Page 147 of That First Flight

Except I do. In this moment with her, I let it out. I can feel her tears soaking through my shirt and it breaks my heart to see her like this.

“Babe,” I choke out. “I need you to breathe. Breathe for me.”

I feel her inhale a shaky breath before Macey releases it in a long, drawn out exhale. She lifts her head to meet my stare. She’s looking at me like I’m not even real, like she didn’t expect me to be here.

“You came.” Her voice is so low that I would have missed it if she wasn’t sitting in my lap.

“You called,” I offer her a weak smile. “I mean, your coworker called me, but tomato, tom-ah-toe.”

And with that, she laughs.

My girl fucking laughs softly, and it’s music to my ears. I don’t know what the hell happened or what her parents said to her to cause this, but all I know is she’s laughing now.

Nothing in this world will ever compare to that sound.

“Tell me what you need,” I tell her.

“I want to go home.”

That’s all I need to hear before I stand with her in my arms.

As we emerge from the small closet, I look at the man behind the kitchen line and give him a look, a silent order that I’m bringing her with me and wondering which way I should go.

Neither of us have to speak the words, maybe it’s just guy code or whatever but he nods toward the back door signaling for us to get out of here that way.

I’m taking my girl home.

We stopped by Emiline’s to pick up Mackenzie on the ride home. I was thankful I didn’t see Logan when I opened the door but I didn’t hang around to find out long enough if he was hiding anywhere.

When I came back to the car with her, Macey was passed out in the passenger seat with her legs to her chest. I kind of expected that with how worn out she was from crying as hard as she did.

Mackenzie doesn’t ask questions thankfully. I’m not so sure I want to be the one to tell her that her grandparents showed up and caused this level of hurt to her mom. It’s going to destroy her, and she’s been through so much.

Plus, I don’t even know what was said. It’s best if Macey tells her. However, I fully plan to be there when the discussion takes place. Not because I’m nosey, but becausebothof my girls deserve someone in their corner.

I tuck Mackenzie into bed, giving her a brief forehead kiss. It’s something that comes naturally to me now. It’s gotten to the point that if I don’t say goodnight to her before bed, I sleep like absolute shit.

“Will mom be okay?” she asks me just before I flick her light switch off.

“Your mom is one of the strongest people I know, next to you, Kenzie,” I tell her honestly.

Mackenzie nods. “Are you going to make sure she’s okay tonight?”

I swallow past the lump that’s been stuck in my throat since I got the phone call, and give her a reassuring nod.

“Good.” She snuggles herself back into bed, pulling the covers over her head and gripping Bert a little tighter.

It’s so cute when she does it because she totally sleeps like me. On her side, with a pillow between her legs and her blanket covering half of her face.

“I’m so happy we have you, Ollie.”

“I love you, Kenzie.”

She yawns. “I love you too.”

I close her door. With my hand still on the knob, I press my back to it and let my head fall back, allowing myself a few deep breaths. Once I feel ready to tackle this, I make my way to Macey in hopes that she hasn’t fallen back asleep yet so I can talk to her about what happened tonight.

If she wants to, of course.

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