Jailbird

~Part 2: Chapter 36~

Sienna

Nathan, Zedlin and I had a long and successful day at the park and I was completely exhausted due to all of the emotions and festivities.

After the park we'd stopped for ice cream and took the long way back to Zedlin's shared home.

And the closer we got, the more my anxiety climbed at the thought of Zedlin coming home with us for the weekend like we had planned out before our trip to the park.

Would he feel crowded in the apartment with just us? I didn't like not knowing what was going through his head, but there was one thing I did know about him 100%.

That he loved his son.

"I have driven past that ice cream place so many times and never thought to try them out. We'll have to go back and try them again. They were pretty good, right?" Zedlin asked me on the last block of our walk.

I smiled widely, "Yes, it was very delicious, Zed. How about you, baby boy? Was your ice cream good, Nate?"

And I had to stifle my giggles as we watched Nate stumble along tiredly behind us, nodding his head to answer my question. Surprisingly, we'd worn him out. He'd never had this much fun with his dad before and I could tell that he was trying to stay up with us for the rest of the day, but the kid was gonna crash at any moment.

Zedlin turned his head when he didn't hear a response, "You getting sleepy, dude?"

Nathan stopped walking and brought his hands to his eyes, rubbing in big circles.

Without another thought, Zedlin whirled around and bent down, hoisting Nate into his arms. And Nate just wrapped his arms around his neck and burrowed his face in tightly.

"Get some rest, dude. We'll hangout more when you wake up," Zedlin told him, kissing his cheek.

"I love you, daddy..." Nate mumbled tiredly.

Zedlin chuckled while giving him more kisses, "I love you more, kid."

The silence that followed after for the remainder of our walk back was peaceful and calming.

When we reached the house, Zedlin sighed heavily and turned to look directly at me, "So, would you like to grab some dinner before we head home?"

"Sure. I've been thinking about those steaks you mentioned yesterday," I told him, shyly flicking my eyes up at him.

"Oh, hèll yeah. You read my stomach, Sienna. Let me just pack a little weekend bag and I'll call and place the order, so we can pick it up on the way."

Zedlin was calling the shots and all I needed to do was focus on relaxing and going with the flow.

I smiled softly, "Okay, sounds like a plan."

*

Zedlin and I shuffled up to the second floor where my apartment had been for the last three years.

We balanced our dinner and our son up the flight of stairs and made it in one trip.

Zedlin paused outside the door waiting for me to open it and I took a tiny breath to calm myself. Things were changing, but they were good changes.