The Act of Forgiveness

16

Jasper had done five shows in under seven days, we have traveled over three states, and he had accumulated over nine hours of meet and greets. His eyes permanently had bluish bags under them and only when he had stage makeup on, did they disappear. He slept a lot and rehearsed even more. It was like Evelyn never got to see her daddy and I never got to see any of my friends or Jasper.

"Jazz, do you get a break anytime soon?" I asked hesitantly, he was grouchy from lack of sleep, but this question had been bugging me for a while.

"Poppy, you know that I'm on tour." He mumbled as his eyes never looked away from the tv. I rolled my eyes and picked up the remote, clicking off the tv. "What are you doing?"

"Jasper, you know we had a deal." I began as he turned to look at me with sad eyes. "You said that if we came with you then we'd be able to see you everyday..."

"Poppy, I'm sitting here with Evelyn, what else should I do?" He asked, nudging towards Evelyn's sleeping form. I decided to let her nap with him since she didn't get to spend too much time with him.

"Don't get like that." I murmured, crossing my arms and looking towards the ground. "I don't want you to be tired all the time."

"Pop, I'm alright. It comes with the job." He replied, sitting up and laying Evelyn gently on the couch behind him. He wrapped his arms around my shoulders and I sighed. "We're not doing anything today, how about a beach trip?"

"Yeah," I answered with a slight smile. "That would be nice. How about, the night after a concert, I make sure to wake up with Evelyn so you can sleep in."

Jasper tries to be supportive and grab Evelyn in the morning even though she occasionally wakes up earlier than usual. Sometimes I'll come out to see a half asleep Jasper holding Evelyn as she snacked on some breakfast while they watched cartoons.

"Ok, thank you." He smiled softly as I went to the back room to rummage through our suitcases to find bathing suits. I knew that'd we'd be within a close proximity to a beach and in the middle of summer we would have to find a way to cool down anyway.

I finally found Evelyn's little bikini along with a swim diaper to wear underneath. She had a little sailor looking, high wasted suit. She hasn't worn it yet but I knew she would look adorable nonetheless. I asked Jasper to pack a red or blue bathing suit too so we could all match and take cute pictures together.

I pulled Jaspers suit out and grinned at the navy blue suit as I had a navy blue bikini with me. When I first gave birth to Evelyn I was so nervous to show my body, but I slowly returned to my pre-pregnancy look besides a few fading stretch marks on my stomach.

I quickly changed and threw a white sundress on top and I took the little suit out to the main part of the tour bus to grab Evelyn.

"Jazzy, you're suits on the bed babe." I told him quietly as he nodded with lazy eyes and stood to go change.

Evelyn looked like she had just woken up as she grumbled when Jasper stood up. I grinned and scooped her into my arms to hug her closely. "Hello love bug."

She grunted in response but when she pulled back she had a giant grin on her face that made my heart beat faster. She planted her face on my cheek in an attempt to give me a kiss but all she did was trail drool from my face to her open mouth.

"Good kiss baby!" I laughed as she clapped happily.

I never changed her out of her pajamas from this morning, so I unzipped her one piece and peeled her little body out. She wasn't too squirmy as I changed her, she mostly just watched me with wide blue eyes. My eyes caught a little headband that had been thrown on the counter from two nights ago and I quickly snagged it. It was red and white striped and it went with our little theme perfectly.