Next To Me

Nicole:

Taylor left yesterday for a short road trip and he would be back late Sunday. Today was the day that Beau and I were taking Mason out. I was nervous for how it would go, but I knew mason would be happy to see his dad. We were watching tv waiting for Beau to get to my apartment when Taylor sent me a text.

New Text: Taylor!! <3
Hey babe! Hope everything goes okay. Sorry I can't be there, but I got a job to do tonight. Tell Mason I said hi and I will be back soon! Love you both! <3

I stood up as Beau was knocking at the door and Mason just kept watching his cartoons. I opened the door and Beau was standing there smiling. "Hey." "Hey." I gave him a hug and he walked inside. Mason was peeking from behind the couch and waiting for Beau to spot him. "I see you!" Mason jumped off the couch and came running over. "Daddy!" He picked him up and spun him around. "Hey buddy! Did you miss me?" "I missed you this big!" He held his arms as far apart as he could. We both laughed and Mason just hugged Beau. "Are you ready to go?" "Yeah." I walked over and turned off the tv. "Let's go." I gave him a smile and we left.

We went to lunch and then Beau wanted to take Mason shopping. We were walking down the street and Mason was holding both our hands, I liked it better with Taylor on the other side of Mason. "So how have you been?" "Good. You?" "Good, I mean being in the NHL is busy. I'm lucky I had today off to be here. I wouldn't have wanted to miss his birthday." "Yeah. Well, if Pittsburgh ever plays Edmonton you can probably see him." "Daddy will play Tayla mommy?" I laughed at Mason. The fact that he was following along with our conversation was funny. "Yeah hun, he will play Taylor." "Taylor? Hall?" "Yeah." "Oh, you and him are together?" "Yup." "He is a good guy. Mason likes him I presume?" "Yeah, he does and Taylor loves him too." "That's good." We walked to a local strip mall and went in a few stores. the amount of bags we had leaving was crazy.

Beau bought like ten outfits and three pairs of shoes. We got back to the apartment and we took the bags right into Mason's room to put them in his closet. Mason was watching tv in the living room and probably playing cars. "You know that buying all this stuff isn't gonna fill the empty space of not having a father right?" I looked at him as I put clothes on hangers. "I know, but I want him to have a good birthday." "He would have a good birthday if you were in there playing cars with him for three hours, you don't have to buy him all of this." He sat in silence as he kept putting clothes on hangers and handing them to me. "Are we really fighting and we aren't even together." I turned to face him. "Yeah." "Look, I'm sorry. I just, I know I haven't been there, but you are doing an amazing job raising him and you will continue to do an amazing job. It's just, I know I can never be there for him like you can. I just don't want him to forget who I am."

"Beau I don't think he will ever forget you. I will never forget you. I still love you, I will always love you. You're the father of my son, we will always be connected that way. But we just can be in a relationship because it isn't good for Mason." "I know, I will always love you too. you're the mother of my child. I can't stop seeing you because then I stop seeing my son. If you end up marrying Taylor or some other guy I just hope that I can still see him and have visits like this." "I'm not going to keep your son from you. If you want to see him you just have to ask and we can arrange something." He gave me a smile and I put the last outfit in Mason's closet. I walked out into the living room and Beau and Mason were watching tv. So the meeting is going good so far. I know Mason is going to be sad when his dad leaves tonight, but he will be happy at his party tomorrow I am sure.

~~~~~~~

Like I predicted Mason was really upset when his dad left. He was crying so much that I couldn't get him to sleep. I called Taylor to see if he would be able to calm him down and he did. today was the day of his party. I invited wives and girlfriend of Taylor's teammates. They all brought their kids. there were about ten kids running around the apartment and it was hectic. After everyone mingled and the kids played a bit we had food and then it was time for Mason to open his gifts. He got lots of toys, and many of his gifts had cars in them somehow. Which he loved. And he got a few pieces of clothing, but he didn't really need a whole lot of clothes since his dad just bought him quite a few outfits.

After a while the wives and girlfriends started to leave since the boy would all be back in town soon and they wanted to be home when they got there. I cleaned up and put all Mason's gifts in my room so he couldn't get to them and Taylor was calling me. "Hey babe!" "Hey, we just landed. Can you and Mason come to my apartment?" "Sure. We will be there in like ten minutes." "Okay. See you there." "Okay bye." I put my phone on the counter. "Hey Mase. Guess what?" "What?" "We're gonna go see Tayla and Ebly!" "Yay!" He ran and put his shoes on. "I'm ready to go!" "Hang on I have to get my shoes on." I sat on the couch and started moving really slow to mess with Mason. "Mommy! Come on!" I quickly put my shoes on. "Okay let's go!" We ran out to the car and I put Mason in his car seat and then started up the car.

We got to their apartment and Mason practically ran inside. He started knocking on the door. "Ebly! Tayla! We here!" Taylor opened the door and Mason jumped into his arms. "Mason!" Taylor hugged him for the longest time and then Mason wanted to get down because he saw Jordan. "Hi." "Hi." I gave Taylor a kiss and then he wrapped me up in a hug. "I missed you so much." "I know." "Mason, missed you so much." "I know." I looked at him and smiled. We walked into the living room and sat down. "So why did you want us to come over?" "Well, since we missed Mason's birthday, we wanted to give him his gifts." "Yay!" Mason started clapping and he was really excited. Taylor and Jordan went into the other room to get the gifts. Jordan came out pushing a big box. "Holy cow! What is it?" "I don't know buddy you gotta open it."

Mason ran over and ripped the paper off. "It's a box." "Well we have to open the box." "So open it!" "Mason!" "Oh sorry. Please open the box." He looked back at me and smiled. Jordan grabbed a nice to cut open the box and when he opened it Mason had the biggest smile on his face. Jordan pulled out a child size battery powered car. "I love it! Thanks Ebly!" He ran over and gave Jordan a hug. "You're very welcome buddy!" "My turn." Mason looked over at Taylor who held out his gift. "Go ahead and open it." "Mason took of the paper and had another big smile. "It's a hockey stick!" "Not just any stick, that's a stick signed by Tyler Seguin." "Tyler Seguin!" "Yeah, I played in a game against him and your mommy told me how much you liked him, so I asked him if he could give me the stick he used in the game and he signed it and wrote a message on there for ya."

I grabbed the stick from Mason to read the blade where Tyler signed it. To Mason, I've heard some cool stuff about you and maybe I can meet you in person someday. Thanks for being a fan, it means a lot. Hope you have an amazing birthday! -Tyler Seguin

"Wow! I can't believe he really signed it!" "Yup." "This was the best birthday ever mommy!" He ran over and gave me a hug. "I'm glad." This birthday weekend went better then I thought it would and I am glad. Mason was able to see his dad and his two favorite guys, Ebly and Tayla. I know he really loved everything he got, but I think the people that he got to be with this weekend are what really made it so special.