Don't Forget Me

I tapped my pen on the desk. This life was slowly draining me. As I sat in the comfortable chair, I let myself drift away. My mind wandered and imagined myself in scrubs, standing in an operating room. I wanted to save lives. My lifelong dreams didn't involve sitting at a desk in a bank desperately praying for someone to walk in. I craved excitement. I couldn't help but to feel selfish for this. My daughter was the best thing to ever happen to me, yet that question was always there. What if?

Glancing at the clock, I groaned, resting my head on the desk top. There was still two hours until closing time. Curiously, I pictured what Alayna and Dave were up to back at the apartment. I contemplated sending him a text to check in, but I didn't want to offend him. He did well over the past week, I didn't want to belittle him. He could handle Alayna.

Though she resembled me in the looks department, our daughter's personality was my complete opposite. The young girl inherited the Franco charm and was incredibly outgoing like her father. Even at such a young age, she was so laid back. She truly was the best of both of us.

My little girl opened up to Dave very quickly. They had such a beautiful connection. She never had a male figure in her life. I never even made an attempt to date after I got pregnant. I didn't see the point. Some random man wasn't Alayna's father. Dave was. I always held onto faith that he would come around someday. And he did.

Things were still awkward between the two of us; though Alayna would never notice. She was smitten by her new friend. Suddenly she didn't want mommy anymore. It stung a bit, but it was great seeing her begin to grow into a person and bond so well with her father. Whether she herself knew that was her daddy or not, anyone who looked at the pair would know in a heartbeat.

The rest of the day seemed to drag on. It was mostly a blur as I counted down the seconds until the weekend. Friday afternoons were always the worst. All I wanted to do was go home and spend my free days with my baby girl.

I picked up a pizza on my way home. The apartment door was unlocked when I pushed it open. I could hear Laney giggling and tiny footsteps.

"Twenty!" Dave's voice called out from somewhere down the hall. "Ready or not, here I come!" He warned just as Laney snuck by me as if I wasn't even there, crouching down behind the couch.

Dave said hello to me as he checked behind a few random objects. His eyes connected with her high pony tail that peaked over the couch, but he pretended he didn't see her and continued to vocally check more potential hiding spots.

"Hmm," he drew out, "she's not in here," he observed as he turned over a small vase that sat on a bookshelf. This caused the child to attempt to stifle a giggle.

In one motion, Dave took a long step towards the couch and scooped her up. Her contagious belly laugh loudly echoed off the walls.

"I found you!" He teased her, his fingers tickling her ribs causing her to squirm.

"Okay children," I laughed out, walking to the kitchen and setting the pizza box down on the kitchen counter. "I brought dinner."

Just as I had expected, the two raced down the hardwood to the kitchen, Dave hot on Alayna's heels.

"How was your day?" Dave asked, pulling a cheesy slice of pizza out of the box, not bothering with a plate. I rolled my eyes at his manners. I shrugged as I began to cut Alayna's into bite size pieces.

"Typical Friday," I replied to his question, setting my daughter's dinner down at the table in front of her. She smiled up at me with a small 'thank you' before digging in. "What about you guys? Did you have fun?" Alayna nodded feverishly.

"We went for a walk to the park and saw some doggies! Davey told me he would get me a puppy!" The little girl squealed with excitement. I shot a look at Dave with raised eyebrows.

"Oh he did?" I directed towards him. He gave me a slight shrug with his signature smirk.

"How can you say no to that little face?" He motioned towards Alayna's now red sauce covered face. I laughed lightly.

"Simple. You just say no. You'll get better at it," I reassured. Dave shook his head, his eyes falling to the floor.

"I want to give her everything she wants," he explained in a low voice while Alayna wasn't paying attention. "I have to leave soon." I nodded solemnly. I knew he couldn't stay forever. Alayna had no idea though. She threw a fit even when he was just going back to his hotel for the night.

That's what scared me the most about Dave coming into Alayna's life. She was so fragile and impressionable. I understood that Dave couldn't always be around. He would be in and out of the picture. Alayna would be heart broken. She wouldn't understand like I did.

"I'm going to start filming soon..." He trailed off. He seemed almost unsure of what he was saying. It was common though; we still walked on eggshells around each other most of the time. "I want to fly you two out to see me."

I thought about it for a moment. To do that, it would mean he was ready to openly address the fact that he had a daughter. There was no way the press wouldn't find out and they would have a field day with it. Right now I wasn't even sure if his family knew about Alayna. Was that the best move for our daughter?

"I don't know, Dave," I bit down on my lip. He nodded slightly, playing with the pocket of his jeans.

"Just think about it and let me know," he glanced over at the little girl now. He admired her for a moment. She had abandoned her plate of food and was in a land of imagination with her dolls. "I don't want to be away from her."

I was grateful that Dave now wanted to be such a large part of his daughter's life. It warmed my heart. But I was still worried that the short visits would get to her. A child her age needs stability. I was so torn. I had waited for this since she was born, but now I didn't know how to approach the situation at all.

I planned on voicing my opinions to Dave, but now wasn't the time so I just pushed them to the back of my brain. We'd get into that another time. Right now, I wanted to focus on the time we all had together.

It was so hard to not stare at this man. I felt like I did four years ago. Just looking at him made my stomach flip. Seeing him play with his daughter didn't help. Every day I found myself more and more attracted to Dave. I ignored that though and took another bite of my pizza.

This wasn't over. I just had a feeling.