Bad Publicity

10. Super duper fun day

Chapter 10.

Ava

I walk into the office nearly 5 hours late. "Good afternoon Ava" Cedric greets me. I smile "Hi Cedric, so how much trouble am I in?" I ask him.

"He's pissed, you might want to just go home" Cedric says. I chuckle "I'll be fine" I tell him.

I know my father's going to put me through hell today but I smile anyway as I leave Cedric at his desk.

Cedric has never seen my father hit me, but he knows my dad's not the nicest when he's mad. Thankfully I bought my makeup bag. I take in a breathe before entering my fathers office.

Jaxson

"What are we going to do today?" Bella asks me. "We're going to have a fun day" I tell her strapping her into the car seat.

"A super duper fun day" she cheers and I chuckle "yes we're going to have a super duper fun day" I tell her.

Our first stop is the park. We stay 2 hours longer than intended but Bella's having fun.

She tells me about her friends and about some of her favorite things like movies, which is obviously The Little Mermaid.

When it's time for lunch once we leave the park and I take her to a small diner close by.

She asks for chicken tenders so that's what I ordered her. "Do you go to school?" I ask her.

She's only three but she was very smart. "No, mommy says I'll start soon though" she beams.

"You really love your mommy don't you?" I ask. It's obvious, she talks about her a lot. She nods "I love mommy. I don't like it when people are mean to her" she frowns.

Who's mean to her mother? "I'm sure everyone's nice to Ava" I tell her. "Grandpa not, he's mean" she says.

He must be the old bitter type of person. I hope he's not mean to my daughter. I already don't like seeing her sad.

"How about some ice cream?" I say and watch her eyes light up. She nods "what kind do you want?" "umm... chocolate" she says. I nod "stay right here, I'll be right back" I go to cashier and order us both a chocolate ice cream cone.

I watch as Bella kicks her legs and looks around. I love her. There is nothing else to say.

I love my daughter and I wish I was there for her when she was born. I wish I was there before she was born. Ava's been raising Bella by herself for four years.

She went through nine months of pregnancy alone. I'm such an asshole. I get our ice creams and we head back to the car.

"You ever been to an arcade?" I ask her. She shakes her head no. I grew up in the arcade. It's around the corner from my dads company so while he worked I came here and crushed every game.
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"Wow" I say after looking back at Bella. Ice cream is everywhere, how is that even possible?

"This is cold" she says and I can't help but laugh. We get out and I take her into one of the family restrooms to get her cleaned up.

Her clothes will have to remain messy until we got back home. "What game do you want to play first?" I ask her as I get tokens out of the machine.

She looks around and finally points at a game. I grin rocket shooter was my favorite game of all time. I had the highest score for months.

I show her how to play and watch as she struggles a few time. "It's easier if you just keep clicking this button" I tell her pointing at the button that releases the rockets from the gun.

She tries again this time instantly killing it. She makes it to level seven without getting attacked. I give her a high five.

"I did it" she says excitedly. Of course she did, she is my daughter and us Ross's don't lose.

Shit I don't even know her last name. "What's your full name Bella?" I ask her. "Isabella Layton Hudson" she says with a smile.

The instant I hear her name my eyes start watering. Layton was my fathers middle name. I miss my dad so much. I'm lost without him.

She frowns at me "what's wrong Jaxson" she says and wipes the tears that escape. "You don't like my name?" she asks me. I shake my head no and smile "it's a beautiful name princess" I tell her.

She smiles again "now let's play some more games" I stand up from my crouched position and we find another game.

Bella wins three large stuffed animals all by herself. Yup, she is for sure my daughter. "Where are we going now?" my daughter asks from the back seat "the mall" I tell her.

She beams "there's puppies there" she says. Since when did they start selling puppies in the mall? "We can go look at them" I tell her and she smiles.

In every store we go to she doesn't want or ask for anything except a small pink leather jacket . So I just get her some things I think any four year old will like.

She doesn't stop me so I assume she likes some of the things I got for her. Maybe she is just anxious to go see the puppies.

We walk into the pet store and she practically runs to the dogs. She looks so happy playing with them "this ones name is Isabella too" she chirps "but they call her  Issy" she says.

I smile as she hands me the puppy. She is small and brown and she has blue eyes. I know nothing about dogs but she looks extremely rare.

The way Bella looks at the dog makes me know how much she wants it. "Hi Isabella" a women wearing a blue apron says approaching us.

Bella smiles big and hugs the women. "Hi Maggie" she says. "Back to see Issy so soon?" Maggie says and Bella nods.

I stand up holding the small animal and smile at the women "this is Jaxson" Bella says. "Hi Jaxson" "hi nice to meet you" I tell her. "Bella why don't you put Issy back? We have to leave soon" I tell her and she nods taking the puppy from my hands

"Please don't sell that dog" I tell the women. "You're going to get it?" she asks me. "I have to ask her mom first, but I'll put money down so you don't sell it. How much can I reserve it for $2,000 enough?" I ask.

"Woah, woah... you don't need to reserve it. I've been saving Issy for Isabella. Cedric really wants her to have it" she says.

I am really getting tired of Cedrics name coming up in conversations. "I haven't met him but I've heard so much about him" I say.

She smiles "he's my boyfriend, when he told me about Isabella wanting a dog I knew Issy was the perfect choice" she says.

I was starting to think he was Ava's boyfriend. "I ready" Bella says sounding tired as she makes her way back to us. I pick her up and we leave the mall.

It's starting to get dark. "Did you have fun?" I ask my daughter. When she doesn't give me a response I look through the mirror and see that she is already asleep.