The Road Ahead (A Hunter Hayes Fanfiction, Book 4 of The Hardships Saga)

Chapter Three

❝miss (pronounced mɪs or as spelled), verb
to feel sadness for not having something once previously had.❞

Hunter was woken up in the same fashion that Ryan had been the day before, to a phone call. This phone call, however, was being made at three in the morning. He groaned slightly, squinting at the number. Ryan <3, it read.

Immediately, he began to worry. Ryan knew the time difference between Nashville and London. She wouldn't call unless something was going on. Was she okay? Was she safe? Had something happened to Spencer?

He shook his head to clear the sleepy haze from his mind, and answered. "H-Hello?" he said, sounding slightly shaky.

"Hi!" said a bright voice.

Relief spread through his body, and his heart unclenched. "Spence!" he said. Spencer didn't understand timezones yet. He must have just found Ryan's phone. He knew how to call three people in case of emergency- Hunter's phone, Becca, Mina's cousin's phone, and 999, Britain's version of 911. He must have decided to call Hunter on a whim.

"Papa!" he said excitedly. "I'm playing on the drums! Listen, listen!" Hunter heard various banging noises on pots and pans, and he chuckled.

"Sounds amazing, pumpkin," he said, slowly making his way outside so that he didn't wake the kids. "Where's Mama?"

"She's taking a bath," said Spencer. Hunter found it unreasonably funny that Spencer had such a strong English accent. Of course, he had grown up there for his whole life, it was only to be expected. Even so, he found it hilarious, to hear a three year old say 'bath' the way someone would say 'car'. "Mama and I stayed together last night!"

"Yeah? Why was that?"

"She had a nightmay!"

"A nightmare?"

"Uh-huh!" Hunter could almost see him nodding his head earnestly. "She yelled your name, and then she got super cold, so I stayed with her so that she'd be hot!"

Hunter tried to decipher his words. "She was... cold?"

"Yeah! She was shaking!"

"A nightmare..." He was thoughtful. She hadn't had a nightmare for a long time- at least, none that she had mentioned to him. "Can you give her the phone?"

"She's in the bath!"

"Oh, right," muttered Hunter. "Um-"

"Papa, it's raining! Can you hear?"

"Yeah, I can! What colour is the sky?"

"It's- it's grey!"

"Yeah? Is it super cloudy?"

"So cloudy!"

"What did you have for breakfast?"

"Mama made me oats and honey!"

"Did you drink your milk?"

"Yeah! Mama made it with vanilla!"

"That sounds yummy."

"Yeah!"

"Spencer, who are you calling?" he heard a voice say from the other side.

"I'm talking to Papa!"

"You're doing what?!" He heard rustling. "Spencer!"

"What?" he said innocently.

Hunter laughed. "It's okay, petal. I was missing him anyway."

"Isn't it almost four am for you?"

"Yeah, but I'll live." He frowned slightly. "What's this about a nightmare?"