Coming Home

Chapter 11

Cleo was sitting close to her father as they waited for Jen to answer. He put his phone on speaker so they could both hear Jen easily.

"Ok thank GOD you're alive. Honey I miss you!" Jen said the second she answered the call. David smiled at the sound of the woman's voice, he already missed her like crazy. "Yep! Picked Cleo up from her moms and made us both lunch. How are you?" He asked, sounding chipper, but his daughter could tell he was a bit sad.

Jen sighed a bit sadly. "I'm alright. Reese and Courteney dropped by shortly after you left. I ended up telling them everything." David smiled and his eyes lit up "Well, I hope you don't mind that I told Cleo we're together. I wanted to tell her with you, but she's going to notice me smiling like a dumbass and wonder what's up regardless." Jen gasped a little and put her hand on her heart. "Ok good. I don't mind. I hope she's not mad." David looked toward Cleo and laughed at the fact that Jen hadn't noticed she was on speaker yet.

"Yeah, Jen. I'm REALLY pissed off that my dads happy. That's the WORST news I could ever hear, how DARE you make him happy by loving him the way he loves you!" Cleo said sarcastically, finally revealing the fact that she had been listening. David laughed as he heard Jen squeal with excitement at the sound of the child's voice "Cleo! I love you so much! I can't wait to see you in a couple weeks." Jen said excitedly.

Cleo smiled and felt her heart melt. She felt like a sudden huge weight had come off her shoulders knowing her dad was happy, knowing he was putting himself first for once, and that he was with the woman he loves after all this time. "Same, I feel like it's been forever. Oh, Jen, I have a question." Cleo said, chiming in again. David just smiled at his daughter. He was glad that Cleo took well to Jen, but then again, how could you not take well to someone as sweet, charming and as warm as her?

Jen laughed. "I may have an answer!" She replied as she sat on her couch. Cleo giggled. "How soon is too soon to start calling you momma Jen?" Cleo asked, her voice was as innocent as she could possibly make it, but she was feeling a bit nervous. Jen sat there, feeling stunned. On one hand, she kind of hoped Cleo would see her as an Aunt or something, but mom? She pouted and felt herself smiling ear to ear.

"Cleo, you can call me momma Jen or mom anytime you want. So long as you want to and so long as it's not weird for your dad." She replied, which just made David laugh. "I mean, it might be a LITTLE odd at first, but if it's what Cleo wants, I shouldn't object unless it's a super bad idea. I don't see this as a super bad idea. UNLESS it's around her mom, otherwise I don't see an issue."

The young child laughed, "Oh hell no. I like to think I'm cautious with what I say, I would never call her that around mom. Saying she's like another mom probably wouldn't be terrible because Jen is just a nurturing human, always looking out for others, but I'd never outright call her mom to my mom's face." David leaned over and kissed Cleo's forehead.

The next two weeks seemed to drag on, but also fly by all at once since he was busy filming Extrapolations, doing some commercials, etc. He and Jen spoke everyday, she was on a more relaxed schedule, but still doing some interviews for The Morning Show, working on the Clydeo project, amongst doing reels for Vital Proteins and Lolavie.

David arrived back at Zoë's house to pick Cleo up for their flight around 4PM. They chatted for a while about his show that he had just started filming, and she showed him some art pieces she had been working on.

"I'm going to make sure Cleo is ok." Zoë said before excusing herself.

When she got to Cleo's bedroom, she noticed the door was almost closed, but not quite. The woman opened the door gently and looked in. Cleo seemed to be a bit dazed as she stared at her suitcase, almost like she was lost in thought about something.