“I hope so,” Kellie grimaced as I turned and walked inside to grab my purse.
Leaving Kellie to it, I took a drive. Winding through the quiet streets, warring with the thoughts in my head. I had decisions to make but I was avoiding them at all costs, and so far, I was doing a good job of it.
Every text I’d exchanged with Hayden through the week was all about Kellie’s father. He’d spoken to her mom and got enough information to start digging and he'd let me know if he found anything.
Late last night Hayden had sent me a text telling me he’d call in the morning. Ever since it’d come through, I’d been on edge. Tossing and turning, I’d barely slept and this time I couldn’t blame the lumpy couch either. When Cassie fussed just before sunrise, I scooped her up from her crib, carried her into the living area and gave her a bottle before changing her diaper and getting her back to sleep, letting Kellie get some much-needed rest.
For the last couple of days, spending time on my own alone with my thoughts, I started trying to work through the mess I’d managed to make of my life. It wasn’t easy. And it certainly wasn’t pretty, but somewhere along the way I realized everything I’d been telling everyone else, everything I’d been encouraging them to do, it was time for me to start taking my own advice. I needed to start living my own life again. It was time. I needed to do it. I needed to do it for myself. Not for Cassidy. Not for my parents, and not even for Hayden. I knew what I wanted, and now I had to push through the hurt and the pain and go after it. And the first step was making sure Kellie was back on her feet before I left her. I couldn’t, in good conscience, walk away until I knew she was going to be okay.
Parking my car, I walked along the boardwalk, watching the kids race by on scooters, parents chasing along behind. The smell of buttery popcorn filled the air. A single, solitary, pink balloon was floating towards the heavens while a child cried, arms outstretched. Everywhere around me was life. People were living it, and in that moment, it was time.
Finding a park bench under a tree, I decided I couldn’t put it off a moment longer.
My hands were shaking.
There was sweat beading on my forehead.
Behind my sunglasses, I couldn’t stop blinking.
Knowing it was the right thing, didn’t make it any easier to breathe.
As I waited for the line to connect, my heart pounded.
And when he picked up, I swear it stopped.
“Hello?”
“Hayden?”
“Yeah?” His voice was raspy and thick with sleep even though it was almost two in the afternoon.
“It’s Skye. Have you got time to talk?” I asked nervously, almost coming out of my skin.
25
HAYDEN
Wakingup to the words “have you got time to talk” was never a good way to wake up.
“Yeah, I’m up,” I lied, scrubbing my hand down my face as I sat up, leaning against the headboard.
“I woke you, didn’t I?”
“It’s fine. I needed to be up anyway. How are you? How’s Ohio? How’s Kellie?”
“Hayden.”
There was something in the way she said my name that had me suddenly wide awake and alert.
“What’s up, Skye? Talk to me?”
“I’m coming back to Chicago.”
“Oh. Okay. When?” Not what I was expecting, but then again this was Skye. I never really knew what to expect with her. It was one of the things I was really starting to like about her.
“I’m not sure. I just decided.”
“Well let me know when you book your flight. I can pick you up from the airport,” I offered.
