Breaking Free

Chapter 2

I stayed up until almost 3 in the morning trying to get everything prepared for the trip. My alarm went off at 6 and I groaned. I just hoped I could sleep a little bit on the flight.

It was now almost 7 as I loaded the car and carefully carried Evie, putting her into her booster seat.

"Mommy?" She asks tiredly

"Yes sweetheart?"

"Where are we going?"

"You get to travel with mommy for work, we're going to France,"

It was a long drive to the airport. By the time I parked the car, the sun was starting to come up. Thankfully Evie had fallen back asleep. I carefully unloaded the bags from the trunk trying to figure out how I was going to get Evie out of the car, carry two backpacks and two suitcases.

"Need a hand?" I hear familiar voices ask. Josh and Jon were walking toward me with their bags

"If you don't mind, I still have to get Evie out of the car and she's sound asleep,"

I carefully picked Evie up and shut the door behind me. Evie starts to stir and opens her eyes. "Are we there yet?"

I laugh, "No we still have a ten hour flight sweetheart. I brought you some toys and stuff to keep you occupied on the plane," I look at both Josh and Jon. "Sorry, if she gets annoying I can travel by myself next time,"

"She's not annoying us. Like Sefa said, all of us have kids so she isn't going to bother us," Jon says

Evie wiggles out of my grip and walks next to me as I hold her hand. As soon as we get inside the airport, we're met by Joe and Sefa who were waiting for us to check in. As soon as Evie sees all of the guys, she hides behind my legs, holding tightly onto my leggings.

"It's okay Evie they won't hurt you, I promise," I say

"They're big and scary looking,"

I laugh and carefully pick her up again, "They might look that way, but I promise they're nice,"

"It's okay Callie, she's been through a lot and has to learn that she can trust us," Josh says

"I know, but I don't want her to be afraid to be around you guys, especially if we're going to travel together,"

"She'll come around. Especially when she sees the little present we got for her," Joe says

Evie's head pokes up, "Present?" She says

Joe nods, "You'll get it when we get on the plane. You and your mom are sitting next to me and my cousin Josh,"

"You guys didn't have to get her anything," I say

"We wanted to. It's not much, just a little something to keep her busy on the plane," Sefa says

"I brought some stuff, but I didn't have many toys at my house. They were all at her dad's. I had to go shopping last night just so she'd have clothes and snacks for the trip,"

"That must be why you look exhausted," Josh says

I nod, "I'm running on like three hours of sleep by the time I got everything packed up and laid down it was after 3,"

"You have a ten hour flight to nap," he says

"Only if she's asleep too,"

"We can watch her while you nap if she's awake. Chances are as soon as the plane takes off she's going to fall asleep," Joe says

"I hope so. I'm just hoping she doesn't cry or scream."

"Mommy I'm hungry," Evie says

"As soon as we get through security we'll get breakfast," I say