I Hate California

one

"Rise and shine Sagey Boo!" Joe says as he opens the curtains in his daughter's room. 

It was Sage's last day of school and finally summer break, this was her first year of school and surprisingly it went really well. Joe was going to miss picking up Sage everyday and her coming home to tell him all about the day she had and the new things she learned. 

"No!" Sage says as she hides under her covers.

Joe gently removes her blankets letting the cold morning air come in contact with her legs making her frustrated. 

"Come on baby, it's your last day! I even get to pick you up early today!" Joe exclaims as he picks her up and heads to her bathroom. 

He sets her down on the sink counter, handing her a toothbrush and begins to brush her long silky blonde hair. 

"What time are you picking me up?" Sage asks after brushing her teeth. 

"Around noon" Joe says while he finishes braiding her hair. 

Sage jumps down from the counter and runs back into her bedroom. 

"Do you want to wear your new dress we bought a couple days ago?" Joe asks holding up a simple light yellow dress.

Sage runs her hand over the dress and nods excitedly. 

"I look so pretty Daddy." She says looking at herself in the mirror all ready. 

Joe frantically tries to prepare Sage's backpack and packs all of the library books that need to be returned, along with some snacks and extra clothes. 

"Bye Daddy!" Sage yells as she is led into the school building holding hands with another teacher. 

Joe has so much to do today and wants to get as much done while Sage is at school. They were running out of snacks and Sage's favorite foods at the house, so he wanted to prioritize getting those first. He also wanted to pick out a few more clothes for Sage this summer, she has been growing up so fast which has been hard with her clothing sizes since she wears a year above her actual age. 

Joe's Mother, Elizabeth says that Sage will be a tall girl, just like her Mother. 

"Okay, the grocery store and then Target." Joe tells himself as he starts to drive off. 

He strolls through the snack aisle trying to find Sage's favorites, but making sure to only grab the organic kind. Yes, he was that type of parent. 

Joe feels his phone start to ring from his pocket. "Hi, Mom", he answers.

"Hi son, how's Sage? It's her last day today, right?" Elizabeth asks over the phone. 

"Yeah, dropped her off a while ago and now I'm at the store, just restocking." He mentions as he puts a box of fruit snacks into his cart. 

"Has her Mother contacted you?" She asks in almost a whisper.

Joe sighs, "No, she hasn't. She saw the other photos a couple days ago, but my most recent message she hasn't seen yet." He tells her.

They continue their conversation and end before Joe starts to head out of the store. He gets into the drivers seat and opens up his text messages staring at the messages that just consist of Sage's photos and "read" replies. 

"Daddy!" Sage yells as she runs towards her Dad with a drawing in her hand. 

Joe picks her up and smoothers her little face with kisses. "Look at my drawing!" Sage exclaims, holding up her drawing of a beach. 

"Wow! Another picture for the fridge!" He says as he grabs the drawing and she nods satisfied that it's going onto their fridge. 

As they arrive home, Sage runs inside kicking her shoes off and heads up the staircase as fast as her little legs would let her. She throws her backpack by her desk and gets out all of the drawings from her friends. 

"What are all of these?" Joe asks entering her bedroom.

"My friend's drew pictures for each other." She explains as she lays them all out on her desk.

Joe finishes pinning them all up on her board above her desk and looks over to see her droopy eyes. 

"Let's get you changed, did you nap at school?" He asks her and she shakes her head. He would've guessed, he picked her up during what would've been nap time. 

After getting Sage changed in a plain shirt and leggings, he carries her back onto her bed. 

Sage jumps off her bed, "Your bed."

Joe nods and carries her into the master bedroom and lays her down on the bed. He begins to close all of the curtains in the room, making it as dark as possible, thankful for the black out curtains. He hums to her as he pats her bottom. 

Once he is for sure she is a sleep, he closes the door, only leaving it open just a crack and heads downstairs to his office to get some last minute work finished.