“Come on, sweetie.” I pick her up and hold her in my arms. I don’t know what to do, but I feel like a total failure of a mother.
Elle is ready and waiting with everyone, holding Harrison’s hand. I want to laugh at the sheer difference between the two of them. There stands a man, with his excessively tattooed arms holding hands with a petite wannabe cheerleader. Holding his other hand is his son. When you look at Quinn, you can tell that he belongs to a drummer by the way he dresses, with his red velvet jacket, the collar up and his black pants. He’s a smaller version of Harrison and already carries himself full of confidence. But my Elle, she’s opposite, prissy almost; always in a dress with her hair done just right. She’d wear make-up if I’d let her. This unlikely trio is like night and day and I’m on the outside watching as this man develops a relationship with my daughter. Sometimes it makes me want to scream and sometimes I want to be thankful that she’s okay talking to him, or anyone for that matter because I just don’t have the answers for her right now. I don’t even have the answers for Peyton, who needs me the most.
Harrison looks over his shoulder and smiles at me. For the first time I don’t hesitate and smile back. Maybe we can be friends, nothing more, though. He’s not my type and I love my husband, whether he’s here to love me back or not.
I follow everyone out and onto the bus. Peyton hasn’t moved, her hands are locked tight around my neck. If I let go, she’d hang off me like a monkey. I’m tempted to try this, but that was something Mason did with the girls. He’d let them climb all over him and never tell them to get down. It didn’t matter what he was doing, even if he was watching football, the girls acted like he was a jungle gym.
“Girls, get down. Your dad is trying to scout the game.”
“They’re fine, babe.”
“No, they aren’t. You have work to do.”
“And I’m doing it, see.” Mason holds up his pen and notepad and points to the TV where the game film is running on loop.
Peyton and Elle are climbing all over him, hanging from his arms. It doesn’t faze him, but it does me. I don’t want to see him get angry with them for bugging him while he’s working.
“I’ll take them to the store with me.”
“Why?”
“Because they are bugging you.”
Mason sets down his pad and pulls each girl off of him. He stands and comes over to me, pulling me into his arms.
“Are you jealous of your daughters?”
“What? No. Why would I be?”
Mason shrugs. “I don’t know. I have two very gorgeous brunettes showering me with attention and my very sexy wife trying to make them stop. I think you want to hang on me for a while.”
I bite my lip to stop the smirk forming and shake my head. “You’re impossible.”
Mason kisses my neck, working his way to my ear. “I love you, Mrs. Powell and I love those two girls right over there. If they are bugging me, I’ll ask for help. I’d honestly like for you to come sit in between my legs and help me work.”
I push him slightly. “You’re incorrigible.”
“You love me.”
“I do, more than anything.”
I wish I had a camera at the time to capture those moments between Mason and the girls. I’m not sure I ever thought to take a picture when they were climbing all over him or sitting on his lap while he was scouting. So many memories that I’ve missed and I’ll never get back or be able to show the girls just how great their dad was.
I’m relishing the fact that she’s letting me hold her for so long. I don’t want to put Peyton down. I want to cuddle with her until she feels safe enough to open up. Josie’s right, the girls need to speak to someone about what they’re dealing with. Clearly, I’m not enough, and I need to be okay with that.
I sit down on the couch and immediately regret it. She’s out of my arms faster than I can ask her to stay. She goes to Noah and sits down. He doesn’t acknowledge her, but Quinn does. I can’t hear what they are talking about, but Peyton smiles and Noah rolls his eyes.
The bus roars to life and the kids all cheer. They should be sleeping, but tour life doesn’t allow for normal hours. We’ll drive for a few hours before getting to our hotel, where we’ll stay for a few days and take the kids to Disney World. This will be a first for Noah, Peyton and Elle. This was something Mason and I had talked about many times and I hate that he’s not here to share it with us.
Liam sits down next me and hands me a bottle of water. “I’m sorry for yelling at you earlier. I get a bit stressed and the flowers, they set me off.”
“It’s okay.”
“No, it’s not,” he says as he shakes his head. I watch as he downs the bottle of water in one gulp. I’ve always wondered how he and Mason could do that. I’d choke if I tried.
“It is. I just don’t want to be fired.”
Liam laughs. “I couldn’t fire you if I wanted.”