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*Evelyn*

We were back in Monaco, but that also meant Charles was only there for a few more hours before he had to fly to Hungary in the morning. Aly and I wouldn't be traveling behind for another two days and I was a little nervous.

Of course, I trusted myself to be alone with her, but it was still strange when Charles said goodbye the next morning. The night had been rather average and Charles seemed almost relieved to be able to escape. And then I was alone with Aly.

I was nervous and did my best to distract the little one. But sooner or later we always came to the point where she cried for her mommy. I couldn't bring myself to tell her that she would be here forever now. Eventually, hopefully, the pain would pass and she would see her daddy in Charles. Hopefully...

It was exhausting and when I finally had Aly in bed the first night alone, I burst into tears. It was incredibly nerve-wracking and I was just glad that Charles would be here with us after the weekend, because I definitely wouldn't be able to get through this initial phase in the long run. It was clear to me that the little mouse needed me, but she virtually robbed me of the air to breathe. She needed me, but just everything, really everything from me.

I let myself fall exhausted on the sofa and really only wanted to sleep. But before that I had to take care of the kitchen, which looked like a battlefield and the living room was still full of toys, but I was considering cleaning it up tomorrow. I was about to get up to at least put the kitchen in order when my cell phone rang.

A relieved sob left my throat when I saw who was calling.

"Well Evi? How's that for being a mother, so to speak?"

"Lance!", I sobbed, staying where I had been.

Max may have been my best friend, but Lance was like my soulmate sometimes. He understood me in a way I never expected. We had gotten along well from the beginning, but since he and Seb were on a team, we even spent vacations with each other.

There was no love or anything between us, but certainly a close friendship that I never wanted to give up, because even though he might seem arrogant on the outside sometimes, Lance was one of the most gentle and loving people I knew.

"That bad, huh?" he laughed sympathetically "Seb told me what was going on and Charles arrived here today looking pretty beat up. It's all not so easy, is it?"

"Well, I knew it wasn't going to be easy, but this is kind of impossible to do on my own. I'm completely overwhelmed and...", I heard crying from Charles room "Lance, I'll have to call you back later, Aly woke up again."

"Just tomorrow, Evi and Friday you'll be here by then, you won't be alone. I'll help you too, I promise. I'm good with kids."

"Thanks, Lance."

"Hey, I can't wait to see you. You with kid. That definitely wasn't on my bingo card for 2022."

"Trust me, it wasn't on mine either.", I took a deep breath "I'll talk to you Lance, ok?"

"Don't worry about it. It'll be fine.".

I had never looked forward to a flight as much as I had that day. Alyssa and I had actually made it to the airport without crying - which I thought was already a big step forward - and she had fallen asleep on the flight, which had given me an unexpected moment of peace.

I hadn't slept practically at all the previous night, because I had cleaned and tidied up the apartment after Aly had fallen asleep. After all, we would all be back after the weekend and I had no desire to come home to a dirty and messy apartment. Besides, I didn't want to make Charles feel like I couldn't handle all of this. He was already insecure enough, he didn't need someone else to be insecure.

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