Page 50 of Slow Burn
“Maybe she didn't need a fairytale. Maybe all she needed was you and Amelia. To give her the one thing everyone else took away from her.” My head bowed as the tears came fresh again.
Didn't care that I was crying in front my boys. Didn't care that it was the second time Hunter had seen me lose it over Brynn. The fucker was right and it pained me that I had to hear it out loud to realize it.
I promised Brynn I'd give her a fantasy when I had no idea what that might mean for her. We rushed into being together, building a family together; I think that's all either of us ever wanted. It was the little parts, that we forgot to build, that made it crumble. Parts of us that we left out of what we had been building, the parts that might have kept us together.
Like all the things we never got around to telling each other. Even if it seemed we told each other everything during our short time together, we missed the bits and pieces. I knew her favorite color was Orange, but I never asked why. Knew she loved Fleetwood Mac, but had no idea her favorite song.
Each time I had gotten my chance with Brynn, I had gotten pieces of her, like shaking out a puzzle, seeing all the pretty pieces, but never finishing piecing it all together. That's what our relationship was. An unfinished puzzle that I needed the last piece to.
Two weeks. Almost three.
Routine. Day in, day out, it was all that kept me sane. Get some morning time in with Amelia, feed and change her before dropping her with Lola. Head to work, call Brynn's number every single hour and message her in between calls. Pick up my daughter, feed and play with her. Put her to bed with her favorite story, the one where I promised to find mommy, slay her dragons and bring her back home so we can get the fairytale. Amelia loved that story. Afterwards, I spent my nights making it true; I searched for Brynn with every resource I had.
“No luck yet, bro,” Stiles updated me one night after two days of no leads, “I promise, the second I find your girl, you will know.” I trusted him and Diggs, they were two of the best cops I knew; pretty sure I'd reached stalker status though.
“Thanks man. Sorry I’ve been so...” Stiles laughed, his thick north-eastern voice booming.
“No need, bro. We get it, Levi. Some girl’s worth the crazy.”
“Got that right, man.” I laughed with him, because he wasn't wrong.
Not knowing, wondering, it made me crazy; I earned it though and Brynn was worth every effort, every second of crazy she drove me.
By the start of the third week, my routine began to fail me. Seemed my Princess knew Brynn was gone by then. Killed me to see her search for Brynn every morning, wait for her then get sad when she never showed. And, my nightly story was breaking what was left of my heart. Because I no longer thought it was getting it's happily ever after.
Until a pixie saved my life.
Lola:Brynn's Home.
