Another Life With You || sequel to IWCT

Three

Tossing and turning for hours Calum finally give up trying to sleep, instead wandering out of his room onto the back patio, sighing heavily as he takes in the cool night sky. Duke pads slowly behind him, the old dog even grumpier and lazier in his old age.

"What am I going to do, Duke? You remember Skye, you liked her a lot." He sits carefully down on the patio where she used to lay her blankets to look at the stars.

"I want to be with her still. I know people don't understand that, but I want to try again. I hate the what if's, I feel like this time it could work, her life is at a better place and so is mine. It's not like we fell out of love, we just fell out of circumstance. It was a timing and distance thing, not a knock down drag out thing." He sighs, laying back on the cool concrete.  Duke immediately climbs to curl up on his chest.

"I see what they are afraid of, I'm not stupid, she did ghost me, and it hurt like hell. But seeing her again, it was like I woke up from a haze I didn't know I was in. It was like the universe was yelling at me, Here it is, here is your second chance! How do I ignore that, Duke?" He glances down at the old dog who simply looks at him unamused.

"What if I asked you to ignore it?"  Calum turns, seeing Nika standing by the pool, her nerves showing across her face.

"Why are you awake, Nika? It's the middle of the night." He sighs, climbing off the ground and beckoning her over to the sofa.

"I went to the bathroom and saw your door open, I know something has been bugging you." She shrugs, curling up against his side.

"I'm sorry, Nika, I should have just talked with you. I was hoping you wouldn't notice how I was acting."

"I'm eight, dad, not four anymore."

"You're still not that old." Calum laughs.

"But I'm old enough. I never got to know my mom, and I probably never will. That's on her, and I don't think I care. But I do remember having someone I thought could be my mom. I remember seeing my friends with their moms in preschool, and thinking Skye could be like my mom. I was little, but I remember a lot of little memories with Skye. And I remember how everything changed when she left. I remember you two dancing in the kitchen, and laughing, and I remember climbing on your foot to join in the dancing. I remember how you would smile, and traveling and all that stuff. She was so much fun. But I also remember how sad you got when she left. You didn't smile for like a year, not at all. And I remember feeling weird, and empty, and waiting by the window for her to come home to me finally. I was five and I didn't get that she just wouldn't come back. KayKay finally had to explain it to me as best she could. I just feel like the happy was good with her here... but the sad was so much worse that I don't want to be around her. She hurt me a lot, dad, and I know she hurt you too. You loved her too much for her to not have hurt you. Can you please not bring her around? I don't like how I feel when I'm around her. I feel like I can't be me. Like I'm going to get hurt. Even just seeing her last week at that diner made me feel sick inside. I thought she would always love me, that she would always be around, and then she just wasn't and I didn't even get a goodbye from her..."

"When did you become so smart, Nika Joy?" Calum chuckles sadly, "I'm sorry you feel like that. I'm sorry that I was so wrapped up in my pain of losing her that I never noticed you were dealing with the emotions of her abandoning you too."

"I just don't want to worry about her doing that to us again. I don't think I can trust her again, dad. She hurt me so much. I've never been hurt like that before." Nika sighs, cuddling into Calum's chest.

"I'm sorry, baby girl, I should have taken your feelings into consideration."

"When you took her on that date last week, I was so afraid you would bring her back here and I wouldn't feel safe in my own house at that point. I don't want to feel like that here."