“Flight 89 is now boarding,” the desk clerk announced over the loud speaker.
“That’s me,” Kayla said with a sigh.
“All right girl, you take care and don’t talk to anyone on that plane, even if it’s a nun,” Alyissa said in an authoritative tone.
“You’ve watched ‘My Girl 2’ ONE too many times,” Kayla grinned.
Alyissa grinned and shrugged, “Maybe so, it’s a good movie.”
Kayla laughed and hugged Alyissa, “Don’t go insane and if you need to let out any heat, call me.”
Alyissa nodded her head, “Expect a call once you sit down on that plane.” She peeked back at the guys who were giving her a look. She ducked her head down and smiled innocently. She turned back to Kayla, “Take care and I’ll call you once I come home.”
Kayla nodded her head, “All right, you better.”
Alyissa stepped out of the way and Chris walked up to say good bye.
“Bye Kay Kay,” he grinned. “Oooh, I like the sound of that, Kay Kay, that’s now officially your new nickname.”
“Thanks...I think,” Kayla smiled. She hugged him and let go, “Behave yourself and try not to drive ‘Liss to insanity.”
Chris grinned, “I can’t make any promises but I’ll try my hardest. Bye Kay Kay, I’ll miss you!”
Kayla smiled softly, “I’ll miss you too.”
Chris stepped out of the way and JC walked up next.
“Hey sweetie, stay out of trouble and keep JIVE under control,” he said with a smile.
Kayla sighed, “I’ll try my best.”
They hugged and exchanged another good bye. JC stepped out of the way and Joey bounced up.
“This is like an assembly line, shouldn’t I be the one in line to try and get your autographs or something?” Kayla joked.
Joey grinned, “Nah we’ll give them to you personally, besides you have us in person, who needs autographs?”
Kayla laughed, “You right, I’m gonna miss your hyperness...not in the mornings though.”
Joey giggled, “I love you too Kayla, I’ll miss you!”
Kayla gave Joey a hug and he stepped out of the way. Justin wandered up with a killer smile on his face.
“And what do I owe this privilege to have you awake and talking?” Kayla asked jokingly.
“I had my cereal, so it’s all good,” he grinned. “Bye Kayla, don’t go messing up my car while I’m not there, but do me a favor and tell my baby I miss her.”
“Kayla laughed, “All right, I’ll be sure to do that.”
They hugged and Justin stepped out of the way to let Lance say good bye to Kayla. The whole place seemed to fall silent and everyone watched closely as Lance gazed at her.
“I’m going to miss you,” he said softly.
Kayla nodded her head sadly, “Same here.”
Lance wrapped his arms around her body and pulled her into a big hug. Kayla buried her face into his shoulder and wrapped her arms around his neck, hugging him in return. They hugged for a few minutes and finally Kayla pulled away. She sniffled and wiped a tear away.
“I can’t believe how much of a softie I am,” she said with a small laugh.
Lance wiped her tear away and smiled, “There’s nothing wrong with that.”
He cupped her cheek and leaned down to kiss her. Kayla touched his hand that was touching her face and closed her eyes, waiting to receive the kiss. Their lips met and they kissed affectionately.
“Last call for Flight 89,” the intercom rang out.
Kayla pulled away from when she heard that and blushed, realizing everyone else was watching them.
“Bye,” she managed to choke out. “I’ll call you when I get home.”
Lance let go of her and nodded his head, “I’ll be expecting your call.”
She smiled and took his hand, picking up her travel bag. She waved once again to everyone else as they said their last good bye’s. She walked towards the gate opening where she was going to board the plan. She held Lance’s hand until they couldn’t touch anymore and she finally let go. She waved for the last time and disappeared into the boarding tunnel.
Kayla walked off the tunnel and into the airport. She looked over the heads of all the people and tried to spot Bryce. She smiled when she saw Casey bobbing up and down above the crowd, obviously on Bryce’s shoulders.
Kayla made her way through all the people and finally reached the two of them waiting for her. Casey’s eye lit up when she spotted Kayla and she clapped excitedly. Bryce looked up to see what Casey was getting to excited over, then looked over to find Kayla making her way over to them. He squatted down carefully and let Casey off his shoulders.
Casey climbed off his shoulders cautiously, when her feet touched the solid ground she ran towards Kayla. Kayla dropped her travel bag and kneeled down, arms wide open. Casey ran into Kayla’s arms and hugged her tightly. Kayla wrapped her arms around the little girl and stood up, picking Casey up. She hugged her tightly and closed her eyes, happy to see the little girl and be able to hug her again.
Bryce made his way over to the two of them silently, with a satisfied smile on his face. Kayla was looking radiant. Her hair was let down and brushed to softness. Her eyes sparkled with happiness and she had a certain glow about her. She seemed much more happier. Bryce liked the look of the happy Kayla.
“Hey you, how was your flight?” Bryce asked, walking up to the two of them.
Kayla opened her eyes and smiled, “Fine thanks, though I’m starving...that airplane food just doesn’t cut it for me.”
Bryce nodded his head, “Good Casey and I haven’t eaten lunch yet.” He leaned over and picked up Kayla’s bag and slung it over his shoulder. “Let’s go find the rest of your luggage.”
Kayla nodded her head and followed Bryce towards the baggage claim, Casey still wrapped in her arms. Casey was now propped in Kayla’s arms comfortingly, one arm around Kayla’s neck and a bright smile on her face.
When they found all of Kayla’s luggage, they made their way out to Bryce’s car and drove to a restaurant to eat. They were all seated and had ordered when they finally got the chance to talk.
‘I missed you SO much!’ Kayla signed to Casey.
Casey grinned and signed back, ‘I missed you too! Did you bring me anything?’
‘Well it’s good to know you missed me THAT much,’ Kayla grinned.
Casey blushed and smiled, ‘I really did miss you mommy.’
Kayla smiled, ‘Good.’
“So how was the tour?” Bryce asked, folding his arms and placing them on the table.
Kayla smiled dreamily, “It was great Bryce, probably one of the best experiences I’ve ever had. It was so much fun and very laid back, plus the fact that I got to meet a lot of the new performers.”
Bryce nodded is head, “That’s good.”
“But enough of me, what did you two do while I was gone?” Kayla asked, looking down at Casey.
“The better question is what DIDN’T we do, right kiddo?” Bryce said with a smile, looking at Casey.
Casey nodded and gave a toothless grin.
“She lost another tooth?” Kayla asked, noticed the missing tooth.
“Yes she did and she got some money from the generous tooth fairy,” Bryce replied, signing along. “Right?”
Casey beamed excitedly and nodded vigorously. She pulled a quarter out of her pocket and held it up proudly, showing it off. Kayla marveled at it with extended enthusiasm.
“She won’t let that thing go ever since she got it,” Bryce explained.
Kayla nodded her head and smiled affectionately at the little girl. She started to play with her hair, running her fingers through is and twirling the big curls around her finger, then letting them go.
Casey ducked out of reach and shook her head in disapproval. Kayla narrowed her eyebrows in confusion.
‘What’s the matter?’ she signed. ‘You love it when I play with your hair.’
Casey shook her head again and looked over at Bryce for help.
“Yes well, Casey has decided that she doesn’t like people playing with her hair because it messes it up,” Bryce said, staring at Casey.
“And since when did she ‘decide’ this?” Kayla asked, fixing her stare on Bryce.
Bryce shrugged, “Just one day...you know kids, they go through their stages.”
Kayla didn’t like his answer, but accepted it and let go of Casey’s hair. “Oh, ok.”
The waitress came over to their table and handed out the food, asking them if they wanted refills on their drinks. Kayla smiled when she remembered the restaurant incident with Chris and Joey and their little competition. She laughed out loud and covered her mouth when she realized she had gotten caught up in her thoughts.
“What’s so funny?” Bryce asked, taking a bite out of his hamburger.
“Huh? Oh nothing, I just remembered something funny,” Kayla said shaking her head.
“Tell me.”
“No no, I don’t think you’d get it, you kind of had to be there,” Kayla said taking a bite of her salad.
“Come on,” Bryce pushed.
“No really you had to be there,” Kayla insisted.
Bryce stared at her for a second before shrugging his shoulders and shoving a fry into his mouth. “Whatever, probably not that funny anyway,” he mumbled.
“Excuse me?” Kayla asked, narrowing her eyebrows at Bryce.
Casey looked back and forth between them and saw something starting to go wrong. Though she was deaf, it just meant all her other senses were sharpened. The little girl sensed an argument was about to arise and didn’t want to see her mommy and daddy arguing. She decided to make a diversion, she reached up to get her milk and spilled it on purpose.
“OH!” Kayla cried out in surprise at the milk running across the table.
Bryce quickly grabbed the napkin bin and pulled out a chunk, tried to stop it before it ran off the table. He absorbed it as much as he could and left a pile in the middle of the table, trying to clean up the rest of the liquid. Kayla held her hand up to catch the attention of the waitress.
“Excuse me!” she called out.
The waitress saw her hand and walked over, “Yes? Oh...I’ll be right back,” the girl said, seeing the milk spilled on the table.
She walked back a few minutes later with a towel and a wet rag. She sopped up the rest of the liquid and wiped the table down, grabbing the pile of napkins in the process.
“I’m so sorry, she’s usually not this clumsy,” Bryce apologized to the waitress.
“It’s no problem, I have kids of my own,” the girl smiled.
She walked away before the liquid started to run.
“She’s not clumsy,” Kayla protested, staring at Bryce.
Bryce rolled his eyes, “I didn’t mean it in a bad way, all kids have accidents like that.”
Casey saw her ‘accident’ only caused another argument to flare up. She thought quickly and tugged on Kayla’s arm.
Kayla looked down, ‘What is it honey?’ she signed.
‘Bathroom,’ Casey signed, pointing towards the bathroom.
Kayla nodded her head and scooted Casey out of the booth, standing up herself. She took Casey’s hand and led her to the bathroom.
Bryce leaned back in his seat and sighed. Why was Kayla getting so defensive over everything? He hadn’t mean it offensively when he said Casey wasn’t usually that clumsy, he knew the waitress knew what he meant. Kayla seemed annoyed and offended by everything he said or did. He hoped all this tension would fade away eventually once she adjusted back to her life at home. He didn’t want to start fighting with her because he couldn’t afford that. He touched his pocket and sighed. What had that tour done to his Kayla?
“Hey Lance!” Chris called. “Snap out of it man!”
“Hm?” Lance said, breaking out of his thoughts.
“Kayla went home this morning and she’s probably home safe and sound, now snap out of dreamland and come back to earth where we have a sound check to finish,” Chris said, tossing him a microphone.
“Sorry, but she should have called by now,” Lance said, catching the mike.
“She’s probably stuck in traffic or something,” Chris said shrugging his shoulders. “Now let’s go lover boy, get off of cloud nine for a second and SING!”
Lance grinned, “All right all right.”
The music started around them and Lance held the mike in his hand and started to sing, perfectly harmonizing with the rest of them.
Kayla walked into her bedroom and smiled, happy to be home and be alone for a brief moment. She dropped her bags on the floor and walked over to her bed, flopping down and sighing with comfort. The past two weeks had been the best two weeks of her life. She had laughed, she had cried, she had opened up, and she had gained six new best friends and a boyfriend all at once. In her opinion, she did pretty well for a time period of two weeks.
She rolled over on her back and stared up at her ceiling. She smiled, remembering the pranks they had all played on each other and the incidents that had every day. Those guys were unpredictable and she loved that about them. She was envious of Alyissa, who was staying for at least another two weeks. Her mind finally drifted to Lance and she smiled, blushing to herself. He was amazing, his gentleness and concern blew her away. He was going to be good for her and she vowed to herself she wouldn't screw this all up.
She suddenly remembered she was supposed to call him when she got home, it had been almost two hours since she had come back and she still hadn’t called. She rolled over in her stomach and picked up the phone, when all the sudden she heard Bryce’s voice on the line. She was about the place the phone back down when she heard him talking about her.
“Yeah, we just got back from lunch,” he said.
“And did you talk to her about--” the person on the other line started.
“No,” Bryce cut them off. “I didn’t think it was the right time.”
“Well then are you going to?”
“When I feel that it’s the time to,” Bryce said with an attitude.
“No need to get hostile about it,” the other person said.
“No need to get pushy,” Bryce replied.
“Bryce I don’t know what got shoved up your ass today, but pull it out and pull it out NOW because if your not going to talk to me without getting an attitude about everything, then say good bye now.”
“Stop getting so worked up over everything, you act like you haven’t bitched to me about all your problems,” Bryce said in an annoyed tone.
Kayla looked at the phone surprised. This wasn’t like Bryce, he wasn’t this hostile or rude to anyone, maybe she didn’t know him as well as she thought. Usually when he had bad days he would talk about them calmly and then try and cheer himself up.
“Bryce don’t get like that with me--”
“Fine I’m sorry, happy?” he snapped.
The person sighed, “You need to fix your attitude problem QUICKLY and until then, DON’T call me.”
The phone clicked and Kayla heard Bryce mumble something under his breath and hang up. Kayla placed the phone down and stared at it. She didn’t want to walk into the living room where Bryce was. She wrapped her arms around herself and wondered what made him so heated. She wanted to hear a familiar voice so she picked up the phone, making sure Bryce was really off. The sound of the dial tone made her more at ease and she punched in the number she had memorized on the plane. She shook her leg nervously and anxiously while the phone rang.
“Hello?” a voice picked up.
“Hey honey,” Kayla said, easing up when she heard Lance’s voice.
“Hey sweetie, I thought something happened to you,” he said softly.
“No, I’m sorry but I went out to lunch with my room mate after he picked me up from the airport and I got back not too long ago,” she explained.
“Oh ok, just as long as you got home safely,” he said.
Kayla smiled, it felt good to hear his voice on the phone. “Yes.”
“Are you ok?” he asked suddenly.
“Huh? What do you mean?” she asked confused.
“Well you sound a little...different. Is something bothering you?”
Kayla shook her head, “No no, I’m fine.”
“All right, well I hate to cut this short but I have to head over to the arena so we can set up for our meet and greet, I miss you already,” he said.
“I miss you too,” she said gently.
“Bye sweetie,” he said.
“Bye,” she replied.
She heard the other line click and knew he had hung up. She looked at the phone in her hand and her smile was unbreakable. Her soft glow was back and her scared and nervous mood had seemed to vanished. It was amazing what this one person could do to her and what emotions he could stir up inside of her.
(Monday Morning)
“Well Miss Kayla, it’s good to see you, did you enjoy yourself on the tour?” Mr. Collins asked, walking into her office.
Kayla looked up from her paperwork and smiled brightly, “Yes I did Mr. Collins and let me just say thank you SO much for giving me the chance to go, it was a lot of fun and a great experience.”
“Well I aim to please,” Mr. Collins smiled in return. “You have a glow about you Miss Dudley, I have a hunch that it’s not a sun tan either.”
Kayla blushed and smiled, covering her face with her hand from slight embarrassment. “Well...I didn’t get out...to tan much...”
Mr. Collins nodded his head, “No need to tell me what it is or WHO it is for that matter, I’m just glad you had a good time.”
Kayla nodded her head, she couldn’t wipe the smile off her face. “Oh!” she said, turning around and bringing her purse onto her desk. She pulled out the small cell phone and handed it back to Mr. Collins. “Thank you, I only made a few calls and if you give me the bill I’ll take care of it.”
Mr. Collins hesitated, “Keep it Kayla, I’m sure you can use it and as long as you don’t abuse the privilege then the company will take care of the bill.”
“Are-are you sure?” Kayla stuttered.
“Very sure,” he assured her. “Well now that your back at work I’m sure you’ll be happy to hear there’s tons of paperwork waiting for you.”
“I couldn’t be more happier to hear that sir,” she replied with a smiled. “I couldn’t be happier.”
(Two Weeks Later)
Lance wiggled excitedly in his seat. He couldn’t sit still, they were going to Florida for their Fort Lauderdale concert and that meant he got to go home and sleep in his own bed for a night, but that also meant he was going to be able to see Kayla. That made him brighten up and make him anxious for the plane to land, usually he was a little nervous on planes, but this time his mind wasn’t even on the flight. His mind was on one thing and one thing only, seeing Kayla.
“Poofoo, if you don’t calm down you might pee yourself, you don’t want to do that when you see Kayla, she might be a little freaked out,” Justin laughed.
Lance shot him a look and shrugged his shoulders, “Are we almost there yet?”
“About five minutes closer as we were FIVE minutes ago!”
“Did I already ask that?” Lance asked sheepishly.
“No...what makes you think that?” Justin asked sarcastically.
“Your just hostile because your girlfriend isn’t going to be with us anymore once we leave Florida,” Lance said.
Justin shrugged, “So maybe I am...I don’t want to be like you the next time I see her,” he laughed.
Lance shot him a look and ignored his comment, “I get to see Kayla soon and no one can make me in a bad mood, not even YOU and your cracks.”
Justin rolled his eyes, “Is she picking you up from the airport?”
“She thinks she is,” Lance replied.
“Huh?”
“I told her my flight comes in around 4:30,” Lance told Justin.
“But it’s twelve now and we’ll be there in less than an hour,” Justin said confused.
“I know,” Lance said. “I’m going to surprise her at her apartment, then take her out to lunch or something.”
“Ohhh, all right Romeo, I got you now,” Justin grinned, nudging Lance’s arm.
“I thought of all that myself thank you,” Lance nodded.
Justin laughed, “Wait...won’t ‘Liss tell her what the real flight comes in?”
“Thought of that too,” Lance said. “I talked to ‘Liss and she’s covering for me.”
Justin laughed, “Ahhh, all right, all right I got you!”
Lance rolled his eyes and shook he head. He leaned back in his seat and stared out the window, he was already counting down the minutes until he saw Kayla.
“I have to go pick up a friend at the airport around 4:30, so I’m going to leave around 3 or so, can you be back here by then?” Kayla asked Bryce on the phone.
“Yeah I think so,” he replied.
Things had finally eased up between them and Kayla eventually forgot about the conversation she overheard when she had come home. Bryce had finally brightened up and he was starting to act like the old lovable Bryce. Their schedules were fitting relatively well lately and they rotated with going out for appointments and staying home with Casey. Usually Kayla would just bring Casey with her if she had to run an errand, but bringing her to the airport was out of the question.
“All right so be back here around 2:30 or so please? So I can leave around then,” she asked nicely.
“No problem, see you then,” Bryce said.
“Bye,” Kayla said.
They both hung up the phone and Kayla looked around the apartment. Casey was in her own room doing something and Kayla was trying to keep herself busy until Bryce arrived home so she could leave for the airport.
She remembered she had a load of wash to be attended to and she made her way to the washing machine and pulled out the wet clothes. She pulled the dry clothes out of the dryer and shoved them into a basket. She loaded the dryer again and took the basket of hot laundry into the living room. She sat herself in front of the TV and started to fold.
“We’re almost there!” Lance exclaimed excitedly, jumping up.
“Man SIT DOWN!” Justin said pulling Lance back into his seat. “People are staring!” Justin whispered.
“So?” Lance said.
“SO...if we’re spotted we’re in trouble,” he replied.
“Oh yeah,” Lance said, dropping his voice a few notches. “I can’t sit on this plane any longer though,” Lance whined.
“I thought I was bad with the whining thing! Man I’m going to get ‘Liss, she’ll listen to all of this stuff and be able to stand it, she’s a girl and they do those kinds of things,” Justin said, standing up carefully.
He walked away and a few minutes Justin returned, sitting in the seat behind Lance while Alyissa walked up, sitting next to Lance.
“So I heard I need to get you under control,” Alyissa smiled.
Lance looked at her like he had no idea what she was talking about, “Who me? Laid back Lance? Nah...I’m fine, Justin’s just not feeling too well.”
Alyissa laughed as Justin peeked through the crack of the seats, “Poofoo don’t even try to act normal! Two seconds ago you were about to pee yourself!”
“Umm...No J I’ve gotten over that problem, YOU on the other hand...I’m not so sure about,” Lance said, acting oblivious to what he was talking about.
“LANCE!” Justin yelled out.
“Justin! Keep it down!” Alyissa hissed.
“Lance!” Justin whispered harshly. “Don’t even try to play me out right now!”
Lance looked over at Alyissa and shrugged his shoulder, “I have no idea what he’s talking about.”
Alyissa giggled and shrugged her shoulders, “Baby, go lie down or something, all the tour life stress must be really getting to you.”
Justin muttered something under his breath and stood up, walking towards the back. Alyissa looked over and smiled, grabbing Lance’s hand.
“Well? Are you excited or what?” she asked enthusiastically.
Lance grinned and started to wiggle in his seat again, “I can’t sit on this plane any longer, I’m gonna burst, I swear!”
Alyissa giggled, “That’s so cute your so siked to see her.”
“It’s been hard not to be able to see her or kiss her or touch her, it’s been driving me insane. But I kept thinking about today, when I would be able to see her, and that just made the time go faster,” he smiled.
“Awww!” Alyissa gushed.
“Now now, none of that!” Lance protested, blushing. “So you told her our flight is coming in later like me right?”
Alyissa nodded her head, “I should be an actress!”
Lance laughed and Alyissa shot him a look.
Lance stopped laughing when he caught her look, “I mean, oh yeah definitely.”
Alyissa smiled with satisfaction, “You always were the best one at fixing your mistakes.”
Lance’s smiled softened, “I hope so, I fixed one mistake and now let’s hope this isn’t another.”
Alyissa looked at him, “It’s not, trust me, it’s not.”
Lance smiled more brightly again, “I have faith in this, she’s honest with me and I know everything I need to know...I don’t even think we have any secrets in between us anymore.”
Alyissa smiled, “Good, a relationship needs to start off with honesty.”
Lance nodded his head in agreement, “And that’s what we have...ever since the tour all we do is talk, talk about anything and everything, this girl knows almost everything about me and for once, I’m totally comfortable with that.”
Alyissa sighed, Kayla and Lance were working out really well together, she was being open and honest with him and that’s what he really needed. She opened him up and he liked that, he NEEDED that.
“That’s great Lance,” she said. “You’ll see her soon, so be patient and you can wiggle around all you want, I have no problem with it.”
Lance grinned, “Thanks ‘Liss, I knew you’d understand.”
Alyissa smiled to herself, he was just too cute, getting all excited. She was sure Kayla was in the same state.
Kayla paced around her living room, checking her watch for the millionth time in the past five minutes. She still had almost 2 hours left and she didn’t know how much longer she could sit in her apartment, waiting to leave. She would leave early, but Bryce wasn’t coming back until around 2:30 so she had to stay put until then.
She sat back down on her couch and leaned back, shaking her leg nervously. She flipped on the TV and flipped through all the channels, finding nothing that interested her. She turned on the radio and flipped through the stations, she was about the turn it off when a familiar song caught her ear. She flipped back to that particular station and smiled to herself. She turned up the radio to it’s full volume and sat back down, finally relaxing.
Lance almost ran off the boarding tunnel, but the crowd of people in front of him slowed him down. He walked at a slow pace as Alyissa walked beside him, watching him with amusement. The rest of the guys were scattered in front of him and in back of him. They each had body guards with them and hats pulled over their eyes with sunglasses.
Alyissa walked off the tunnel first and told Justin she would catch him later. He waved good bye and she left go find her ride home.
When all the guys walked off the tunnel and outside to the limo awaiting them, a wave of screams arose in the car port. They all took off their hats or their sunglasses, waving and smiling at the screaming fans. They stopped to sign a few autographs and waved some more. They finally made it to the limo safely.
Girls ran along side the limo and pounded on the windows.
“Well it’s good to be home,” Joey grinned.
The guys laughed and nodded their heads in agreement. Chris pressed his face against the window of the limo as a girl shrieked with pure delight. Chris burst out laughing and waved again as the limo pulled out and into the busy highway.
Lance drummed his fingers on his knees to the music playing on the radio in their limo. He stared out the window and tried to hide all the excitement he had bottled inside of him. He was almost there, almost to Kayla. Not too far away anymore.
After what seemed like forever to Lance, they pulled up to Kayla’s apartment building and Lance hopped out. He knocked on the window and JC rolled it down.
“Thanks again guys, I’ll meet you at sound check later,” he said.
“All right, have fun and make sure you tell Kayla we said hi!” JC called after him.
Lance waved in response and walked towards the front door. He entered the lobby and boarded the elevator. He finally reached her floor and got of the elevator. His stomach was doing flips and he could see Kayla’s face in his mind. He walked down the hall and made his way to her door.
He reached her door and took a deep breath. He raised his hand and knocked loudly on the door.
Kayla walked into Casey’s room and tapped her on the shoulder. Casey looked up from what she was doing and smiled.
‘I have to run out to the store and you have to come with me,’ Kayla signed.
Casey nodded her head and stood up. She took Kayla’s hand and let her lead her out to the living room. Kayla grabbed her purse and keys, making her way to the door.
‘Mommy, mommy!’ Casey signed, pulling on Kayla’s arm.
‘What honey,’ Kayla signed back.
‘Do you love me?’ Casey asked.
‘Of course I do, I love you very much Cass, you know that.’
‘Your my mommy right?’ Casey signed.
Kayla hesitated, ‘Do you consider me your mommy?’
Casey nodded her head.
‘Then I am,’ Kayla signed. ‘Why would you think any differently?’ she asked.
Casey shrugged, ‘Just making sure.’
Kayla smiled and hugged the little girl, ‘I love you.’
‘I love you too,’ Casey signed back.
Kayla took her hand and pulled her purse onto her shoulder. She started making her way to the door when she heard a loud knock. She looked at her watch and wondered if Bryce had come home early. She wasn’t sure why he’s be knocking but she guessed he forgot his key.
She walked over to the door and swung it open, expecting Bryce, but finding Lance standing there instead.
“Lance!” she exclaimed. “What are you doing here?” she asked.
“Sur...” he started, then saw Casey staring up at him. “Prise...?”
Kayla looked down at Casey who was staring at Lance with wonder.
“Who’s this?” Lance asked, smiling at Casey.
“This?” Kayla said nervously. “This is-is-” she stammered.
She couldn’t say this was her little sister after she had just told Casey she was her mother. Casey was probably feeling vulnerable and unsure of her ‘parents’ ever since Kayla had been away so much. She knew Casey could read lips and she could feel Casey’s innocent eyes fixed on her. Kayla couldn’t rob Casey of what she had just given to her, but she also couldn’t ruin what she had finally established with Lance. Her breath quickened and she started to panic.
Casey looked up at Kayla and watched her lips move, reading them to see what she was saying.
Kayla’s shoulders fell in defeat and she sighed, “Lance, this is Casey...she’s....” She took a deep breath and finished, “She’s my daughter.”
