speak now | jack hughes DISCONTINUED

chapter fourteen

friends don't call you in the middle of the night, couldn't even tell you why, they just felt like saying hi — maddie & tae

Bailey Cameron

Marta and her boys walked a few strides behind me as I guided them through the airport. I glanced down at my phone, making sure I had the right place in mind. It was finally the day I flew up to Michigan, and we had just landed at ten in the morning, and I was practically shaking from excitement.

"Is that him?" Marta asked, pointing towards a little gift shop. Following her gaze, I was happily surprised to see that it was my dad. He spotted us the same time Marta spotted him, and was beginning to walk over to us. I jogged and met him halfway, immediately going in for a hug.

"Hey, kiddo," I heard him say into my ear as he wrapped his arms around me. I squeezed him tighter as a hello. We stayed like that for a few seconds before pulling away, and I figured I should probably introduce him to Marta and her kids. "What did you do to your ankle?" He asked, gesturing to my heavily wrapped ankle.

"Sprained it, I'll explain the whole thing later, it's a long story. Okay," I clapped my hands together, moving to stand between them. "Marta, this is my dad, Isaac. Dad, this is Marta. And these two boys are Aiden and Liam."

"Hey, Marta, so great to finally meet you. Bailey's told me so much about you," He said before leaning down to give Aiden and Liam fist bumps.

"All good things, I'd hope," Marta said, shooting me a look. I shrugged before looking away from her, trying not to smile.

"Oh, definitely," My dad said. I blew out a long, rather loud, breath of air to get the two's attention. When they both looked away from each other and at me, I gave them a tight smile and waved, reminding them that Aiden, Liam, and I were still here. "Right, sorry. Here, I can take you boys' bags," My dad moved to take their bags, to which they both mumbled a quiet 'Thank you.'

When we started walking, I hung back by Marta while my dad initiated a game of 'I Spy' with Aiden and Liam. "So.." I prompted her.

"So..?" Marta repeated, furrowing her eyebrows.

"So..?"

Marta laughed. "You're dad's pretty much exactly how I pictured him. And how you explained him, too."

I nodded in approval, "He's pretty cool. Oh, just wait until the Thanksgiving dinner! Dad's making the turkey, and I'm making basically everything else. Except I think Uncle Benny's doing the veggies, and my Auntie Clara is doing dessert. But it's gonna be amazing. And you can meet everyone, too! I think you're really gonna like them all. And Aiden and Liam are gonna have a blast with Emmy and Charlie."

"Is there anything I can do?" Marta asked.

"Nope! Think of this as a vacation," I patted her shoulder for extra reassurance that she really didn't have to help with anything. She looked skeptical, but it faded quickly. Content with her sort of response, I hurried ahead and ran up beside Aiden, bending down to poke him in the side. The nine year old giggled, swatting my hand away. My dad swapped places with me, falling back to Marta's side. I heard them talking, but wasn't really paying attention, since I quickly got dragged into a round of 'I Spy' by Liam.

-

When we got home, the first thing I did was crawl over Aiden (I had been forced to sit in the middle, because the twins had wanted equal attention from me), and hurried to the front porch. I probably looked stupid because it was a limp-run, but I didn't care. I grabbed the spare key from under the mat, the typical hiding place, I know, and unlocked the door. As I jammed the key into the lock, I heard Marley go crazy from inside.