The Secret of Xavier

Chapter 22

Chapter 22

       Right as I was about to leave for school, Xavier came running over, carrying his backpack filled with all the necessities he normally needed for an outing. "I come," he announces.

       I furrow my eyebrows as I crouched down to be at his level. "Xavier, I'm going to school. You know you can't come with me to school."

       Xavier huffed. "I see Tulip."

       "You want to see Tulip?" I asked.  Xavier nodded.

       "Who's Tulip?" Mom asked.

       "She's a teacher's niece that was in the daycare yesterday," I said. "She was the one who was able to get Xavier comfortable enough to stay." I looked back at my son. "So you want to go to the daycare again?"

       "Yeah!"

       I sighed. I didn't even know if Tulip was there every day or if yesterday was a one-time thing. I wouldn't want to bring him to the daycare if she wasn't there because he might not be comfortable with staying. Then again, the daycare workers did have experience handling kids who were upset their parents left. Maybe it would be good for Xavier to go to daycare anyway. Mom might be able to work during the day again instead of only at nights.

       Mom must have been able to tell what my hesitance was about because she said, "I could always come to pick him up if it turns out he doesn't want to stay."

       "Yeah, okay," I said. Xavier already seemed excited to go to the daycare to see his new friend, up to the point where he brought his backpack with him as if I was already going to tell him he could come. Besides, if Xavier was excited to go to the daycare, it would be a lot easier to take him in the future when he did need to go.

       So I quickly got him ready, telling my mom that I would call her if I needed her to pick Xavier up. As soon as I opened the door, Xavier rushed outside and directly to my car, excited to get in. I didn't think I had ever seen him this excited to go somewhere before.

       It was great that he was able to make a friend. He hadn't really had much interaction with kids around his age, so maybe this was something he needed in order to be comfortable with being away from me.

       Thought he might have been a lot more comfortable sooner if Jolie didn't traumatize him the moment she was granted partial custody.

       I got Xavier buckled into his car seat before I got into the driver's seat, then drove to school. Nova was waiting for me outside of the school like she normally did when she didn't drive me to school. I parked close to the front and unfortunately, I parked a bit too close to Nova because the moment I got Xavier out of the car, he ran over to Nova to say hi.

       Well, he tried running over to her. I was quick to grab his hand. "Xavier, no running in the parking lot and no running away from Daddy."

       "But I see Nova," Xavier said.

       "Then we'll go see her together," I said, picking him up. 

       I walked us over to Nova and as soon as we got to her, Xavier smiled and said, "Hi, Nova!" He then held his arms out so she would hold him.

       "Hi, Hudson," Nova said, smiling back at him as she held him in her arms. She then looked at me. "He's going to the daycare again?"

       "Yeah," I said. "Surprisingly, he's the one that wanted to go. He wants to see the friend he made."

       "Awe, I'm glad he made a friend then," Nova said. "Maybe you could set up a few playdates for them so he doesn't only get to see her during daycare."

       "Yeah, maybe," I said. "She's Mr. McCormick's niece so I can always ask him about it. See if her parents would be okay with it."

       Nova and I both took Xavier to the daycare in the school. I didn't know if I should be surprised or not the moment I put Xavier down and he ran straight over to Tulip, who thankfully was here today. She was playing at the toy kitchen and smiled as soon as she saw Xavier, giving him a hug.

       The main daycare worker, Sydney, walked over once she noticed. "Xavier's here again?"

       I nodded. "I hope you don't mind since I said yesterday that it was probably a one time thing. He actually really wanted to come here."

       She shook her head with a smile. "I'm glad he liked it enough to want to come again." She looked over to where Xavier and Tulip was. "Well, I should say that he liked Tulip enough to want to come again. They didn't separate at all yesterday. To be safe, I will need you to fill out a form to properly register him, but I'll give that to you when you come to pick him up since you probably need to get to class."

       "Alright, sounds good," I said. I looked at Xavier, who hasn't paid any attention to me or Nova since he went to join Tulip. "Xavier." He looked at me. "I have to go to class. I'll be back, okay?"

       "Okay," he said. "Bye, bye!" Wow, he didn't even seem the slightest bit upset that I was leaving, unlike yesterday. I guessed he had a lot of fun in daycare yesterday. I was so grateful Nova brought up this daycare when I needed to find one last minute for Xavier. He was already breaking out of his shell so much after spending only one day here.

       I just hoped that Xavier would be able to continue to come to this daycare after I graduate, because I didn't know if he would want to go to one without Tulip. Xavier already suffered from separation anxiety and it took a lot for him to come here yesterday. There might not be any kids at other daycares who were special enough to connect with Xavier.

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sorry for the long wait between updates :( i'm still struggling with ideas for this book so i might have to end it soon. maybe at chapter 25?

on the bright side, i do know what i'm going to write next chapter at least so it shouldn't take too long for me to update again (just request an update on my profile if i am taking too long)