𝑻 𝑯 𝑬 𝑵 𝑨 𝑵 𝑵 𝒀 (18+)

twenty-four

                                   AMARA

My dad's flight arrived earlier than I expected. Olivia had the day off and I couldn't leave the kids at home so I had no other choice but to bring them with me while I went to go pick him up at the airport. I let Dom and Clara know beforehand considering it was Stephanie's day to visit and waited until both of them gave me the go-ahead before getting on the road. I didn't think it would take us too long to get there, but just in case we ran into traffic or delays I wanted everyone to know that we might've been just a little late getting back home in time for Stephanie's visit. The boys didn't mind it though, I think they were happy they had a chance to get out of the house and they seemed excited to meet my dad. That or they were just happy they'd have another person to terrorize for an hour or so I wasn't really sure.

"Does your dad look like you?" Jamie asked from the backseat. I glanced at him from my mirror and smiled, "I think so. Everyone always thinks I look more like my mom though." I got it all the time. Whenever my mom and I were together people would stop us and tell her that I'd stolen her face or that my father must not have been in the room when they had me. I didn't really get it back then but now I wished I could hear it just one more time.

"How much farther is it?" Josh was getting restless and I would've been more sympathetic to him if he hadn't refused to bring his tablet when I knew he'd get bored. He argued with me for ten minutes, telling me he didn't need to watch anything to pass the time.

"Just a little while longer, why don't you ask Jame if you can watch his show with him until then?"

He turned up his nose before resting his head against the window.

❥

My father always traveled light so I wasn't surprised to see him rolling over with just one tiny suitcase. I ran over to hug him, tears spilling on his linen shirt while he gave me a tight squeeze. I felt like a kid again and for a moment everything felt like it was going to be alright. "You're gonna knock me over!" My dad patted me on the back before pulling me away so he could look at me. I was such a mess I'd forgotten the kids were with me and wiped my eyes before pulling Jamie from behind my leg.

"You're Amara's dad?" Josh stood in front of my father with a hand out. "I am, and who might you be?"

"I'm Joshua Gray," he smiled and my brows pinched. He was being weird and I wanted to know why.

"This is Jamie, his brother," I ran a hand through his hair to fix it and squeezed his hand gently. He was feeling a bit shy but perked up when he saw my father pull out a toy for him, "Amara tells me you love dog patrol."

"Paw Patrol, Dad." I rolled my eyes and handed Jamie the stuffed puppy.

"And you like soldiers right?" He asked Josh as he handed him a full box of miniature soldiers. I'd told him he didn't have to bring them anything considering he paid an arm and a leg for the plane ticket already but he wouldn't hear it.

"What do we say?" I nudged both kids just a little so they could stop their gawking and say thank you for their gift. My father wouldn't have cared either way, he was all smiles and it warmed my heart to see him this happy. To see him at all.

"Thank you," both Josh and Jamie exclaimed. I held both of their hands while we walked back to my car, my dad talking everyone's ear off on the way there and the entire car ride home. He told fishing stories that the boys loved and even a few stories about me growing up which was fine as long as he didn't try and repeat it to Dominic as well. That didn't really matter though because Josh would sing as soon as his father walked in the front door from work. Not a single bribe in the world would stop him from telling his dad the most embarrassing thing he'd ever heard. At my expense of course.