"Aje, she's fine, man," I heard Kevin say, "Just a little hungry."

I took a breath, thank God. I thought she had gotten hurt, if she would've gotten hurt, I would've...

"Alex, here you go," my mom handed me the bottle and I took it from her. I picked up Adelynn from Kevin's arms as carefully as possible and put the bottle to her mouth. She was defintely hungry.

I felt blessed to have a baby who rarely cryed, only when she was hungry or really needed something. It was great on me, because I couldn't stand to hear that noise. Yet it still was a good noise, because it let me know everything was okay.

I stared at her while she drank her bottle and thought how hard this was, doing this alone. It was really stressing me out, I just didn't let it show. Even though it was stressful, it was cool. I felt superior to everyone else because I was doing it alone as a single father. I even felt more wholesome than Brian at times, and that has never happened.

Then I would have those days where I would feel awful... like, what would I say to her when she's old enough to see other kids have mommys? What if she starts to hate me? I hated my dad. But, no, I wasn't going to be like that. That's one of the reasons I couldn't give her up, I never wanted to be like the man I despied so much.

Brian then came onto the bus, all smiles.

"Howie and Nick told me to tell you to hurry up, they're leaving."

I had totally forgot.

"Oh, shit. Can you go out and tell them I'm not going?"

Brian looked shocked, "Your not?"

"You gonna be babysitting?" I asked, sarcastically.

"Well, no," Brian laughed, "But I thought that's why your mom was... oh well, nevermind. I'll go tell them."

Brian walked off of the bus again and my mom looked at me.

"Hon, you can go out if you want. I can watch over her."

I just shook my head, "Nah, mom. I'm not doing that to you... anyways, I'm gonna do the right thing for once in my life."

My mom just nodded her head and smiled, "Your doing a good job, really."

I took the bottle out of Adelynn's mouth, I could tell she was done. She almost looked tired again. Usually right after she ate she would fall asleep for another ten minutes or so. I let her nuzzle into my muscular chest and let her fall back asleep.

Brian came back on the bus and put his hand on my shoulder, "Welcome to the grown-up club, man. You’re now hanging with me and Kevin."

I just shook my head and laughed, "You mean the boring club, don't you?"

Brian and Kevin looked at each other and chuckled, "Yep."

Brian changed into his sweatpants and made himself comfortable on one bunk, and I decided to just sit down at the table and keep holding Adelynn. If I put her down, I knew she would start crying. My mom had already fallen asleep on the bed in the back and Kevin was sitting on the sofa watching TV.

"Brian?" I asked, but in my softest voice.

"Yeah?"

"Now I know why you don't bring Baylee on the road."

Brian laughed, "Yeah, definitely, its hard work."

"And I also understand why you, you know, always complain about missing your family so much," I shrugged, I wasn't going to admit that to him but there it went.

Brian just nodded, "It's tough. I'm happy for you, AJ. You deserve this."

Kevin added in, "You really do, man."

"Thanks," was all I could reply.