so I can buy the rest of the things we need.” I said, standing up to walk him to the door. He kissed me passionately, told me goodnight, and headed out the door.

I cleaned up the kitchen and loaded the dishwasher, humming softly to myself. I was moving in with Brian, which means I had to clean my house top to bottom, and pack up all my things. I made sure all the doors were locked and turned out all the lights, walking back to my room. I decided to take a nice long bubble bath so I could relax. I filled up my tub, using my lavender bubble bath so I would sleep good. I lit a few candles that were sitting around and stripped down. I stepped into the tub, sitting my phone on the shelf next to it. I laid back and relaxed, closing my eyes and breathing deeply. This move to California was probably the best decision I’ve ever made. I’m a million times happier and healthier. I decided to send the girls a text to ask if they wanted to go shopping tomorrow. Val quickly responded and said “Of course I want to go! I can’t wait to help you pick out things for your love nest with Bri :]” I chuckled, shaking my head when I felt my phone vibrate a few more times, a text from each of the other girls saying of course they would be there. I laid in the water until it turned cold and got out. I toweled off and threw on a pair of underwear and a tshirt, crawled in my bed and fell fast asleep excited about tomorrow’s shopping trip.