I laughed as I followed Justin and Brayden into the
huge Halloween store Justin had drug us too after
listening to him and Brayden excitedly discuss
different costume ideas all morning. The boys ran
in front of me and I shook my head as I took off in
a jog to catch up with them. Finally catching up to
them I giggled watching them “Justin I think you’re
more excited than Brayden.”I giggled. Justin slowly
turned to glare at me with an evil grin on his face
and I started to slowly back up. Justin was quicker
however and caught me around the waist and
started to tickle me as I started to laugh and
Brayden watched us giggling. “Justin stop!”I yelled
in between laughter squirming in his arms trying to
break free. Finally Justin stopped tickling me but
refused to let me out of his grip, and I couldn’t help
but smile listening to Justin and Brayden’s laughter.
Justin leaned down and placed a soft kiss on my
lips before saying “So? I happen to like Halloween.”
I just laughed as I pulled away from him and went
to search through some of the costumes with
Brayden.Brayden found a ninja costume that he was
really excited about, and although Justin didn’t out
rule it right away he did insist that Brayden keep
looking until he found one he was 100% sure
about. I just laughed as I followed them around
watching their enthusiasm. Granted Halloween was
probably my favorite holiday, but I did not see any
sense in me getting dressed up for the occasion.
“Come on Abs I’m telling you, you have to find a
costume or you’re not allowed coming to our
party.”Justin teased as he continued to browse
through racks and racks of costumes. “Yeah
momma.”Brayden piped still clutching his ninja
costume, but also now holding a batman one as
well. “We’ll see.”I sighed not really having any
intention of getting a costume, and then I suddenly
came upon a yellow gown that was the exact replica
of the dress Belle wore in the end of Beauty and the
Beast and immediately fell in love with it. I studied
it in awe for a minute thinking it over. I would have
to get a brunette wig, but I mean it was Halloween
so why not? By the time I was done marveling at
the dress and thinking it over Justin and Brayden
had made their way all the way down the aisle.
“Justin, would you be opposed to dressing up as a
couple?”I asked as I approached them dress in
hand. “Nah, that could be cool. What’d you have in
mind? Something like Adam and Eve, Tarzan and
Jane?”Justin asked wiggling his eyebrows at me.
“No.”I laughed as I held up the dress “how about
Belle and the Beast?”I asked looking up at him.
“Well it definitely involves more clothes than I
thought….”Justin started stopping when he saw the
look I was giving him. “Do I really have to dress up
as a hairy monster?”Justin whined. “I mean not if
you don’t want to, but I think it’s romantic and I
LOVE this dress.”I said admiring it again. “Well I
mean I guess if you really want to.”Justin said as I
just grinned at him. I went to show Justin the
costume they had for the beast and realized that
they had a whole set of different costumes from the
movie. As Justin was looking at his costume I
happened to stumble across a little Chip costume
and immediately got an idea. “Hey Brayden, How
would you like to dress up with mommy and daddy
and be Chip?”I asked holding up the teacup outfit
for him to see. “Oh NO way! My son is NOT dressing
up like a teacup!”Justin exclaimed looking at me
like I was crazy. “What’s wrong with it? I think it’d
be cute.”I said turning to look at him. “Cute? Oh
yeah real cute. The boy’s going to look like a
fruitcake!”Justin exclaimed as I giggled. “Jus, he’s
four it’s okay for him to dress up like a teacup. Plus
I think it’d be cute if we all dress up together like a
family.”I said my voice trailing off at the end. “I…
Well…Okay, BUT only if he wants to.”Justin said
instantly agreeing. I looked at Brayden waiting on
approval and he just shrugged and said “Sure.” as I
smiled. It was amazing how easy this boy was to
get along with at times. Justin just shook his head
as he grabbed all three of our costumes and we
made our way to the front of the store to pay for
them. We paid for the costumes and made
our way back to the car at a much slower pace than
we had when we entered the store. Justin strapped
Brayden into his car seat before getting into the
driver’s seat and saying “So I was thinking I would
take you guys out to dinner? I mean if you don’t
have anything else to do.”Justin quickly added
turning to look at me. “I would love that.”I smiled
at him as he just grinned back. Things were
definitely starting to fall into place with Justin. I
never dreamed in a million years that I would be
here with him acting like a family, but I definitely
was not going to complain about it. Brayden adored
him and it was obvious that Justin had instantly fell
in love with Brayden as soon as he met him. I
smiled as I listened to them bicker back and forth
about where to go for dinner happy that there was
finally some normalcy in my life. This is the way
things were supposed to be and I couldn’t be
happier. We pulled into the restaurant and I looked
back to see Brayden with his arms folded across his
chest pouting because we weren’t eating at
McDonalds and I couldn’t help but laugh. “Come on
and stop pouting or you’ll go to bed as soon as we
get home.”I said getting Brayden out of the car and
setting him on the ground. “Fine.”He grumbled as
he started to slowly walk toward the entrance.
Out of nowhere Justin ran up and picked
Brayden up spinning him around and making him
giggle uncontrollably and complete forget why he
was pouting in the first place. I smiled at how easily
Justin got along with Brayden. Most guys our age
had no clue how to act around little kids, let alone
be so at ease after finding out that they had a four
year old. Maybe things were meant to work out with
us after all. I just grinned at Justin as he walked
over carrying Brayden in one arm and wrapping the
other around me as we entered the restaurant.