Careless Mistake
by Kelli
Part 44
Late March 2005.......
Justin looked around the room that was filled with his family and close friends. It was Mackenzie's first birthday.
"Have you heard from Britney, yet?" Lynne asked.
He shook his head. "No....her cell is still turned off," he said.
She put a comforting hand on his shoulder.
"She'll be here soon."
He nodded and watched his daughter interact with her uncles. He chuckled as Chris blew a raspberry on her stomach and she squealed with delight.
Suddenly the phone rang. Justin picked it up.
"Hello?"
"I'm stuck on the fucking highway," Britney yelled. "I am just stuck. I can't go anywhere!" she screamed.
He walked out of the room. "Brit, just calm down. Getting upset isn't going to get you here faster."
"The damn audio took longer than they thought. Do you know how many times I've heard "I'm sorry" today? Too many damn times. I was about ready to walk out of there, Justin, I really was."
She was still yelling.
"Brit...."
"I don't even know how long I'm going to be because we're just not fucking moving...."
"Brit...."
"I guess everyone's there by now, huh? Everyone but her own damn mother!"
"Brit," he yelled.
"What?!"
"Baby, take deeps breaths....come on. No sense in getting worked up about this."
"I just want to be home," she said.
Now the anger had worn off and the disappointment was kicking in.
"You will be. We won't do anything until you get here. I am going to feed these people but we won't open presents or do the cake until you get here, okay?"
"Okay," she sighed. "Make me a plate and put it in the oven, okay?"
Now she was pouting.
"Of course."
"I'm sorry, J. I should have just told them I couldn't even come in for a half day today."
"It's not your fault. You guys are working on a time limit...."
"But this is our daughter's only first birthday and I'm not even there to share it with her," she said, starting to cry.
"Baby don't cry. You will be here with her. It's just one day out of the year. How many other days do we make it count, huh?"
"I know."
She was crying harder.
"Sweetie, you have to quit crying or you won't be able to drive," he chuckled softly.
"I'm not driving, J.....that's the point. I don't need to see to just sit here."
"You will be moving at no time at all, okay? Now let me get back to the guests. I'll have our mom's help set the food out."
"Okay," she sniffed. "Give our baby a huge kiss and hug from her mommy."
"I will. If I can tear her away from everyone."
"Awww, I bet she's having so much fun having everyone around." He could hear the smile in her voice as he started walking back towards the guests.
"Yeah....she's not lacking for attention, that's for sure." He put his hand over the mouthpiece. "Mom, can you get Lynne and help me?"
She nodded and he stepped back inside to the kitchen.
"You going to be okay?" he asked, not sure if he wanted to leave her alone.
"I'll be okay. I'll just turn the music up. Have the phone with you in case I need to scream again."
He chuckled. "Okay. Just don't turn your cell phone off, okay?"
"I won't."
"Drive careful.....once you actually start driving."
"I will. I love you."
"I love you too. Bye."
He hung up the phone and looked at his mother and mother-in-law.
"Was that Britney?" Lynne asked.
"Yeah....she's stuck in traffic and it's not going anywhere. So, we're going to go ahead and eat and just open the presents and do the cake once she gets here."
"We'll start setting everything up," Lynn said.
"Thanks."
"I bet she's ticked off, huh?" Lynne laughed. "Britney never did like traffic."
"Yeah, she's not happy."
When Britney pulled up into the driveway she jumped out of the car and raced up the stairs and into the house. She threw her purse down on the counter and ran to the patio door. She stopped as soon as she got to the door and looked at everyone gathered. She took a deep breath, smoothed out her hair and slowly opened the door.
Justin was the first to look up. He stood up and walked over to her.
"I was just about to call you again. See, it didn't take much longer," he said before leaning down and kissing her cheek.
"Not too much. What did I miss?" she asked.
He took her hand and led her to the crowd where everyone tried to say hi or talk to her at once, but her mind was focused on finding the birthday girl and giving her a big kiss.
"There's my birthday angel," Britney said once she spotted her.
She was sitting on Grandpa Paul's lap eating a hot dog.
"Ma ma," Mackenzie said, her face lighting up.
She leaned down and kissed Mackenzie's cheek.
"I won't interrupt your eating....no I know how important that is to you," she chuckled as Mackenzie took another bite that Paul offered her.
"Do you want to feed her?" he offered.
Britney stood up and ruffled Mackenzie's hair. "No, you're doing a good job. I'm starving myself, I think I'll go grab something to eat," she said, smiling at him.
When she came back out with her plate of food her mom stopped her.
"You okay?" Lynne asked as she gave her daughter a hug.
"Yeah.....I just should have went with my gut instinct and not went in this morning," Britney said, shaking her head as she looked over at her daughter.
"How did you know you'd be stuck in traffic? Besides.....everything went just fine. You haven't missed the important part anyway," she winked at her.
"Yeah, I saw the mound of presents in the other room," Britney chuckled. "You taking some of that home with you?"
"Honey by the time you three come visit me again I think she'll have outgrown those toys."
Britney looked up at her mom.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Your schedules are crazy this year. In a couple of weeks Justin going to be promoting. You and Mackenzie going to travel with him every time he goes to New York?"
Britney took a bite of green beans and shrugged as she looked at her fork.
"When we can."
"That's what I'm saying. You're just going to be busy busy busy....."
"We'll always make time for you, mama," she said, leaning over and kissing her mom on the cheek.
Lynne smiled at her.
"I'm going to get the cake ready....where did you put the candle?" Justin asked as he stopped by her on the way to the kitchen.
"In that top drawer."
"Okay," he smiled.
Britney giggled softly.
"What?" her mom asked.
"He's so cute. I think he actually planned more of this party than I did," she said with a sweep of her hand.
"He loves your daughter and it shows in his eyes.....and in everything he does for her."
Britney nodded. "How did I get so lucky?"
"It was meant to be, baby. I've always told you that."
Britney squeezed her mom's arm. "Yes, you always have. And you're always right."
After a few minutes Justin brought out the cake with the candle shaped like the #1 lit up. He started singing happy birthday and everyone joined in. Paul brought Mackenzie over to the table where Justin set the cake down and Britney stood next to him as she watched her daughter's face. When the song was over everyone cheered and both Justin and Britney leaned down to blow the candle out at the same time, which made them both laugh.
"Okay.....the first piece goes to the birthday girl," Justin said, getting the knife ready to cut the cake.
"J, did you take a picture of the cake?" Britney asked, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear.
"I think with all these cameras," he said with a swipe of his hand, "someone was bound to."
"True."
She took Mackenzie from Paul, gave her a big kiss and then set her down in her high chair.
"This is going to be messy so I don't want to be too close by," she chuckled.
She took the piece of cake from Justin and set it down on the tray of the highchair and stepped back.
Mackenzie looked down at the cake and then up at Britney.
"Go ahead," Britney giggled.
Justin kept an eye on her while he continued to cut more pieces.
Finally Mackenzie stuck her finger in the icing. When she pulled it out she looked back up at Britney again. When Britney nodded, she stuck her finger in her mouth and smiled. This made Britney giggle, so she hid her smile with her hand. Justin watched the whole thing and chuckled, shaking his head.
"Look at you, missy," Britney said, picking Mackenzie up once she was finished with her cake. "Did you actually eat any?"
"Mommmyyyy," Mackenzie said, holding out her hand to show her the chocolate icing all over it.
"Yes, I see," she said holding Mackenzie's hand away from her face. "I'm going to take her up and wash her before we open presents," she told Justin.
"Okay. I guess we should do it inside, huh? Since all the presents are already there," he said, looking around.
"Yeah, that's probably best."
She took Mackenzie up to the bathroom and stripped her out of her clothes. Mackenzie started to babble and play with her feet while Britney changed her and then set her in the tub. She wet a washcloth and started to get some of the cake and icing off of her.
"Let's go get you another pretty dress," she said, once she dried her off.
They picked out a dress together and rejoined the family in the living room.
"Awwww, aren't you adorable in your baby blue dress?" Lynne asked her. She kissed her on the cheek as Britney walked by her.
"Where do we sit? Here?" Britney asked.
"Yeah...." Justin said, sitting down.
She sat down next to him and put Mackenzie down on the floor in between her legs.
"First one," Justin said, pulling a present over and putting it in front of Mackenzie.
She stood up and balanced herself against Britney while she tore the paper off.
"She's good at that," someone said, which made everyone chuckle.
"Yeah, we've practiced," Britney laughed.
Once the paper was off Justin helped her get into the box.
"Awwww," Britney said, pulling out a small pair of Mickey Mouse ears. She set them on top of Mackenzie's head while she was digging further into the box for the bat and ball she saw.
When she pulled them out, she smiled and almost hit Britney in the head with the plastic bat.
"Ohhh, nice outside toy," she annunciated, taking it from her daughter. Of course this move made Mackenzie start to pout and almost get fussy but Justin distracted her by putting another gift in front of her.
Justin opened the card and announced to everyone who it was from.
By the time she was finished she, of course, had a ton of toys, books, stuffed animals and clothes.
She took her time looking at a few of her toys while everyone started milling about.
"You look tired," Justin told Britney. They were sitting next to each other on the floor, watching Mackenzie.
"I hate getting up at five," she yawned. "Now look at what you did.....you're making me yawn."
He leaned over and kissed her cheek.
"I can't believe she's one," he said, sighing.
"I know.....doesn't it seem like yesterday you were yelling at me to push?" she chuckled.
He nudged her shoulder with his. "I didn't yell at you."
"Yes you did."
"If I did it was so you could hear me over your screaming."
He turned his head away from her so he could smile.
"Niiiicceeee," she said, laughing.
"I'm kidding you. You did so well it will be a piece of cake the next time."
She glanced his way. "Next time, huh?"
"Yep," he said, leaning in to kiss her cheek again.
Mackenzie picked up a small bear she got from her Uncle Bryan and Aunt Lauren and carefully walked with it over to her mommy and daddy.
"Look at how fast you're moving now," Britney said as she caught her in her lap.
Mackenzie held her bear and rested her head against Britney's chest.
"You tired baby?" Justin asked. He stroked Mackenzie's head and then leaned down to kiss the top of it.
When he lifted his head up he stopped at Britney's until she looked up. He leaned in and she met his lips for a soft, slow kiss.
"I love you," he whispered.
"I love you too. Happy birthday, angel," she whispered to Mackenzie, kissing the top of her head.