Here is my new story, a semi-sequel to Turbulence. The first chapter is fairly short but wanted to go ahead and lay the foundation for the story. Also one of the songs I used is a song that was used in another story. That was totally un-intentional. I wrote this a few weeks ago and the same song plays in several chapters so that is why I can't change it.
Chapter 1
Deacon waives to the babysitter as she pulls out of the driveway. It's only six o'clock but he's already bone tired. The dirty dishes are still in the sink and all of Maddie's toys are scattered on the floor, just as they had been this morning.
Deacon walks over to the blinking red light of the answering machine. It was a message from Tandy who was just "checking in." Deacon sighs in disappointment when he realizes there are no other messages. Deacon takes a moment to stare at a picture of Maddie and Rayna from Maddie's first birthday. He traces the lines of Rayna's smile briefly, allowing himself just a moment to wallow in his own loneliness.
Then heads down the hallway, opening the first door on the left. Deacon smiles when he sees his daughter. She's wearing the purple shirt, green skirt, and the cowboy boots that she picked out this morning. With a soft smile, Deacon realizes if Rayna ever saw Maddie dressed like that she would freak out. Actually the outfit is less offensive than the lopsided ponytail with the gold ribbon that Maddie's hair was still in. Apparently neither the day care, nor the babysitter decided to fix his hair disaster from this morning.
The four year old excitedly jumps up from her small table that Santa bought last year. She grabs her Daddy's hand and tugs him toward the table.
"Daddy, I gonna show you my picture for Mama."
Deacon watches as his daughter moves her crayons around to get to the white construction paper she was looking for.
Maddie had been in a coloring stage for a few months, so he recognized the blobs near the bottom of the page. The white line with red at the top was Rayna. The line with the brown blob in front of it was apparently himself with a guitar. Maddie points to a purple and green lines and tells Deacon that is her.
Deacon asks what the white lines at the top of the page are.
"Clouds," Maddie says matter-of-factly. Deacon nods again and asks what the yellow thing on top of the clouds were. Maddie tilts her head to the side, a mannerism she got from Rayna.
"It's Jack," Maddie declares before she sees that her doll is on the ground. As Maddie rushes over to get Victoria the doll, Deacon feels his eyes water. Quickly, Deacon wipes his eyes with the back of his hand and ask Maddie how macaroni and cheese sounds for dinner.
One quick tea party later and the pair make it down to the kitchen. For the next twenty minutes, Maddie watches some princess movie and dances around the living room while Deacon makes supper.
Maddie frowns as Deacon put down her plate of mac-and-cheese, sliced apples, and green beans.
"You didn't cut it like Mama does," Maddie whines as she pushes her plate away and crosses her arms in front of her. Typically, he would scold Maddie for being rude and whining; but, nothing was typical these days. Plus, Maddie is missing Rayna and is confused about everything that's going on.
Deacon scoops up the offending apples and places them on his plate before grabbing another apple and cutting them to Maddie's instructions. The pair sits down at the kitchen table and Maddie's brief temper tantrum is forgotten. Maddie tells Deacon about her day at preschool. During show-and-tell Michael brought his pet turtle, for art she got to roll paint around with marbles, and McKenzie tried to kiss Davis on the playground.
"Kissing? She's four." Deacon asks as he turns white thinking of his own daughter kissing some boy.
Maddie nodded, "She tries to kiss all the boys but that is just yucky. But I not gonna kiss a boy til I'm 8 or 9." She nods and holds up eight fingers.
Deacon drops the subject, not wanting to think about the topic any longer. Maddie helps Deacon load the dishwasher and pick up her toys.
After dinner, father and daughter head upstairs. Maddie's bath is blissfully quick but bed time is a hassle.
Even after reading four books, Maddie is practically standing on her head begging him to play the guitar. Deacon walks down the hall and comes back with a guitar in hand. Maddie yells happily before Deacon sternly warns her to go lay down, "Or else I won't play at all."
Deacon cuts off the overhead light, bathing the room in soft purple glow from the night light. Maddie settles down as Deacon tucks her in.
Maddie asks for "her song" first. Deacon wants to play anything else right now but he's never been good at denying his daughter anything. He sings the words to, 'A Life That's Good.' He surprises himself at happy and light he feels as he sings the lyrics. Maddie smiles and sings along, moving her head back and forth against the pillow.
The next request was for the Little Mermaid song as the little girl yawns. Maddie makes fishy face as Maddie began singing 'Kiss the Girl.' Deacon finishes the song before leaning down to kiss Maddie's cheek. For a second, he turns to his side, expecting Rayna to be there. It has become a tradition for Deacon to lean down and Maddie on the cheek, then turn and kiss Rayna's lips. But Ray isn't here so he leans down and kisses his daughter again. He lets out a loud puff of air before changing the tune again to 'Good Night Sweetheart'.
Eventually Maddie's eyes close and her breathing evens out. Deacon plucks the strings as he watches Maddie sleeping. He runs through all the things he should be doing right now: calling Bucky, cleaning up the house, making a grocery list, or taking a shower. But he just can't make himself get up and mull around the empty house.
Nearly an hour later, Deacon lays his guitar against the wall of Maddie's room and heads to the master suite. His shirt and jeans from yesterday are still on the floor. His half of the bed is unmade, the sheets are just like he left them this morning. Rayna's half of the bed is perfectly made, down to the throw pillows. Nothing on her side of the bed and had been moved in over a week.
Five weeks ago, Deacon was sure he could never hurt more in his entire life than that God-awful day in the hospital. But things were so much worse now that reality has sunk in. He slowly undresses, lacking the energy to do it quickly.
Deacon grabs his cellphone and dials the familiar number as he relaxes against the pillows.
He isn't surprised when the phone rings four times. He hears Rayna's voice, telling him to leave a message at the beep. She sounds so happy on the recording. He wonders if he'll ever hear her sound that happy again. The beep is loud and Deacon sighs into the phone.
"Hey. It's me. I know you don't want to talk right now…." His breath catches in his throat, "Maddie misses you and I miss you." Deacon pauses, trying to choose the right words. "I love you baby, please just come home. Please…." The digital recording tells Deacon his time has expired. He closes his flip phone and looks up at the ceiling.
His heart aches and his head hurts so he closes his eyes, hopeful that maybe tomorrow things would be better.