Stepdad

TWENTY-SIX

Allie ran through the halls of her home, a laughing, bright eyed Ryker sitting on her shoulders. His hands were gripping onto his mothers as if he were scared he would fall. Allie would never allow that to happen, he just didn't understand that yet.

Allie cherished moments like this. Being able to have quality time with her son and be completely devoted to him, meant the most to her. Hearing him laugh always put a smile on her face, and in this moment she was her happiest.

She looked up at the front door when she heard someone knocking and lifted the toddler off her shoulders before she placed him down on the floor. Allie opened the door and was greeted by an empty porch. Just a delivery van pulling out of her driveway.

Allie picked up the package that was sitting on her welcome mat and looked at the name in confusion. She didn't remember ordering anything and her mom didn't even know how to use Amazon. Sure enough, her name and address was on the label.

She shrugged it off, thinking it was something she ordered a while ago and forgot about before she shut the door and carried it into the kitchen to grab a knife. She carefully cut the tape and put the knife away before opening the box to see what it was.

Inside the box was about ten Paw Patrol books. Allie was sure she never ordered this, she never ordered Ryker books. She didn't know if she could trust him enough to not tear them up. "Ryker, have you been on mommy's phone?" She spoke through a laugh, knowing he wouldn't know how.

She pulled each book out one by one to examine them, after she decided to not send them back since she could read the books to him at night. As if on cue, her phone began ringing in her pocket. She quickly pulled it out and hit the green button without paying attention to the name.

"Did you get it?" He asked before she could even say hello. She wanted to smack herself for not thinking it was him sooner. She should have known better.

"Hello to you too." She spoke through a smile as she picked up all of the books and carried them into her son's room. "And yes, I got it. I accused Ryker of using my Amazon account." She could hear him begin to laugh, a sound she hated to admit that she missed.

"I dropped Casie off this morning. You wanna come over?" As much as she was dying to see him, she promised herself she would spend the day with her son. She had been leaving him behind far more often than she would like to.

"Can't. I'm spending the day with Ryker." She mumbled into the phone as she went back into the living room to check on him, finding him zoned into the television as usual. That's when an idea popped into her mind. "But you're more than welcome to come over here if you don't mind him being around."

"Don't you dare assume I don't want to be around him. I love that little guy already. I will be over in half an hour." She smiled to herself over his words. She couldn't believe she found someone that loved her son as much as they loved her, if not more in his case.

"I'll see you then." She hung up the phone and turned to face her son with a bright smile. "You wanna see Colson? He's coming to see you." Ryker turned to face his mother with an excited expression, his eyes lighting up like the stars.

Colson was beyond ready to see them again, he had been looking forward to it since he dropped off his daughter. Casie's mother still refused to allow Allie around while he had his daughter, a problem Colson was determined to fix, he just didn't know how to yet.

Casie told him she was going to put in a good word with her mother and hopefully annoy her until she agreed but he knew how stubborn that woman could be. She was the type to be afraid that her child would call another woman mom. Which Allie would never force her to do.

She didn't want to take Casies mothers place, she just wanted to be able to spend time with the girl and get to know her. Casie was at the age where Allie could do so many things with her. Spa day, manicures, gossip, teach her things she would need to know later in life.

She really hoped she got the chance to do that. Allie had always wanted a daughter but was blessed with a little boy whom she loved more than anything in the world. Casie was as close as she had to a daughter. Even if she would just be a step daughter one day.

A/N:

Short chapter because I have fought with myself over how to make this interesting for far longer than I wanted to. I really don't like writing Colson as a main character, I just figured I would try. I hate it. Lmfao.