You're Not In This Alone

The day after I try to meet my mom I wake up later than normal and when I look at the clock I panic, knowing Ryan had an important meeting that he should already be at and if he went then no one is watching Sophie and I rush from the bedroom and into her room but her crib is empty and as I approach the living room I hear a familiar voice saying "And mommy needs her rest so we're just gonna let her sleep but grandpa is here and we can play together all day" and I hear Sophie let out a small shriek. I slowly enter the room, feeling much calmer and find pa sitting on the floor with Sophie standing in his lap, grabbing at his face. "Look beautiful girl, there's mommy" and Sophie's head snaps around to look at me, a huge smile on her face as she squirms around in pa's arms and reaches out towards me. I walk over and sit beside them, taking Sophie in my lap, letting her stand on my legs as she starts playing with my hair and pa leans over and wraps his arm around my waist, cuddling me into his side as he presses a soft kiss to the top of my head. "Hey baby girl" he greets me and I smile and lean further into him. "What are you doing here?" I ask and he says "Well I came to see if you wanted to spend the day together and Ry had a meeting and he didn't want to wake you up so I stayed to watch Sophie." "You could have woken me" I tell him and he smiles as he gently squeezes me and says "You looked way too peaceful, if you slept you clearly needed it." I nod in agreement, feeling great after such a long sleep, "Thanks daddy." After a few more minutes I hand Sophie back to pa and get up, going back to the bedroom and changing for the day, tying my hair back and joining them in the living room again. "You wanna go get some lunch?" I ask and pa smiles up at me and says "Absolutely" handing me Sophie and getting up, grabbing her pram and making sure it's fully stocked with everything we'll need before we head out, going to a diner and ordering our lunch, Sophie sitting in pa's lap while he feeds her some mashed pears while we wait for our food.

After lunch we walk around and go shopping for a while, pa buying himself some art supplies and Sophie a new teddy bear which makes her squeal in excitement and I shake my
head as I say "You spoil her so much." "She deserves it for being just as beautiful and special as her mommy" and I blush as he pulls me into his side. "You girls deserve the world baby so any small thing I buy you is really nothing compared to what you deserve." I smile as I lean in for a full hug, wrapping my arms around pa's waist and he crushes me to his chest. "So Ryan was mentioning he has to go out of town again next week for a few days" Pa says as we start walking again and I sigh as I say "Yeah" not wanting him to go. "You and Sophie should come stay while he's gone. That way I won't have to worry about you guys the whole time." I giggle at his concern as I say "Yeah, I think we just might" and he smiles wide as he says "Good." We keep walking around for a while before I suggest going to see dad and we stop at a coffee shop on the way, getting coffee for the three of us and a small chocolate milkshake which I pour half of into a spare bottle in Sophie's pram and she shrieks in excitement as she drinks it on the way to the guitar store. When we get there dad is with a customer and his face lights up when he sees us, finishing quickly with them before rushing over and pecking pa's lips before stepping over and wrapping his arms around my waist, picking me up off the floor and spinning me around and I laugh as he sits me back down. "Hey baby girl" he says as he presses a soft kiss to my forehead and stepping away, kneeling down to look at Sophie. "Hey cutie pie" he greets her as he reaches in and picks her up, Sophie dropping her bottle and her hands immediately reach out for his face, her fingers patting at the visible stubble on his jaw and shrieking and giggling at the feeling and pa and I stand back watching, matching smiles on our faces.

Notes