Sydney grins. “I love you, too.”
It’s going to be a good road trip, if only because I’m leaving on a good note.
It may not be the best idea, but before I board, I text my mom.
Me: Hey. Just wanted to let you know that you have a granddaughter. She turns 3 on March 19th. If you want to know why you’re just now finding out, ask Dad. If you want to know more about her, I’ll call you after this trip.
Then, I turn my phone off and find Zane and EJ. We usually play cards when we’re on the plane. Sometimes, it’s nothing exciting, depending on what EJ brings. He might bring a regular deck of cards or it might be Uno. You never know.
Today, it’s Uno.
EJ is unusually quiet as we start to play, but Zane is the one who asks, “What’s wrong with you?”
EJ shrugs. “Ever feel like something bad is about to happen? I’ve had this gut feeling that something is about to happen for two days now and it’s starting to aggravate the hell out of me. I’m assuming it’s bad considering all the anxiety it’s giving me. I wish it’d just happen already.”
“Maybe it’s nothing,” Z tries, but EJ shakes his head.
“My gut is never wrong. One day, I woke up and had a feeling I shouldn’t go to school. Got in a wreck on the way there. There was another time where I had this feeling that something was going to happen. I ignored it and went on about my day. My car broke down on the interstate. Haven’t ignored it since. Something is going to happen; I’m telling you. It’s never taken this long, though.”
“Sounds like you’re paranoid,” I say.
“You fucking think? I know something is going to happen and it hasn’t happened yet. I don’t know what it is, so yeah, I’m paranoid, waiting for it to happen. Let’s talk about something else. How’s your little girl?”
“Good. She starts skating lessons next week.”
“She wants to be a figure skater,” Z adds.
“For now at least.”
“That’s cool. My sister’s a figure skater,” EJ says.
“You have a sister?” Z asks. “How old is she?”
“Are you seriously asking about my sister like that? Aren’t you hooking up with someone?”
“Yeah, but we’re in an open relationship or whatever shit she calls it.”
I listen to them go back and forth while EJ tells him he isn’t going to know anything about his sister, who doesn’t even live in North Carolina, so there’s no point. The game of Uno goes on uninterrupted, though. My mind wanders, curious as to what message from my mom will be waiting for me when we land. Considering we don’t talk all that much, I don’t know what kind, if any, relationship she’ll want with Savannah. It won’t be a close relationship since she still lives in Florida.
Then again, that’s a good thing. My sisters are just like my mom and I think that has a lot to do with living with her when she left Dad. I don’t want Mom around Savannah too much if there’s a chance she could influence her. Does that make me a bad son? Either way, it makes me feel like a pretty damn good father.
“I’ve missed you guys so much.” I lean against Logan, who has Savannah in his lap. Carey is at the stove, finishing up dinner. I didn’t realize how much I did miss them until right now. The three of us haven’t had a chance to hang out since before I moved out.
“Whatever,” Logan mutters.
“Whatever, Mommy,” Savannah repeats.
“I have! What have y’all been up to without me?”
“Same as usual,” Carey answers. “Logan just whines more since he injured his leg. How is it over there?”
“Good. Weird when Ian is gone.” Which is one reason why I’m over here. I miss him more when I’m at the apartment alone or when I have to crawl into the bed, knowing I’ll be the only one in it. It’s been worse since we’ve gotten closer. I feel like we’re back to when we first met and couldn’t get enough. We talked constantly and if we weren’t talking, I was thinking about him, wishing we were. That’s where I am right now. Every waking moment, I want to be with Ian. Ha, every sleeping moment, I want him near. That obviously isn’t possible. We don’t talk nearly as much now as we did then, but things have changed as well. I have Savannah to take care of and he has work.
“Stop thinking about him already,” Carey snaps. She’s still not quite on Team Ian. Hell if I know why.
“Savannah, do you like your daddy?” Logan asks her all of a sudden.
She giggles. “Yeah.”