Hey babes! Back again with a new chapter for ya. I like to think this is a pretty good one. And it has a big decision made at the end of the chapter.
Enjoy!
"This is so awesome!" Jessica exclaims with a wide smile as she bounces up and down on her feet while watching the floats and performers travel down the parade route on the street in front of her. "I can't believe we're here. We're actually at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade! This is so cool."
"And I still can't believe I actually let you talk me into this," Skye says to her fiancé.
"Come on, Skye," Miles says to her. "It's not that bad, it's just a parade. We've watched this so many times on TV. And it's not like Jess hasn't spent time with Grant already since he's been here."
Skye sighs. "Yeah, I know. Are you cold at all, baby?" she asks her daughter.
Jessica shakes her head. "No, I'm fine right now."
"Okay. But let me know if you get cold at any point, alright?"
"I will. I think I'm too excited to get cold, though. I can't wait to see dad perform. This is gonna be so awesome." She grins wide as she focuses back on the current performance in front of her, right on the large green carpet in front of the Macy's store.
The float begins moving down the street again when the performance is over, all the fans along the side of the street clapping and cheering.
"Mom, look! There he is!" Jessica shouts and points after a moment once she sees the float Grant is on making its way down the street towards them. "Do you see him, mom? Do you see him?"
"Yeah, I see him, baby girl," Skye says to her daughter, running a hand down the top of her head.
Skye turns her attention to the float and watches as Grant smiles and waves to the crowd before looking down at his guitar. He pulls the pick out of his teeth and strums, one of his band members playing the opening drum beat from a set up on the bottom level of the float.
At the same time they both play the opening note, Grant opens his mouth and starts to sing into the mic.
I feel just like Picasso
And you're my masterpiece
I painted you a lifetime
Now what's left are memories
Oooh
Sunlight's in the curtains
Diamonds in the trees
I gave you colors blue and gold
As you lay upon the sheets
Something so familiar drawn from this blank page
Every line from my hand takes me back to what I can't erase
No matter how I try, no matter what I do
I'm still painting pictures of you
If I should go crazy, if I would go blind
I'd still fill the canvas from the pictures in my mind
If that's the only way to make you mine
It was something so familiar
Drawn from this blank page
Every line from my hand takes me back to what I can't erase
No matter how I try, no matter what I do
I'm still painting pictures, I'm always painting pictures
Still painting pictures of you
Oooh, oooh, oooh, oooh...
When the song finishes, Grant smiles and waves out to the crowd as the float starts moving again, carrying him the rest of the way down the road towards the final resting place for floats.
"Can we go meet dad at the end where all the floats are?" Jessica asks from her place in the crowd, looking up at her mom with eager eyes.
"It's probably really chaotic over there, Jess," Skye tells her. "Besides, the parade isn't over yet. Don't you want to see Santa at the end of it?"
Jessica shakes her head. "No. I wanna go see dad."
Skye sighs. "Alright, come on. But hold my hand please; I don't want to lose you in this crowd."
"Okay." She reaches up and grabs hold of her mom's hand, tugging on it as she starts to make her way through the large crowd of people still standing around and watching the parade.
.
.
.
"Dad!"
Grant turns around from where he's talking to Lorelei and smiles wide when he sees Jessica quickly approaching him. "There's my favorite girl." He stoops down and opens his arms up to her, hugging her tight. "How'd you like my show out there?" he asks her.
Jessica beams. "It was so awesome. You were really good, dad."
"Glad to hear it." He stands back up and looks at Skye and Miles. "How'd you guys like it?" he asks them.
"It was pretty cool," Miles says. "I always wondered what it would be like to see the parade live."
"And now you have."
Miles nods. "Yes I have. Even if we didn't get to see the entire thing because Jess wanted to come over here to see you."
"Because I missed him," Jessica tells him.
"You just spent all day with him the other day," Skye reminds her daughter.
Jessica just shrugs, causing the three adults to laugh to themselves.
"What about you, Skye?" Grant asks, turning towards her. "What did you think?"
Skye shrugs. "It was okay."
Grant raises an eyebrow. "Seriously? That's all you have to say?"
"What else do you want me to say?" she asks.
"Maybe that your mind was blown with how cool it was, or that you were secretly wishing you could have been up there with me performing. Don't even try and deny it, because I know it's always been a dream of yours to play in this parade."
"That was a long time ago," she tells him. "I have new dreams now."
Grant just smiles. "Some dreams never die."
"Hey dad?" Jessica speaks up.
He looks down at her. "Yeah?"
"How come Kebo wasn't playing drums on the float? He's your drummer."
"He is my drummer," Grant says with a nod. "But he and his wife go to her parent's house every year for the holiday and he wouldn't have been able to be there and here cause her family lives in Europe. And even though he would have loved to have been here, he decided to spend the time with his in-laws since he doesn't see them too often."
"Oh. Okay."
Grant smiles at her and then takes a deep breath. "Now, why don't we all get out of the cold and find somewhere warm to go."
"We can go back to our house," Jessica suggests. "You and Lorelei can come over too, dad."
"As long as you're mom is okay with it," Grant says, looking at Skye.
Skye sighs and nods. "It's fine. I already said that you can have dinner with us tonight. And you might want to stay over for the night too," she tells him. "It'll probably be pretty late by the time dinner is over and you shouldn't be driving so long at that time of night. You two can just use the living room since the guest room will be taken?"
"Is it going to be taken by your parents?" he asks her. "Are they going to be there? Because I really don't want to cause any trouble."
"Why would there be trouble?" Jessica asks.
"There's not going to be any trouble, baby girl," Skye tells her daughter. She looks back at Grant. "Everything will be fine. It's my house, my rules. If they don't like it, tough."
"Well then we should probably get going," Grant says, taking hold of Lorelei's hand. "We'll follow behind you guys in the rental."
"Can I go with dad?" Jessica asks, looking up at her mother.
Skye thinks for a moment. "Um, I guess that should be okay."
Jessica smiles. "Awesome." She grabs onto Grant's other hand and begins tugging him towards the parking lot.
Grant chuckles. "Slow down, Jess. We'll get to the car eventually, no need to rush."
Jessica sighs and stops pulling on his hand. "Fine. But can we please go now?"
Grant nods. "Yeah, we can go." He looks at Skye. "We'll see you at your place."
"See you there," Skye says, watching as they walk away towards the parking lot.
Setting the platter of turkey down in the center of the table, Skye stands back and places her hands on her hips with a pleased smile on her lips, letting her eyes roaming over the place settings and different food items set out.
"Dinner's ready," she calls out through the small apartment.
The sound of multiple pairs of feet echo off the floor as her family makes their way into the room.
"Everything looks great, Skye," her mother tells her with a smile.
Skye smiles back. "Thanks, mom. I just hope it tastes great too."
"It always does," Miles comments, pressing a kiss to her temple as he moves to his chair.
"Wait, Skye actually cooked all of this?" Grant asks, gesturing to the food on the table as he and Lorelei make their way into the kitchen.
Skye nods. "Yes, I did."
"Really?" he asks with a raised brow. "Wow. Last I knew, you couldn't make a grilled cheese sandwich without burning something. I usually had to make everything for you even before we were together."
"Yeah, well, when you become a single parent in a city you've never been to before, you end up doing what you can to survive and keep your kid alive."
"So you learned to cook, then? I'm impressed."
"Wasn't looking to impress," she says. "Just survive." She takes a deep breath and claps her hands together once. "Okay everybody, take a seat somewhere at the table so we can get this holiday meal started." She sits down in her chair and scoots closer to the table.
Everyone moves towards the table, sitting down in their chairs and getting comfortable.
"Can dad carve the turkey?" Jessica asks when she's settled in her seat between her parents.
"Don't I always carve the turkey, Jess?" Phil speaks up to his granddaughter.
"I want dad to do it this year," Jessica says.
"Sorry, Jess," Grant says to his daughter, "I've never carved a turkey before. I'll just let your grandpa do it again if he's the one who always does it."
Phil raises his eyebrows. "You're going to let me?"
"Okay," Skye speaks up before an argument can break out. "Dad, go ahead and carve the turkey for everyone, please, I think we're all a little eager to start eating."
Phil nods his head and grabs the carving knife to begin cutting into the turkey, serving out slices to everyone around the table.
"Dad, have you really never carved a turkey before?" Jessica asks.
Grant shakes his head. "Nope. Kebo, Hannah, and I usually just have turkey TV dinners on Thanksgiving every year in LA."
"All that money at your disposal and you don't have some extravagant Thanksgiving party with your sister and her family or hundreds of your closest friends?" Skye asks him.
Grant shrugs."I guess I could do that. But I kind of like it being just me and Kebo. He's one of the only ones I have around still in LA that I genuinely care about, besides my family, of course. Well, him and his wife Hannah."
"Oh, wow," Skye says quietly, a small frown on her face.
"But now you have me and mom," Jessica says.
Grant smiles and pulls Jessica into a side hug, dropping a kiss to the top of her head. "That I do." He takes a deep breath and reaches for his glass, clearing his throat to get everyone's attention. "Before we all start eating, I just want to say something real quick. Usually, at this time of year, I'm back in LA with just my best friend and his wife and maybe one or two somewhat close friends, eating awful turkey TV dinners. But this year...this year is the best Thanksgiving I could ever have. Because I have my beautiful daughter to spend the holiday with, as well as her equally as beautiful mother, someone I never thought I'd see again in this lifetime. I'm very glad and extremely thankful to be able to spend the holiday with you all. Happy Thanksgiving."
Skye smiles kindly at him and gives him a small nod of her head. "Happy Thanksgiving, Grant."
"Happy Thanksgiving, dad," Jessica says with a wide smile. "Can we eat now?"
.
.
.
"You can post something if you want."
Grant looks up from his phone to see Skye standing against the wall near the hallway, her arms crossed casually in front of her. "What?"
"I said you can post something if you want to. A picture of you and Jess. There are already a handful of people who know what's going on and sooner or later it's bound to get out to the rest of the world that she's your daughter. It's better that we get on it first, right?"
Grant nods slowly. "Yeah. I guess that makes sense."
Skye nods once. "Good, I'm glad." She turns to make her way down the hall when Grant calls out for her again. She looks over her shoulder. "Yeah?"
"I meant what I said at dinner earlier. I know we'll never be together again because you're marrying Miles and I wouldn't want to get in the way of that, you guys seem really happy together, but I am grateful to be back in your life, even if it is just as friends."
"We're not friends, Grant," she tells him. "At least, not right now. I don't think there's a word to describe what we are at this point in our relationship."
"Do you think we can ever be friends again?" he asks her. "We were friends long before we got together."
"I know that," she says with a small nod. "And maybe we can one day. After all, we'll probably be seeing a whole lot of each other for the rest of our lives because of Jess."
Grant nods. "Very true. Well, uh, goodnight, I guess."
"Yeah, goodnight." She turns back around and continues down the hallway, leaving Grant in the dimly lit living room.
Looking back at his phone, Grant goes to his Instagram app and hits the new photo button, going into his camera roll to find a photo.
He scrolls a little and then smiles at the photo he finds, one of him and Jess taken earlier in the day. They're both smiling wide for the camera while Jessica is making bunny ears behind his head, trying to suppress a laugh.
Hitting the next button, Grant taps inside the text box and writes a caption This Thanksgiving there's one thing I'm thankful for above all else; my beautiful, amazing, incredible daughter. I love your goofy self so much, Jess, you're already my entire world. I'm so thankful to get to be a part of your life now. I've missed so much already and I certainly don't plan on missing any more.
So? What did you think? Let me know in a review down below. I'd love to hear your thoughts.
Also, working on something I think is pretty fun and I'd love your help with it. All you gotta do is let me know in your review why you love/ship Skyeward. I already know why I love them, but I wanna know why you love/ship them. :)
Until next time,
Jellybean96 out!
