The Trouble with Faking It / Tyler Seguin

Chapter 17: Don't Give Up On Me

*note: I know very little about adoption and the process - I know that it can take years but for the sake of this story, things moved quickly and I skipped over all the detailed stuff and jumped into July!*

Chapter 17: don't give up on me

"she needed a hero - so that's what she became."

July 20th

Something I have come to understand is that life is unpredictable and planning anything is a waste of time because it's not going to go the way you want it to. When I decided to look into adopting Clara, I thought it would be a long grueling process but somehow it only took a couple months for me to be able to have her stay with me. There is still paperwork and a few thing to work out but for the past few weeks, Clara and I have been staying at Tyler's.

And it has been Hell.

I babysat kids from the time I was old enough until I no longer needed the extra cash but it turns out that having you own kid, and not being able to pull the "if you do not behave, I'll tell your parents" card, it made things very difficult.

Because I was the parent. She listened to Tyler most of the time, but there was something about me that made her think she didn't have to listen to anything I said.

"You know, you're not my mom. Even if you gave birth to me." Clara snaps one night after I tell her it's bedtime.

It's a constant cycle every day when I tell her it's time to do something like go to bed, or get ready for the day and she pulls the same card. You're not my mom, or why do you think you can tell me what to do. It's like arguing with a toddler.

I sigh and open my mouth to say something, anything, to try and calm her down but as usual, Tyler beats me to it.

"Why don't you pick out a book and we can read it together, kiddo?" He offers and she looks like she's going to fight him on it but nods instead.

I watch her turn around and walk towards her room. When she's out of sight, I look at Tyler who's frowning.

"You've just got to give her some time, babe."

"She hates me, Tyler. Time isn't going to fix that."

He sighs. "She doesn't hate you."

"Easy for you to say! She thinks you walk on water!" I snap.

"Daisy, you left her-"

I open my mouth to object but he cuts me off.

"You left her, because it was the right thing to do. You know that, I know that, and someday, she will understand. But you can't force her to accept that until she's ready to."

I take a minute to let his words sink in and sigh when I realize he's right.

"Have you been reading child rearing books?" I ask him and he smiles.

"Guilty."

Both our heads turn when we hear Clara yell out to Tyler from the top of the stairs.

"Tyler! I chose a book! Can Cash and Marshall come read with us too?"

I smile at Tyler when he looks at me but it doesn't quite reach my eyes. He offers me what seems like a reassuring look and heads towards the stairs. I hear Clara babbling to him about the story she chose which is about a princess who has to rescue a prince and I realize it's one of the books my father gave me when I was Clara's age.