𝙵𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚍 𝙻𝚘𝚟𝚎

Cʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ 12

𝙵𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚍 𝙻𝚘𝚟𝚎

My small bag is on the bed in April's guest room. I'll pack some clothes in there. April sits on the bed and watches me.
"I made you a second key," she says and puts it on the bed.
,,How come?" I ask, picking it up from the bed and putting it in my keychain.
"I'm going to drive mine to my mother for a while." she says.
I raise my eyebrows.
,,Do not ask. I have no idea why she called me."
"Hey, if you want, I can come with you." I offer.
She shakes her head. "If I notice that the situation is getting out of hand, I'll leave. But thanks."
I nod and continue packing my things. April gets up from the bed and picks Poppy up off the floor and cuddles her. I take the bag from the bed and go downstairs with April.
"When are you leaving?"
,,In an hour." she says.
She puts Poppy on the floor and hugs me. "You'll still be here when I get back, right?"
,,Naturally." I say, hugging her again before heading out the door.

                                ★★★

A nine year old girl can really drain your energy, we've been walking all day, my feet hurt and I'm so tired.
We went to the museum, then we went to the zoo and literally saw almost all the animals that were in the zoo.
Afterwards we went out to eat and bought something sweet. Briar Rose wanted to watch another movie.
"What do you want to watch?" I ask her, running my fingers through my wet hair. Showering felt so good, but instead of making me more awake, it made me more tired.
She puts her head back and thinks. I've noticed that she does this often when she's thinking.
"Rapunzel." she smiles.
"Oh, I love Rapunzel." I say.
She comes closer to me and snuggles into my side. The fact that she accepted me immediately fills me with such warmth. That tears fill my eyes.
Hayden has joined us, his arm is on the back of the couch, his hand gently caresses my arm, I snuggle into his side.
Briar Rose's steady breathing makes me look at her, she's asleep. I gently stroke her almost dry hair away from her face.
"Briar Rose fell asleep." I look at Hayden, who has his eyes closed. "Hayden." I whisper and poke his cheek with my finger.
,,Hmmm." He smiles at me tiredly. Removing his arm from the back of the couch and standing up, he carefully picks up Briar Rose and takes her to her room.
I turn off the TV and clear the candy from the table and take it to the kitchen where I put it in the cupboard.

29