First Crush, My Forever

Chapter 9

  Nearly 30 minutes into this meeting, I am bored out of my mind. I stare at the paper in front of me but I am not really reading it or listening to what is being said. Instead my mind goes to my daughter, wondering what she and Taytum will do after she is picked up from daycare later. I take a deep breath and try to focus on what the Dean is saying but I just can't. I miss being at home right now with Kadence. Plus this meeting only pushed it later on me cooking dinner so my daughter could eat and get to bed by her normal bedtime which would result in her being grumpy come morning.

  My phone is laying in my lap in case Taytum needs me or the daycare calls. I faintly hear the Dean say something about the Creative Writing classes and I automatically look up to make sure I haven't missed anything important. "Are you good with that Ms. Howard?" The Dean asks me and just nod my head yes because I have no idea what he is talking about. "Okay, I will email you the information. Now let's move on." Thank goodness he is emailing whatever it is.

  As the Dean starts talking again I feel my phone vibrate against my leg. I glance around making sure nobody is paying attention to me and turn my phone over. I look down at the screen and see it's a message from Taytum. I quickly unlock my phone and open her message. "Hope it's okay that I went ahead and picked KK up when I left campus. I figured we could have a fun afternoon." I smile as I quickly reply "yes, of course." I didn't expect Taytum to pick Kadence up this early because I figured she might have other things to do but I am perfectly fine with her doing that. She is so good with my daughter, always has been and they have such a great bond.

  Taytum is so attentive and caring with Kadence. I really couldn't ask for a better babysitter and it was a blessing four years ago when Lauren said her daughter would babysit for me. They even have a nickname for each other which started because of Taytum calling Kadence "KK". Shortly after, Kadence started calling Taytum "TayTay". It is so cute seeing my daughter get so excited when she knows Taytum will be babysitting. I can just imagine how Kadence acted when Taytum showed up at the daycare to pick her up.

  As I try to focus back on the meeting instead of my wandering thoughts, I feel my phone vibrate again. I glance at the screen and see another message from Taytum. I unlock my screen and open the message only to see one of the most adorable pictures of my daughter. Kadence is apparently in The James's pool even though she doesn't know how to swim. However, Taytum has her in arm floaties, a pool floatie plus Taytum's arm is in the picture holding onto the floatie. Kadence has sunscreen on and cute little butterfly sunglasses. Right below the pic, Taytum also sent "don't worry, KK is safe. I am taking very good care of her."

  I can't help but laugh to myself because Taytum always makes sure that I know my daughter is safe when she is with her no matter what they are doing. Of course she has never taken Kadence swimming before but I am not upset by her doing that because Kadence has been asking for quite a while if she could swim every time she sees The James's pool. As I am looking at the cute picture of my daughter another picture comes through. I glance up to make sure no attention is on me then look back down at my phone.

  Kadence is still in all the floaties but standing on the pool steps. This time instead of just Taytum's arm, she is completely in the picture as well and standing in the pool, obviously in the shallow end, right beside the steps with an arm around Kadence to keep her steady on the steps. I look at my daughter and the big smile she has on her face warms my heart knowing that she is having so much fun. Those little butterfly sunglasses are so cute on her and the visible sunscreen on her little nose makes her look even cuter.

  My eyes travel from my daughter back over to Taytum and she has just as big of a smile on her face and her dimples are really showing. My eyes travel down from Taytum's face and it feels like my mouth and throat both go dry for some reason. She is in a two piece swimsuit and her toned arms and abs are on full display. She definitely works out and more than just the morning runs I see her on.