The Family Man

“Are you sure?” I asked as Juliet was pushing me out the door.
“We’re sure, you and Ashley need some alone time.” She said.
Quite unexpectedly, Andy and Juliet had shown up around 4:30pm, saying that they would watch the kids tonight. They had made reservations for us at a nice restaurant and we had to go. It was now 6:30pm and we were being forced to leave.
“Yeah, we’ve got things covered here.” Andy said.
“Besides, this will be good practice.” Juliet whispered to me.
I smiled. “All right, but I want our children asleep by the time we get back.”
“Come on Belle.” Ashley said. “Let’s go before they change their minds.” He took my hand and started leading me to the car.
“Bye kids! See you later!” I yelled to Samantha and Jack.
“Bye Mommy! Bye Daddy!” They called together.

We arrived at a very nice restaurant and headed in. Ashley told them that we had a reservation and they led us straight to a small table near a window. There was dim lighting and candles.
“Well, this sure is nice.” I said.
Ashley chuckled. “Yeah, it was great of Andy and Juliet to offer to watch the kids tonight.”
“I think Juliet just wants a chance to be alone with them, get used to looking after kids.” I grinned.
“That makes sense.” He said.
“When was the last time we went out to dinner alone?” I asked. “I can’t remember.”
“I think it was sometime in the spring, April maybe?” He guessed.
The waiter came and took our order. I told him what I wanted and settled back and relaxed. I was going to enjoy this as much as possible.

Juliet’s POV:

“Aunt Juliet?” I looked down to see Samantha standing in front of me.
“Yes, Samantha?”
“Can you come draw with me?” She asked.
“Sure, let me just tell Uncle Andy to start on dinner.” I walked into the kitchen to see Jack lying on top of Andy. I couldn’t help it; I started to laugh. “What happened here?”
“We were wrestling, Uncle Andy lost.” Jack said proudly.
“Wrestling, huh?” I raised my eyebrow at Andy.
He mouthed. ‘No, I let him push me to the floor.’
“Andy, can you go start on the spaghetti?” I asked.
“Sure.” He got up and started getting the stove ready.
“Jack, do you want to join Samantha and me? We’re drawing in the living room.”
“Sure.” He said, following me.
When we got there he pulled out some paper and started drawing a car. I looked over to see what Samantha was drawing. She was drawing people with instruments.
“Who are they Samantha?” I asked.
She looked at me like I had just asked the dumbest question ever. “It’s Daddy, Uncle Andy, Uncle CC, Uncle Jake and Uncle Jinxx.” She said.
Now that I looked more closely, I could see it. They were all wearing black and she had already started on Ashley’s bass.
“Can I help?” I asked.
She thought for a moment. “Okay, you draw the drums, they’re harder.”
I picked up a marker and started to draw a drum kit next to CC. Samantha finished up Ashley’s bass and moved on to Jake’s guitar.
“I wanna be like Daddy when I grow up.” Samantha said out of the blue.
“Really?” I asked.
“Yup, he’s gonna teach me to play bass and everything.” She said.
I smiled, that was sweet. I looked over to see that Jack had just finished up what looked like a vintage muscle car.
“Dinner!” Andy yelled from the kitchen.
“Come on, who wants spaghetti?” I asked, getting up off the floor.
“Me!” They both shouted.

We had just finished dinner and sent Samantha and Jack upstairs to get ready for bed. Andy told them he would be up to put them to bed when we were done cleaning up the kitchen.
“Did you know Samantha wants to be like Ashley when she grows up?” I asked.
“No, but that’s nice. Good to know the creative genes are rubbing off somewhere.” Andy said.
“Yeah. Hey, I got the last of this, why don’t you go up and make sure they’re ready for bed?”
“Sure.” He put down the dishes he was carrying and headed upstairs.

Andy’s POV:

I walked into the twins’ room to see them both sitting on their beds in their pajamas, waiting patiently.
“So, have we gone to the washroom and brushed our teeth?” I asked them.
“Yes!” They said together.
“Okay, let’s tuck you in then.” I went over to Jack’s bed first and tucked him under the covers. Then I went over to Samantha’s bed and did the same to her. “So, what do we want, a bedtime story? How do you guys usually fall asleep?”
“Daddy usually sings to us.” Samantha said.
That was interesting. “What does he usually sing?” I asked.
“Saviour.” Jack said.
I smiled. “All right then.”

I finished up Saviour and looked at the two of them, fast asleep. I quietly left the room and turned out the light. I went downstairs to find Juliet sitting in the living room waiting for me. Then I heard the door opening.
“Hey guys, how was dinner?” Juliet asked as Ashley and Belle walked into the room.
“Great, it was so nice to be out on our own.” Ashley said.
“Yeah. How were the kids?” Belle asked.
“They were perfect. I just put them to bed.” I said.
“Well, we’ll be heading out then.” Juliet said.
“See you later.” Ashley said as we walked out the door.

Notes

Please comment.