My Saving Graces

Chapter 8

"Good morning." A husky morning voiced Mason said to me as I rolled away from him.

"Morning." I mumbled to him.

"Did you sleep okay?" He asked.

"After I came up here, yeah." I tell him.

"Does storms throughout the day bother you?" He asks and looks at me.

"Thunder does some but not as bad as storms after dark, why?" I ask him.

"It's supposed to rain this morning so I didn't know if you could handle driving while it's raining." He said to me.

"Oh. Could we wait until it stops?" I ask him and he nods.

"Sure." He nodded. I sighed and rolled back towards him. I was freezing and he was really warm. "You cold?" He asked me and I nodded. He wrapped his arms around me and I instantly felt warmer.

An hour later it had quit raining and we were on the road. I was humming along to Chris Jansons 'Done' when I heard Masons phone ringing. "Will you see who that is?" Mason asked me and tossed me his phone.

"It's Lacey." I tell him as I look at the screen. "Want me to answer it?" I asked and he nodded.

"Hello"

"Um hey. Who is this?"

"It's Avery."

"Oh Avery, hey. I was wondering how far out you are?"

"We have another hour before we get back."

"Okay. Tell Mason to just go to his apartment. I have Layla and the kids here. Layla won't stop crying so I brought her back here so hoping she will stop."

"Okay. I'll let him know."

"Alright. Thank you. Bye."

"Bye."

I hung up the phone and handed it back to Mason. "She said to go to the apartment. She has Layla and her kids there. Layla wouldn't stop crying so she took her home to see if she'd be better."

"That's weird that she's crying. She hardly ever cries." Mason said as he stares straight at the road in front of us.

"Maybe she misses you." I tell him.

"She's stayed with Lacey for longer times than this. Lacey basically raised her for the first month." He told me.

"How was it when you learned that you had a baby?" I asked out of curiosity. He glanced over at me and then back to the road.

"It was basically a huge shock. The night before I got the call from Amanda, I was drunk off my ass and in bed with a different girl. When I got to the hospital I looked like shit and had a headache from hell. When the nurses finally told me what had happened and that I now had custody of a premature newborn, it changed my outlook on life. I could no longer only worry about myself and what party I'd be going to or girl I'd be with next, I had a little baby girl that needed me. I quit going to parties, ditched all the girls, bought the apartment and everything that Layla would need. I had help from my family but they were beyond pissed at me for the first few weeks. When Layla was finally able to come home, I was scared to death that I would hurt her by touching her. She was so tiny and fragile from being so early. Lacey stayed at the apartment with me for the first month. After the first week she was finally leaving me alone with Layla but only for short periods. I finally grasped the whole dad thing and now I couldn't live without Layla. She's my little girl and I love the feeling that she's all mine."

"You're literally about to make me cry with that." I tell him and he gives me a small chuckle. "I can see how good you are with her. She was lucky and got a good guy to call her dad."