Saving Her Lost Soul

Chapter 40

We walk outside into the car park. I don't even know what car Flynn has. He uses the fob to open his car but Tyler's car unlocks. I look up at Flynn, "I asked to borrow his car, took me a lot of persuading!" What did he have to sell to get Tyler to hand over his car?
    "He let you drive to the water park," I shrug not understanding. 
    Flynn snorts, "That was his old car, not his baby. He's very protective over this one." I roll my eyes. 
    "My parents would just buy him another one. I don't know what his problem is, it's replaceable." I shrug. "What's wrong with yours?" 
    "What's right with mine? It's a pile of sh-- rubbish. I wanted Miley to be in a safe car." I nod and Flynn opens the back door. I place Miley in the back seat and put her seat belt on. 
    "I need to get her a car seat. I don't like this," I say to Flynn. I stroke her head and shut the door. I open my door and slide in the front. Flynn is already in the driver's seat. 
    "I know baby, I'll drive carefully. I promise," I trust him but it doesn't settle my nerves. I look back at her and she smiles at me. I put my seatbelt on and he drives out of the parking space. 
    We pull up at the mall and I get out the car and go to Miley's door. I open the door and unclip her seatbelt. She jumps out the car and holds my hand. She holds her hand up to Flynn and he happily takes her hand. We walk into the mall and Miley pulls Flynn towards the jewellery store. I try to hang back but Miley doesn't let go of my hand. 
    She pulls us both in the store and she lets go of my hand but continues to pull Flynn towards the rings. I lean against the glass unamused he's still entertaining the idea of a ring. "No Flynn, not that one. You don't want to lose her, I could lose her with that ring." I roll my eyes. She wouldn't lose me over this. 
   "So which one then?" he asks. I feel his eyes burning me but I don't look at him. This is ridiculous. I'd walk out of here but I know Miley won't interract with him without me here. I cross my arms in frustration. 
    "That one," Miley points to the ring she wants. Fuck my life, what has she chosen? I dread to think about the prices in here for a meaningless item. 
   Flynn throws his head back and laughs, "I think you're right, Smiley." Do I even want to know what they have chosen? 
    "You called me Smiley," she whispers. Flynn stops laughing and kneels down to her level. She looks uncomfortable. 
    "It's your nickname I used to call you, do you not like it anymore?" she jumps into his arms clinging to his neck. My heart swells watching them. 
    "I've missed you," she says into his ear and he holds her tightly. I smile at them, I wish she could be like that with him without me in the room. 
    "Let's go get Angel her ring shall we?" Miley nods and pulls him to the till. She nudges him and he bends down so she can whisper in his ear. I don't hear what she says but Flynn laughs and looks at me. He stands up and starts talking to the man behind the counter. 
    Flynn hands over his credit card and I sigh. He's really doing this, what an idiot. Once he's paid Miley runs to me and holds her hands out to me. I lift her up, "We can pick it up later after we finish shopping." Flynn says and I glare at him. He grins at me as we leave the store and I head into another store to buy a car seat. 
   I head to the back where the car seats are. I look them all over, "Can I have that one, Angel? Please?" She points at the Frozen 2 one. It's black on the bottom and blue with the princesses on the top. I look at the stats suitable for 4-12 year olds. I don't see why not. 
    "Sure honey," I pick it up but Flynn takes it off me to carry it. I continue to carry her and head to the clothing section. I grab her a few outfits, PJ's, Wellies, shoes, coats, bedcovers of her choosing. She opted for harry potter. I pay for her items and Flynn carries the bags and car seat out the store. 
   "I'll take this lot back to the car, where are you going next?" I guess just the supermarket. She needs a tooth brush and tooth paste and other bits. 
    "Supermarket," I shrug. He kisses both our foreheads and heads towards the car park. I walk to the supermarket. Miley starts chatting away to me now that Flynn has gone. She seems more at ease when we are alone but at least she will interact with Flynn. 
   I grab a basket in my other hand. I put kids bubble bath in, toothbrush, kids toothpaste. I buy all essential items for her. "Angel," she points to a kids sippy cup. It's got horses on it and there's matching sets. I smile at her and pick up the cup, plate, bowl and cutlery. She hugs me tighter. 
   We walk down the towel section and she squeals. She points at a hooded horse towel, "Pwease, Angel." I laugh and put it into the basket. It's starting to get heavy now. "Thank you, Angel." I kiss her forehead and she smiles. Flynn comes into view and I smile at him. He takes the basket off me, thank god. I shift her in my arms. 
    "I think we are done," I say to him and he grabs my hand and we walk to the tills. Once we've paid I head towards the car park. Flynn starts pulling me towards the jewellery store instead and I roll my eyes. I wait outside the store with Miley whilst he goes back in the store. 
   He comes out a few minutes later and produces a pink ring box. Bloody pink. He holds it out to me and I frown. He opens it and I take my eyes off his face and look at the ring. Fuck my life, it's actually perfect. It matches my bracelet.  A pink heart surrounded by white diamonds. It has some white diamonds on the ring band too. I hope he never tells me how much this cost because I'll be mortified. 
    "My lost soul," Miley says excitedly in my ear. I look at her and Flynn gets the ring out of the box and shows me the engraving on the ring. My mouth falls open, it's the same engraving on the bracelet without his intials on it. 
   "Flynn," I gasp. He takes my left hand and slides the ring on, strangely it's a perfect fit. I look at it on my hand. I don't know whether to laugh or cry. Warm tears fall from my eyes and I guess my body chose tears. Fuck it all. 
   He wipes the tears away. "Are you sad Angel? Did we choose wrong?" I look at Flynn's face and he's frown at me as he wipes away the stupid tears. 
    I look at Miley, "I'm not sad, baby. It's a perfect ring, you chose well." Flynn hugs us and rests his face in my neck. It's too perfect to even take off, why is he doing this to me? 
    He takes my hand again and leads us out the mall to the car. I open the back door and Flynn has already put the car seat in place. I place her in and put the seatbelt on. Flynn loads the boot up with the bags. "Angel?" 
   "Yes, honey." 
   "This has been the best day ever. I need to tell Dr Faye all about the shopping. The ring, the pancakes, Harry Potter film, loads!" I smile and stroke her hair. 
    "Well honey, today isn't over yet. Plus we get the whole day together tomorrow too." She beams at me. 
    "I can't wait," I kiss her head and shut the door. I climb in the front and Flynn is waiting for me. He grabs my hand and kisses my ring finger. I'm still not happy about this. I put my seatbelt on and I withdraw my hand. I need to talk to him again about this in private. Am I expected to take it off when I'm not around Miley? Or does he expect me to wear it all the time? What would I say to my family? Hell! 
    "I've searched parks in the area. Do you have one in mind or shall I just go to any?" Flynn asks. My heart swells that he's really invested in this. 
    I smile at him, "Any will do, Flynn." He nods and drives away from the mall. He places his hand on my leg as he drives. Each touch seems natural to me. However, when anyone else does it I'm always aware. Nathan likes to hold my hand or touch my leg and it makes my brain work double time thinking if it's right or not. 
    About ten minutes later Flynn pulls up at a country park. We get out the car and I help Miley out. I place her new coat on and put her in her new wellies. She grabs my hand and we walk into the park trail. Flynn takes my other hand and we follow the trail. I take in the scenery, this would be a nice place to run. We come to a set of wooden stepping stones for kids. 
    "Do you want to try, Miley?" she nods. 
    "You do it with me," ah crap. My balance is shit. I always enjoyed the leaping logs at the lake but that didn't require a lot of balance. She let's go of my hand and runs to the stepping stones. I follow at my own pace. She has no trouble stepping to each one. I step up on the first one and I wobble. Flynn laughs at me and I glare at him. 
    I step to the next one and I lose my balance, Flynn catches me before I fall. "You're not much good at this are you?" he mocks me. I roll my eyes and he holds my hand as I walk over each log. I see Miley has already completed the task. I step down the last one and sigh. 
    "Come on, Angel. Let's find the next one," I smile at her and she runs ahead of us but luckily she stays in sight. It's so nice to see her having fun and playing like a child should. She waits for us to join her at the next section. 
    It's a single chain that you need to walk on with another chain over head to help keep your balance. Miley starts and she can only just reach the top chain. She easily shuffles along she makes it look so easy. I step onto the bottom chain holding the top and it swings way too much. It's level with my chest. 
   I wobble again and Flynn laughs really loud, "Christ, Ri. You know, I'm having so much fun watching you attempt these." His hands hold each side of my backside keeping me steady as I shuffle on the chain. 
    "You aren't funny," I growl but I'm just glad he's here with me. He helps me to the end and Miley claps giggling. She runs to the next one and I'm glad to see monkey bars. I can do that with not a lot of difficulty. Miley climbs the ladder and starts swinging. Flynn helps her, she lacks in muscle where she doesn't play. 
    I grab the bars but I have to bend my knees to actually do it as I'm too tall. I finish it in seconds and place my feet on the floor. Miley laughs and throws her arms out and runs to the next one like she's flying. She's so fricking cute when she laughs. 
   Next one is a wobbly wooden suspension bridge. Miley goes first and she takes it in her stride. I step up and wobble like a leaf. Fecking hell, she makes it look so fucking easy. Flynn hold my thigh as I move. I hold the chains to keep me steady. "You're so cute," Flynn says looking up at me. "I should film it, it will crack them all up." 
    "You dare," I warn and he laughs again. "This is all for her, all for you. So don't mock me," I say playfully. 
    "I know, Ri and I love you for it. You always said you didn't have a heart but christ, it's so big it hurts," I roll my eyes. 
    "Yeah yeah," I mumble and reach the end. I jump onto Flynn's back and he holds the back of my knees. I grip his neck and he starts walking to the next one behind Miley who's running again. I nuzzle my nose into his neck and he groans. 
    "Stop teasing, Ri." I smell his neck and I smile as he walks to the next section. Miley runs to the platform of the zip wire. Flynn sets me down on my feet and grabs the swing for her. He helps her onto the seat. "Hold on tight Smiley." She nods and he gently pushes her and she squeals in delight as she glides through the air on the swing. 
   I get my phone out and film her on the swing. She's too adorable not to. Once the swing comes to a stop Flynn helps her off and he brings it back to the platform. "Your turn, Angel." 
      "Come on, Ri." I shake my head. He sits on the swing and holds his hand out to me. I roll my eyes and grab the swing and jump up and wrap my legs around him. "Hmm, it has it's benefits." he winks at me and I slap his arm playfully. He grins and pushes us off the platform and Miley starts laughing. 
    Once we reach the other end the swing bounces and throws us back and I fall backwards falling in the bark. I land on my bad wrist, christ. "Angel!" Miley screams and comes to my rescue. When she reaches me I pull her down to me and start tickling her to lighten the situation. 
   Flynn is with me in seconds, Miley screams with laughter now and not in panic. Flynn holds his hand out to me and I grab his hand with my good hand. He pulls me to his body, "You okay baby?" I nod. 
    Miley pulls at my coat and I look down at her, "Next one, Angel." I nod and she leads the way. Flynn reaches for my hand and I flinch. 
     "You hurt your wrist again, didn't you?" I pull my arm away but stand the other side of him and hold his hand. 
     "It's fine, Flynn." I reassure him but he doesn't accept it. He gently takes my bad wrist in his hand and tries to flex it. I screw my face up. 
    "It's not fine, I'm still pissed you took it off. At least wear a brace if not a cast. Please Ri," I grumble but roll my eyes. He takes my good hand and leads me to the next section. A climbing wall. At least there are coloured blocks on it to help climb up. "Ri, you aren't doing it with your wrist." 
    "Of course I am." I roll my eyes and start to climb after Miley. I try using my left hand more or my forearm not my hand. It's not very high, I can feel Flynn burning me. I get to the top and swing my legs over. It's at a slight slant so there's two options, slide down or use the rope to abseil down. Miley is using the rope. 
    Flynn is at the bottom waiting anxiously. I bring my wrist to my side, I slide down and Flynn catches me when I reach the bottom. He wraps his arm around my shoulder and we walk to the next section when Miley reaches the bottom. Rain droplets start to drip on us and I groan. Why couldn't the rain hold off?
    I see a family in the distance with a dog and Miley runs to me crying. "Angel!" she cries. The dog follows her and it only makes her cry more. She reaches me and I pick her up. The dog barks at us but not in an aggressive way. He just wants to play. She screams into my neck. 
    "It's okay honey. He just wants to play." She carries on crying into my neck. The family come closer to me. 
    "I'm sorry, he is friendly. Barney, come here." The woman growls. The dog doesn't listen just continues to look up at us. 
    "It's okay, honestly. She's just not used to dogs. Can I pet him?" The woman smiles and nods. I bend down and Miley cries more. I stroke the dogs head. Miley's cries die down a little bit as she notices me petting him. "Hi, Barney. This is Miley, she's a bit afraid but you'll be careful, won't you?" Man, I sound so fucking stupid talking to a dog. 
    The dog tries nuzzling his nose to Miley but she grips tighter to me. Dogs are supposed to have a sixth sense about these things. The dog licks her cheek and Miley giggles. "See Honey, he's friendly. He likes you," I say and Miley stops crying and looks at the dog. Her curiosity has always got the better of her. She gingerly strokes the dog and the dog licks her face again and she laughs. 
    "I want a dog, Angel." She smiles at me. We both pet the dog and I stand up. 
    "Thank you," I say to the woman. 
    "No problem, your daughter is sweet," she says and they continue on their journey. I put Miley down and she runs off ahead again. My daughter? I look at Flynn and he's smiling not angry. 
    "You're so good with her. I don't even think my Mom could settle her that quick." I frown. These people are really trying to freak me out. 
    "What was your Mom like?" I ask and he frowns at me. He takes my hand again and we continue after Miley. 
    "Miley looks a lot like her I guess. Black wavy hair, blue eyes. She was strict but fair. She always made sure we had what we needed but we weren't spoiled. Miley had a lot of tantrums even back then but my Mom never pandered to her. She completely ignored her until she calmed down. She loved us for sure but I'm not sure it was always the best thing for her, you know?" I smile listening to each word. 
    "And your Dad?" I ask. 
    "He was more of a silent type. I don't think he agreed with her methods but he never voiced them in front of us. If we wanted a biscuit and she said no he would sneak us one anyway. He was always good cop and she was bad cop." 
     "Any grandparents?" 
     "Not really, none that actually bothered with us. We saw them once a year or so around Christmas time. None of them were willing to take care of us when they died so to me that's not family. I'm sure your family would take anyone under their wing. Have you got any grandparents?" 
      "Yeah, I have a Nana on my dad's side of the family and My pops and nanny from my Mom's side are amazing. We see them on birthday's and Christmas time. Although I've declined the last couple of events." 
    "I'd like to meet them at some point," I laugh. 
    "I'm sure you will although you may never want to see me again after," I roll my eyes. 
    "Not likely, why, are they bad?" 
    "No, the opposite. If you think my Mom is over the top. Wait until you meet them. They will feed you up until you pass out. They are lovey dovey all the time. You'll feel like their own grand child they that nice." He laughs. 
     "Oh, I forgot. You don't do nice," I join his laughter and gently push his body. The rain is starting to dampen our clothes but nothing is dampening our mood. We finish the sections and we reach a cafe. I look at my phone and see it's about time for lunch. I wouldn't bother myself but she needs to eat reguarly. We head in out of the rain.