dear devonne

[14]

"Right well everything is seemingly in shape here," I glanced at Hayley, silently thanking her for cleaning up before I came, "And you don't look like a bad mom to me at all, so I won't be bothering you any longer. Unless I receive any more complaints, that is."

Resisting the urge to let out a sigh of relief I nodded my head politely and smiled at the older woman. "Thank you, Susan."

She reciprocated a smile before leaving the apartment, moving on to whatever other jobs she had to do.

"You think it was them?" Hayley's jaw clenched as she wrapped her arms around my waist, pulling me into her body. I shrugged before moving to rest my head on her shoulder.

"I don't have a doubt in my mind. They'll try to use anything against me if it'll help with their case against me."

Hayley's head snapped over to mine, a look bewilderment on her face, "What the hell do you mean their case against you?"

"They filed for custody of Lola. That's why I had to leave. Well, one of the reasons, obviously."

"How are you so calm right now? Do you not care that someone is trying to take your daughter away from you?" Hayley spat. I quickly pushed her away from me.

"Are you fucking kidding me right now, Haiz? If I didn't care I wouldn't have fucking left that place so fast or asked for your goddamn money!"

"Please stop screaming," a small voice said from the corner of the room. I looked over to see a fleeced blanket laying across the couch, a large lump sticking out prominently. All of the anger filled inside me previously immediately vanished. I glanced at Hayley and sighed, walking over to sit beside the lump.

"Sweetheart, can you come out of the blanket for me?"

"Are you gonna keep screaming at each other?"

I thought back to the mantra I used to tell myself before this whole mess started. There is no room for hate, only love.

"No, baby. Of course not."

A head of messy, thick brown hair suddenly popped up from underneath the blanket. "You all gotta make up so we can watch the princess movies then."

Chuckling silently I motioned for Hayley to come over to us. I was obviously still mad at her for what she accused me of, but I could wait a few hours to chew her ass out.

"Time for an aunt Hayley and Momma sandwich."

...

"Before you say anything, I'm sorry for what I said earlier. I know it was way out of line and not true in the slightest. It was just the heat of the moment, Dev. Really."

It was now ten thirty at night, and after several Disney movies Lola was finally passed out on the couch, which gave us two older woman the chance to talk about earlier's events.

"Are you sure about that?" I asked defensively.

"Of course I'm sure. I think you're one of the best mom's in the entire world, you know that." This brings a smile to my face.

Without a second thought I reach my hand out to Hayley's and tug it forward, bringing her body into mine.

"Well, I think that you're one of the best friend's in the entire world."

Hayley snorts before pushing herself away from me, "You gay ass."

My smile grows wider as I stand from the couch, leaning down beside where I was sitting and scooping my sleeping daughter over my shoulders. Without another word I make my way out of the living room and down two short hallways, coming to a stop at a bedroom filled with nothing but pink bows and racecars.

Sure enough, the same Rapunzel night light that I had left on the night before we left for Texas was still dimly glowing, just enough to illuminate the room so that I could make my way to Lola's bed.

After gently putting the girl down and tucking her in, I place a kiss upon her forehead and return to the living room, where Hayley is now laying against the carpeted floor in her pajamas.

"What are you doing?"

"Waiting for you."

I roll my eyes and walk over to her slowly, "I'm going to bed now. You coming or what?"

Hayley suddenly puts her hands up into the air, looking me dead in the eyes, "Only if you carry me."

"You're such a child."

I comply, nevertheless, and let her wrap her arms around me like a koala before walking to my bedroom which is only a few doors down from Lola's. As soon as we both make our way to my queen sized bed and fall back to hit the mattress we're out like a light.

Sometime while we're asleep it begins to storm, the rain hitting the window hard while thunder booms throughout the entire apartment without either of us waking up.

It's nearly three in the morning when Lola crawls into bed in between Hayley and I, the storm still going strong. I'm not phased in the slightest considering it was a daily occurrence before we left. I am however concerned when a pounding on the door breaks out, which startles the three of us more than the thunder and completely out of sleep.

...

I don't know if any of this made sense because I'm sleepy and haven't written anything in the past ten years but here ya'll go, I guess.

I may or may not update again soon.