Our vacation ended all too soon and we were already on the plane, headed for home. Sure, the three days, in the snow, were a total blast and we all had some kind of minor injury but, all good things must come to an end. The flight was already half over when I finally decided to talk to AJ, who was sitting beside me. My nerves kicked in, although I am not sure why.
“Jay Jay?”
“Yeah, bud?” he set down his book and looked up at me.
“Can we talk?”
“Like I’m going to say ‘no’?” he smirked and rolled his eyes. Shoving his book into his carry on, he shifted in his seat to face me.
“Well,” I started, not really knowing what to say. “See, I was looking through my parent’s stuff, you know, and I came across something interesting.”
“Knowing your father, I’m not all that shocked,” he raised his eyebrow. I pulled the journal from my carry on and plopped it in his lap.
“It’s my dad’s journal.”
“Um…okay,” he looked at me with scrunched eyebrows. He picked up the book and flipped through the pages without stopping to read anything.
“I know about my dad’s fight with Kevin. I know Kevin was supposed to be my guardian but he really upset my dad, so my dad changed it,” I explained quietly.
“What? This explains all of that?” he looked at me intensely, then reopened the journal.
“He explains his thought on each of you guys because he was trying to figure out who to make my guardian. After talking about each of you, he said he was leaning towards Howie. I haven’t gotten far enough in it to see why he ended up deciding on Nick,” I explained.
“He talked about each of us?” he questioned before sifting through the pages. I know exactly what he was looking for so I grabbed the journal and easily found the spot for him. I held my breath as I watched him read about my dad’s thoughts on him. AJ’s eyebrows were scrunched and his lips formed a slight frown. After a few moments, he gently closed the book and handed it back to me.
“Um…” I didn’t have the slightest clue how to make him feel better. I was sure that he was hurt over some of the things my dad said about him.
“Looks like Brian knew me better then I thought he did,” he finally sighed. “But, uh, if we find the spot where he explains his reasons for finally choosing Nick, it might help our case to keep Kevin’s dirty mitts off you.”
“Really? You think this could help?”
“Yeah. Um…you should get to reading, little B. When we get back we’ll have a meeting with Riley over it. She’ll give us the low down,” his facial expression hadn’t changed much. I think my dad’s journal entry got under his skin.
“Okay,” I nodded as I turned to the page where I had left off. Oh, by the way, I guess it might help if I mentioned that AJ’s girlfriend, Riley, is a lawyer…and a good one at that. When Kevin first started talking about this custody crap, AJ talked to her and she had agreed, without hesitation, to handle our case. I figured that I would have enough time to read a couple entries before we landed…depending on how long winded my dad got.
July 17, 2005
Journal –
Leighanne and I got into a pretty bad fight today. She thinks I am being too childish over this thing with Kevin. I, on the other hand, know that I am justified in my actions. I officially removed him from the will today. She wouldn’t go with me to do it, so Nick tagged along to help me keep reins on Baylee. At least, I have the support of Nick. Haha. I wonder where THAT will get me.
I paced back and forth for over an hour before I was able to get in and get the will changed. It was not a pleasant experience for me. Plus, I still don’t have a name on that dotted line! My mind wants me to just write down ‘Howard Dorough’, and be done with it, but something is screaming, at me, not to do it. There is no way to explain what is going on inside of me and there is no one I can talk to about it…instead I resort to a dumb old journal.
On a brighter note, Baylee can almost say his entire alphabet, now. Nick has been working on it with him for the last couple of months. It’s really kind of cute to watch. I would have just taught him the song, but Nick had a whole different approach to it. Whatever he has got going on seems to be working though, because Baylee knows the shape, name, and sounds of almost every letter in the alphabet! I am so proud of my little guy.
I took Leighanne out to dinner, hoping to get back on her good side. (I really don’t like sleeping in the guest room.) AJ came over to baby sit so that it could get be me and the Mrs. Nothing seemed to be broken, when we got back and Baylee was , shockingly, already in bed! AJ even cooked something other than macaroni and cheese for Baylee’s dinner. I think I was more proud of AJ than I was of Baylee, for behaving.
Anyways, I am headed off to bed. Howie, Nick, AJ, Baylee, and I are all taking a trip to a water park tomorrow! I am just as excited as Baylee! Leighanne was a bit irritated over the whole idea…this is, UNTIL I told her to go out with the girls for a shopping day. Haha…it works every time!
-B.T.L.
I looked up to see AJ watching me. He gave me a weak smile as he set the book down. “Anything good yet?”
“Not yet, he’s just rambling on, right now. I, kind of, want to skip ahead just to find out, but I also want to read things in order.”
“Order is always good,” he chuckled before going back to his book. I stared off in Nick’s direction for a few minutes. His eyes were closed as he listened to his music. The more I thought about it, the more I was okay with him being my guardian. Perhaps, I was just bitter about not having my parents to raise me.
I let out a long sigh. Running my fingers over the leather binding of the journal, I leaned my head back and closed my eyes. After a few minutes of resting my eyes, I looked to the next entry.
July 18, 2005
Journal –
Today was a BLAST! I am so beat, though! With the exception of Baylee, we are all sun burnt to some level or degree. Speaking of which, I wonder if there is such a thing as using TOO much sunscreen. Have any thoughts? The reason I wonder is because I put a coat of sunscreen on Baylee when we got there and I don’t usually re-apply it for about 3 hours or so, but Nick was slathering the boy up with sunscreen every 45 minutes! I think more of our day was spent watching Nick, put sunscreen on Baylee, then doing anything else. Maybe it’s just me but I think Nick was going a little overboard…I mean, come on, every 45 minutes? The stuff IS water proof!!!
Sometimes I have to double check to make sure that I am Baylee’s father because……OF COURSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I looked at the journal funny, with scrunched eyebrows. Why would he cut it off there? That was kind of weird, not to mention, a tad confusing. I wanted to read the next entry so badly and find out what happened, but the plane was already making its descent and I wouldn’t have time.
Author's Chapter Notes:
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