Page 48 of Second Down Scrooge

I’m met with glares because I have a screaming, unhappy, probably scared child on my lap for the next four hours.

What the hell am I supposed to do?

I sing to her. I try to feed her, and she just throws the goldfish everywhere—including one that lands on the lap of the man beside me. I give her a toy. I play music for her. When we’re able to unbuckle, I get up and walk her around.

Nothing works.

She’s dead set on screaming for four hours.

It doesn't get better as we fly toward our destination…until I hear the plane’s landing gear deploy. This sweet child of mine chooses that moment to fall asleep.

You know, the moment when it would probably make it easier if she was awake so we could navigate the airport and get to baggage claim. But that's not my luck today.

I'm pretty sure everyone on the plane is staring at me as we get off, but I tried to remember Austin's advice of fuck them. I quite like the sentiment, but I'm having a harder time with the execution.

I carry the sleeping Mia through the airport toward baggage claim, and that's where I spot my mom and dad waiting for me with smiles on their faces.

“Aww, did my sweet grandbaby sleep the whole flight?” my mom asks as she hugs me around the baby.

The man who was sitting beside us on the plane chooses that moment to walk by with a snort.

I roll my eyes. “Not so much.”

“Well, this little angel baby is sleeping now, and she’s still the most beautiful baby I've ever seen in my life.” My mom takes her from my arms, and Mia continues her nap nestled in the arms of her grandmother.

I give my dad a hug, and we head over to wait for my suitcase. It's as we’re on our way to my grandparents’ house that I can finally take a deep breath.

Until my dad’s next question. “How is Austin doing?”

He always asks about the father of his grandchild, though he doesn’t know we’re seeing each other again. I think, even though it's weird for him to admit since he obviously knows where babies come from, he thinks it's pretty damn cool that his granddaughter’s father is a pro football star.

It’s only when my dad mentions his name that I realize because of the insanity of the flight and the screaming child that pretty much drove every rational thought straight from my mind, I haven't had time to really think about Austin since we parted ways at the airport.

“He’s good,” I say, though I'm not really sure that's entirely true.

He seemed pretty upset over getting his results, and I really didn't have time to consider his question when he asked whether I believed him since I was running late.

“And how are the two of you, you know, with each other?” my mom asks.

“We’re sort of giving things a try again.”

My mom squeals. She’s always told me how handsome she thinks he is—dashingwas her exact word, but I’d just call himhot.

“Can I ask what changed?” she asks.

We're close enough that I can talk to her about these types of things.

“He’s trying so hard to do better for Mia. And then he told me he thinks he's in love with me, and I realized that I feel the same way.” I shrug, and my mom squeals again.

We arrive at my grandparents’ house, which presents a whole other level of chaos as great-grandparents meet their great-grandchild for only the second time since she was born.

I sit back and take photos and push everything with Austin to the back of my mind.

It isn’t until I’m putting Mia to bed that I realize I haven’t talked to Austin at all today, and I’d love for him to be able to say goodnight to our girl.

As I pull out my phone, I think about how I haven’t really had time to process what’s going on with him. I want to believe that he’s telling the truth, and yet I find myself torn.

He's going through this thing, and I'm sitting here expecting him to be at home fighting for people to believe that he didn't do what this lab is claiming. Instead, when I call him before we go to bed so Mia can say goodnight to her daddy…the call goes to voicemail.

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