Zach had decided he wanted to go to one of those indoor trampoline houses. As soon as we paid for the God awful-expensive socks, he took off.
Treasure was doing much, much better and her stitches were out, and she was practically healed up. Loran and I had decided to let her play in the ball pits, and jump minimally. They were having fun, and I even caught a peek at Loran jumping not too far off from Zach, who was looking embarrassed as hell as he dad started to do back and front flips.
He really was an overgrown child. That I was madly in love with. I looked back over at Treasure from my lustful gaze towards Loran and noticed she was playing with another little girl. She looked familiar, sandy-blondish hair that sat in ringlets, before another younger girl with darker hair joined them. The two of them had such a...familiar look to their faces. And I couldn't place it.
A shorter, curvier set woman with a face that matched the blonde girl's came over and the two tried to tug her into the ball pit to which she managed to avoid. And then it dawned on me: she was the woman from the ER waiting room. With the six-year-old that pointed out Loran and I kissing. But still, the two girls had an even more familiar face, and that wasn't it...
I walked around the pit, making sure not to fall in or slip on the wayward colored balls that were strewn all over the floor and made it over the my daughter. "There's my daddy!" She beamed to the woman, as she realized I was closer now.
"I remember you," The mother chuckled, "Harper. We met in the hospital!"
"We did, I remember." I laughed. "Dalton."
"My dad is with my brother. Can I go get him, daddy? I want him to meet my new friends." Treasure looked up at me with her best pouty lip.
"He's just around the corner, yeah, go ahead." I could see her from where I stood.
"Maybe we could set up a playdate for the girls? They seem to all play well together."
"Yeah, that would be great." I told her my number and then my breath caught in my throat.
"There you are, Harp." The last person I had ever expected -- or wanted -- had walked up to Harper, throwing his arm around her neck and kissing her cheek.
I couldn't breath. I couldn't breath. I couldn't breath. My fingers were trembling, my legs were shaking, but I couldn't move.
"Dalton? Dalton McKnight?" Hearing my name on his tongue was like acid pouring into my ears. "No way! I haven't seen you in years! How've you been -- you don't look so good, are you alright?"
I wanted to vomit, dammit why couldn't I move?
He looked the exact same as the last time I had seen him. Which was that night. He just stared at me with those golden colored eyes. They were piercing through my soul. "I have to go." I blurted out and finally, my legs gave me control again.
I could hear Harper shout a protest, asking what was wrong, but I kept going until I found Loran, playing bouncing with Treasure. "We need to leave." I was trying so hard not to throw up.
"What's the matter, we still have another half hour to jump." He flipped.
"Loran," I half shrieked. "Please. We need to go now."
This time, he could tell the urgency in my voice. He immediately stopped jumping and grabbed T, signaling to Zach that we had to go. I could tell Zach was annoyed, but he came willingly. The three of them didn't even have time to throw their shoes back on as I was practically already out the front doors.
"You wanna tell me what's the matter, now?" Loran had finished buckling T into her booster seat.
"When we get home. Please, just drive, Loran."
He hesitated, but didn't press me anymore.
— Aubree Wright —