Long Haul

Eight

Kade was up bright and early the next morning to the sound of crying coming from the girl's bedroom. He could tell by the tiny cry that the three-month-old was simply ready to eat, and he couldn't just wake Ashton up to do it. He was capable of helping even if it was the crown jewel weekend of the season, well, one of them. He didn't take a day off from being a father.

He slowly rolled out of bed and got up, making a bottle quickly before he went to the bedroom and got both of the girls up and ready to go so his wife wouldn't have to. Dayton was easy as she was able to do most of it herself as long as he picked out the matching outfit for her to wear. Once he did just that, he took Bristol out to the living room, grabbed the bottle, and gave it to her while he looked through Disney Plus until he found something for the 3 of them to watch. He wasn't going to lie and say he didn't love Bluey, but every now and then, something other than the Australian-talking family of dogs was better. They settled on watching Finding Nemo, which Dayton loved and kept Bristol somewhat entertained as the colorful fish danced across the screen.

"How long have you guys been up?" Ashton asked, stretching as she came down the small hallway.

"Only a little bit. You didn't miss much," Kade joked, referring to the movie that she had seen two hundred thousand times in her 28 years of life.

"What is it?" She asked, looking at the TV as she got herself a mug and started her cup of coffee.

"Nemo," Dayton giggled, "He touched the butt,"

"Your favorite part," She chuckled, watching as the machine sputtered out the last few drops of coffee before it was done. She got her favorite creamer out and put enough in before grabbing the mug and joining her family as they watched the movie.

Kade had an autograph signing later on with Chase in the merch hauler, while Alex and Kyle would have theirs the following day.

"Hey buddy," he greeted a little boy who looked to be ten years old as he handed the die-cast car to him.

"You're my favorite!" he beamed, ecstatic that he was able to meet the man of the 24 car, "You won the first race that I ever watched, so I just made you my driver!"

"I appreciate that bud. I'll try and get a win while you're here to see it. Sound good?"

"Sounds awesome!" The boy said as he and his mom turned around to head to the grandstands so they could catch practice.

Ashton came up a little while later with the girls, promising Dayton that she could pick something out of the hauler at each race for her four uncles and dad.

"Alright, nugget, rattle 'em off," Kade said as the actual employee in the merch hauler was ready to grab what she wanted. They were all used to the families coming by.

Dayton picked out a new 24 shirt, an Ally hat for Alex, a five-lanyard for Kyle, a Napa hat for Chase, and a stuffed bear with Ryan's name and signature on the little shirt.

"Good choice, baby girl," Kade chuckled, paying for everything in their hauler and letting Ashton take care of the rest.

"What do you want later? Grill out? See if the rest of the guys can come over?" She suggested, handing him a bottle of water that he'd requested her to bring.

"Yeah, that's fine. If we don't have burgers in the freezer, here are the keys," He said as he got his truck keys out of his pocket and handed them to her, "Love you guys,"

"Daddy, can I have kisses?"

"Yeah. Ash, will you bring her around?" he asked as Ashton nodded, taking Dayton to the back of the trailer, "There's my girl,"

Dayton grinned and gave Kade a tight hug before kissing his cheek. He then kissed Bristol's head as she slept against Ashton in her baby wrap before he kissed Ashton, and she headed back to the bus.

"Alright, Day, we gotta run to the store," Ashton said as she looked in the freezer to see they didn't have what they needed to grill out.

"Can we do my homework first?" She asked, nearly knocking Ashton off her feet. She never wanted to do her homework, so for her to ask was a little surprising.

"You wanna do what?"

"I just want to get my homework done, Mommy, so I don't have to do it later,"

"Daddy told you to huh?"

"He said we could go out for ice cream after his practice if It was done before he got home," She shrugged, outing Kade for promising her sugar.

"Alright, well, he shouldn't have, but okay," Ashton chuckled, "Go get your school stuff, i'm gonna put Bee in her crib, okay?"

"Okay!" Dayton nodded, rushing to the closet to get her backpack, which had everything she needed inside.

Ashton put Bristol in her crib and got her settled before returning to the kitchen, where Dayton had brought some of her homework out on the dinette table.

"Okay, kiddo, let's start with the worst one,"

"That's math, Mama," She whined, hating that Ashton wanted her to do that one first.

"That is baby," she nodded, helping her through the math homework and a few other subjects before heading off to the store.