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"Happy birthday to you... happy birthday to you... happy birthday dear Addy... happy birthday to you," the five of us all sang our best version of Happy Birthday acapella and everybody in the room smiled and clapped, so did Adelynn, who was sitting in her highchair.

I leaned over and kissed her forehead, "One year old already. I can't believe it."

The tour had finally come to an end a couple weeks ago. We each got time to enjoy our families, and I was loving all the time with Adelynn.

I looked at her and laughed when I saw her entire face covered in ice cream and cake. She was having so much fun.

"Dadadadadada," I heard her say over and over. She loved to say it, since it was her first word. I was proud. Even though, I had heard, almost all babies first words are "DaDa" but I was still flattered.

She was a big ham. She loved putting on a "show" for everybody and being the center of attention. She reminded me of myself, at times. God, help me. I laughed to myself.

Oh, shit... I forgot the most important present.

I jogged over to the garage door and I picked up the cage slowly. I heard whimpering coming from inside and I stuck my finger through the cracks in the cage and the dog licked my hand. I tried to comfort it.

I knew I was insane for getting a one year old a puppy, but I did it for myself too. Not just for her.

When I brought the cage inside the kitchen, I saw Kevin give me a crazy look like "what the hell did you do?" I just laughed and put a finger to my mouth, telling him to shut up.

I carefully lifted the Golden Retriever puppy out of the cage, and she licked my face. I snuck it up behind Adelynn's highchair and the dog kissed her face. Adelynn looked up at me with a huge smile on her face. That look was priceless. She looked at me with this clueless expression, like, 'what do I do, Dad? Is this good or bad?'

I nodded my head and smiled at her and then I took her hand in mine, and let her stroke the dogs silky fur.

"This is Daisy, baby," I smiled at her.

"You got her a dog?!" Brian exclaimed.

"Turn around, AJ! Let me get your picture!"

I turned around and smiled and then saw my cousin, Kelly, with a camera. She was flashing away. Thank God for her, though, because I was horrible at keeping and taking pictures and I really wanted an album to have for Adelynn.

"AJ, your crazy!" I heard a couple people say.

"I know, I know," I just shook my head, "Welcome Daisy to the family, ya'll."

The dog barked from all the noise surrounding her. Adelynn was giggling away in her highchair, repeating "dadadadada" over and over again.

I kissed the top of Adelynn's head, "Love ya, baby girl."

I leaned over to Brian, "Watch her for a sec, man. I'm gonna get myself a piece of cake before it's all gone."

Brian patted my shoulder as I began to walk off, "No problem."

As I was cutting the slice of cake I felt someone kiss my cheek from behind. I slighty turned around, still keeping my focus on the cake, and I was stunned, "Jill?"

"Surprise!"

"What the hell are you doing here?" I jokingly asked.

"I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"For leaving like that. I didn't wanna make you sit there and watch me cry all night long, though."

"It's all good."

I wasn't about to tell her, I was actually hurt over that. I felt like I did something and it was my fault and I figured I would probably never see her again. Here she was.

"Nick ran into me again and told me about Adelynn's birthday party. He invited me. I thought it was the least I could do."

"Thanks... for coming, you know?"

I finally managed to get the piece of cake onto my plate and took a bite. God, that was fucking awesome. My mom always did make the best cakes.

"So... you okay? I mean, were you okay? The night you left?"

"I was fine. Just got myself worked up over nothing."

I looked over to make sure Adelynn was still okay in her highchair and she was. So I decided to sit down and talk to Jill for a little while.

"It's not nothing... it's a child your talking about."

"Not my child. Not anymore, anyways."

"Let's not talk about it. I'm sorry I brought it up."

She gave me a genuine smile and slowly tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.

"I don't want to take you away from your daughter's birthday..."

I shrugged, "No, it's perfectly fine. Everyday is like a party for that rascal."

We both laughed.

I looked at her but she wasn't looking at me. Her eyes were focused on the ground, like she was avoiding eye contact for some reason.

"Do you wanna... sleep over? Tonight?" I asked.

"We can make up for what we missed when I walked out," she grinned.

"Possibly, yes," I laughed.