The Trouble with Faking It / Tyler Seguin

Chapter 19: When We Were Young

"Is he mad at me?" She cries and my heart breaks but another part of me is angry at Tyler.

"He's not mad at you." I try reassuring her but she keeps crying and we start to get glares from other passengers.

"But-"

"We'll call him when we get to the airport, okay?" I say and she stops crying.

"Okay."

The woman sitting next to us throws me a sympathetic smile and hands some tissues to Clara. I remind myself to start carrying tissues.

When our plane lands and we're standing at baggage claim, I text Tyler, this time telling him that Clara wants to call, in hopes that he will actually answer.

Thirty seconds after the text is sent, his name pops up on the screen and I breathe a sigh of relief.

Not having the patience or energy to talk to him, I pass my phone to Clara who grins when she sees it's him Facetiming her.

She quickly accepts the call and I frown slightly when his face pops up.

"Tyler!"

"Hey rookie." He says, sounding tired but also glad to see her.

"Where are you?" She asks.

"I'm just at dinner with a couple of my friends." He tells her and I watch her face fall.

"Oh, okay. I can call you later." She says quietly, leaning in to hide her face in my jacket and passing the phone to me. I look at him and he's frowning. I vaguely hear people in the back-round talking and when a voice sounds like a girl talking, I immediately go still thinking of the worst possible scenario.

"Are you guys at an airport?" He asks and I clench my jaw.

"Yeah. I gotta go," I say and before I end the call he says my name but I ignore it.

The last thing I need right now is to worry about something like that when there are more important things.

He tries calling back but I ignore it, grabbing our luggage and walking outside. It's cold but the air is refreshing and just what I need. Clara is still clinging on to me so I ruffle her hair.

"What's wrong?"

She sniffles a little and I wonder if it's because she's about to cry or from the cold.

"He's not coming back, is he?"

I kneel down so I'm face to face with her. "Tyler lives in Dallas. He has to go back for hockey, so he's not gone forever okay? He'll probably be back when we go home."

She looks unconvinced but when she hears my name being called, she looks in the direction of the person.

Jo jogs towards us and smiles before looking at Clara.

"Hey, I'm Jo." He says, offering Clara his hand which she takes hesitantly.

"I know." She says slowly. "Jax told me about you."

"All good things I hope." He jokes but she doesn't quite catch on. She's tired, and looking ready for bed.

Jo takes both our suitcases so I can scoop Clara up. My legs and back protest because Tyler is usually the one who carries her but I don't think she would feel comfortable with Jo carrying her.

It's a short walk to his car thankfully and I smile when I see that Jo even has a booster seat for Clara.

While we're driving, I check my phone to read the texts from Tyler. There are three of them, and a missed call.