Careless Mistake
by Kelli
Part 32
Mid November 2004...
Britney grabbed Mackenzie out of her car seat and shut the car door behind her with her hip. She pulled Mackenzie's hood over her head a little more to keep away the chill that was in the air and walked quickly to the front door.
"Brrrrr," she said, looking at Mackenzie. "You like this weather for some reason, don't you?" she asked her once they were inside their rented house in Virginia.
Mackenzie just smiled at her mom.
Britney walked into the family room and set Mackenzie down on the couch so she could unbuttoned her coat.
"Be a good girl while mommy gets the groceries okay?" she asked before putting her in the play pen.
Mackenzie got a little fussy but Britney hurried up and ran back outside to the car to get the bags as quickly as she could. When she came back inside, Mackenzie cried harder because she walked right past her.
"Hold on, honey," Britney said on her way to the kitchen.
She ran outside one more time and got the rest of the bags. Then the phone rang. She quickly picked it up and placed it between her shoulder and ear.
"Hello?" she answered over Mackenzie's crying.
"Hey....what's going on?" Justin asked in a concerned tone.
"Nothing, I'm putting groceries away and Mackenzie's not happy about that," she said as she quickly emptied the bags.
"Oh, I see. So, what did you do today?"
"Not much...shoe shopping and then grocery shopping. Are you on a break or something?" she asked, trying to figure out where she was going to put the olives.
"Yeah, Pharrell is doing some noises of some sort for a track...."
Britney laughed.
"But anyway, I should be home a little earlier tonight because he has a hot date."
"Ohhhhh sounds intriguing."
Justin laughed.
"Anyway you want me to pick up something on the way home?"
Britney stopped and looked at the mess on the kitchen counters.
"No, I feel like cooking."
Silence.
"Justin?"
"Are you sure?"
She put her hand on her hip. "Very funny....ha ha ha, my sides hurt from laughing so hard."
"Well you've tried this before, baby and it wasn't too successful.."
"Well if it ends up being that bad then we'll order pizza."
"Deal. I'll see you in a bit. Love you."
"I love you too."
She hung up and smiled. She loved saying that but even more loved hearing that from him.
"Okay....I wonder what I should make?" she asked herself.
She looked at the groceries that she hadn't put away yet. Before she did anything she needed to put Mackenzie down for a nap, she was getting cranky.
"Come here sweetie.....you need to take a nap, don't you?" she asked walking back into the family room.
She picked her up and carried her to her room. Since they were only going to be here about a month or so they didn't really decorate the bedrooms that much but this room was filled with bookshelves that were filled with stuffed animals. When Mackenzie realized what was going to happen she grabbed on to Britney's shirt and started crying harder.
"Oh come on baby," Britney said holding her tighter and kissing the top of her head as she rocked her back and forth.
She did this for a few minutes and Mackenzie started to rub her eyes and rest her head on Britney's shoulder and finally Britney was able to put her down without much fuss.
She made her way back into the kitchen and decided to make something with the chicken breasts she bought.
About an hour later she was stirring the green beans when she heard the front door open.
"Honey, I'm home," Justin chuckled as he walked to the kitchen.
Britney smiled and picked up a green bean to taste.
"Smells good," Justin said.
He stopped when he saw the sight in front of him. Britney had on a white t-shirt and her bare feet were sticking out from beneath the hem of the jeans that were dragging on the floor. Her hair was pulled back into a messy ponytail and she couldn't have looked more beautiful to him.
"Here, try one," she said, holding out a fork with a green bean on the end of it.
"Okay..."
He walked over to her and took the bite.
"Mmm, that's good. What kind of seasoning is on it?" he asked while he chewed.
She picked up the bottle of seasoning. "This," she said looking at it.
He chuckled and then leaned down to kiss her.
"Hi," he said.
"Hi," she smiled back at him.
"Where's Mackenzie?" he asked before kissing her again.
"Taking a nap." Her eyes were still closed from his kiss.
"How long has she been down?" he asked, moving his kisses to her neck.
She set the fork down and wrapped her arms around his back.
"I don't know.....an hour maybe?"
"How much longer on dinner?" he asked as he trailed kisses down to her collar bone.
"Fifteen minutes or so...."
"Good, that gives us just enough time," he smiled against her skin.
She chuckled and swatted his back.
"Hey....."
He pulled away. "I'm just kidding."
"You've been like this the last few days you've gotten home. What kind of songs are you recording?" she asked.
"Looooovveeee songs," he said wiggling his eyebrows up and down.
"Mooooooddddd songs, is what I think," she winked at him. "By the way, I'm thinking about dropping by with Mackenzie tomorrow. Is that okay?" she asked as she turned around to turn the heat down on the stove.
"Sure."
He kept his arms around her and rested his chin on her shoulder as he watched her pour the green beans into a serving bowl.
"What else did you make?"
"Chicken.....see, I used this recipe," she said, reaching over for the cookbook.
He glanced at it. "Looks good. I'm going to go wash up real quick. I'll take a peak at Mackenzie."
He kissed her cheek before leaving the room.
When Justin didn't come down after about twenty minutes Britney turned the stove and oven off and walked down the hallway to the bedrooms.
"Justin?"
She heard water running so she went to the bathroom to find Justin holding Mackenzie in the tub as he rinsed her off.
"What are you doing?" she asked.
"Go look at her room," he said screwing up his nose.
She walked to the baby's room and screwed up her nose when she saw what fun Mackenzie had playing with her dirty diaper, apparently.
"Awwww, Mackenzie," she said when she went back to the bathroom. "I'll clean that up while you finish with her," Britney said.
After that was all said and done with, a newly clean Justin and Mackenzie came into the kitchen.
"See mommy, now we smell all nice and clean," Justin said as he placed Mackenzie in her highchair.
Britney was just putting everything in serving dishes.
"Now that everything's cold," she joked, bringing them to the table.
"It smells good if that's any consolation," Justin said.
He got Mackenzie's sippy cup and handed it to her and then cut up a little bit of green beans and gave her a small pile of them.
Britney joined them at the table. She watched Justin before she took a bite.
He cut into the chicken and put a piece in his mouth. Slowly he chewed as Britney kept an eye on him.
"It's good," he said in a surprising tone. "A little dry because of the delay," he said nodding toward Mackenzie, "but it's got good flavor."
Britney smiled and breathed a sigh of relief and then proceeded to eat.
"Were you waiting for me to eat first?" he asked after he swallowed.
She gave a sheepish smile and nodded as she chewed. "Kinda. Wow, that is pretty good. Now try the rice."
Justin cut up a tiny piece of chicken and gave it to Mackenzie to eat.
"I have tried the rice...it's good too. You're getting the hang of this," he winked at her.
She smiled as she took a bite of the rice.
"This is good."
Justin chuckled and shook his head.
"So you went shoe shopping too? Did you find me any new shoes?" Justin asked.
"I bought you a pair. You might have them though, I can't keep up with your sneaker collection. I got Mackenzie a couple of really cute shoes."
After eating in silence for a few minutes Britney spoke up again. "I have to admit, this is fun...."
"What is?"
"This domestic thing. I like feeling like the housewife/mother."
Justin raised his eyebrows. "Does that mean you want to do this for awhile?"
She gave him a crooked smile. "I don't know....I don't think so. But it's fun for now."
He nodded.
"Why.....did you want me to do this for awhile?" she asked.
"No, I didn't mean it that way. I just didn't know if you were getting tired of the whole celebrity thing since becoming a mommy. It's like having two full time jobs."
Mackenzie threw her sippy cup down on the floor so Justin reached down and picked it up. When he didn't give it to her right away she started to slam her hands down on her tray.
"Eat what you have," Justin told her pointing to the small pile of food.
"I'm okay, Justin," Britney said in a sober tone.
"Did I upset you?" he asked.
Mackenzie continued to be loud.
"No.....well....I just never know what you want from me..."
He swallowed the bite that was in his mouth.
"I don't want anything from you. I just want you to be happy.....with me and Mackenzie."
She took a drink and nodded. Her eyes were on the glass in her hand.
"Sometimes I don't know what I want. I guess I want it all," she sighed.
He smiled at her even though she wasn't looking up at him.
"Of course you do....you're an over-achiever. Just put all of your cards on the table and then sort them out....prioritize them. You'll see what's most important to you and what you should devote more of your time to."
She looked up at him and stared at him.
"What?" he asked.
"You're so smart sometimes....."
He chuckled and placed his hand over his heart. "Only sometimes?"
She stood up and stood in front of him. He moved his chair back a little and she sat on his lap, wrapping her arms around his neck.
"Lots of the time," she said pulling him into a hug.
"Da da," Mackenzie said.
Britney pulled away from Justin and turned so that she could look at Mackenzie.
"Did she just say...." Britney started.
"I think she said da da," Justin said.
"Da da," Mackenzie repeated.
"Awwwww, she's talking. Justin, she's growing up so fast," Britney said as she reached over and unstrapped Mackenzie.
She pulled her out of the high chair and sat her on her lap.
"She'll be in college before we know it," he sighed.
She leaned back against his chest and pouted.
"I'm serious. Remember when she was so tiny, she fit in my arms perfectly. Now she's so big she is sprawled out over my lap....."
Justin kissed the side of her head. "It's going to happen, Brit. We need to embrace it."
"I know you're right.....but it's hard."
"I know it is...."
"Da da," Mackenzie repeated again since it seemed that that noise made her parents notice her.
"Okay, you can say ma ma now," Britney said, which made Justin chuckle.
"Brit, da da is just easier to say than ma ma, it doesn't mean anything....."
"How do you know that?" she asked.
"I read it in one of those child developmental books."
"You read those?" she asked in a cute tone.
"Yes, I want to make sure she's right on track with her progress....make sure we're not holding her back," he chuckled.
"Ohhh you're the best daddy. I'm glad I got accidentally pregnant by you," she said giving him a quick kiss.
He chuckled against her lips. "I'm glad too because I can't picture my life without this little one in it....can you?"
She shook her head. "No, I can't. What did we do before?" she giggled.
He scratched his chin. "We went out partying a lot," he shrugged.
"Yeah," she sighed. "Oh, totally off-topic but have we decided what we're doing for Thanksgiving?"
He gave Mackenzie her sippy cup back.
"We're going to split ourselves in half so we can be both places...." he said in a serious tone.
"We have to decide Justin," she whined.
"I know. I think we should go with our plan of switching off. This Thanksgiving with my family and Christmas with yours and next year we flip flop. I think it's the only way of being fair."
She nodded.
"Okay, I'll let mama know."
She rested her head against his shoulder as they both stared at their daughter.
