Family
Summer and Lily sat on the living room floor playing Barbie's that morning, Lily waiting anxiously for 12 o'clock to roll around. She had woken early that morning excited at the idea of spending an entire day with her father.
"Mommy is it noon yet?" Lily asked, growing very impatient.
"Ten more minutes babe. Your dad should be here in no time so why don't you bring these back to room and get your jacket while you're in there," Summer responded handing the dolls to Lily and sending her on her way.
Lily was back in the living room within minutes, sitting down on the edge of the couch and tapping her foot impatiently.
"Babe what is with you today? You need to relax; your dad will be here soon okay?" Summer said grabbing Lily and pulling her down to lie on the couch in her arms.
"I know, I know, I'm just really excited about getting to hang out with daddy all day." Lily said getting comfortable on the couch with her mom. They lay there in silence until Lily broke it, "hey mommy?"
"Ya, babe?"
"Do you think next time we can all go out together? Like me you and daddy, just like a real family?" Lily asked looking up into her mother's eyes with pleading eyes.
"Sure honey," Summer responded with a smile just as there was a knock at the door.
"I'll get it, I'll get it!" Lily yelled running to the door as fast as she could. She flung the door open to find Seth standing there with a huge smile arms wide open. Lily jumped into Seth's arms giving him the biggest hug her little arms could manage.
"Hey Princess you ready to go?" Seth said placing Lily back on the ground.
"I've been ready for ever!" Lily said grabbing her coat from her mother's arms while giving her a hug and kiss goodbye.
"Alright be good okay babe? I'll see you at Aunt Marissa's and Uncle Chino's later today. Have fun." Summer said giving her daughter one last kiss before she left. "I'll be here if you need anything," she said looking up at Seth who just nodded in response, but you could tell from the look on his face he was just excited about this day as Lily was.
"Alright kid let's get this show on the road," Seth said taking Lily by the hand. He leaned over to Summer and whispered in her ear a simple "thank you" and gave her a small kiss on the cheek before turning towards the door.
"Bye mommy I love you!" Lily called back as she and Seth were making their way down the hallway.
"Love you too!" Summer said as she watched them get into the elevator and go.
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Seth and Lily made their way out onto the city streets hand in hand; Lily rambling on about her friend Kaitlyn who's always bragging about getting to go places with her dad and how that now she could talk about getting to go out with her dad. Seth couldn't help but laugh at the fact that Lily had indeed inherited his tendency to ramble all the time.
"So what do you want to do first?" Seth asked looking down at Lily's smiling face.
"Um, could we go to the park?" Lily asked looking up at Seth with her big brown eyes.
"Anything you want princess."
They made their way to the park where they played on the swings and slides, and had games of tag with some of Lily's friends who were at the park. Seth knew he was getting strange looks from parents who clearly knew Lily and didn't know him so he made his best attempt at introducing himself to as many people as possible.
After an hour and a half of playing around in the park Seth and Lily decided to sit in the grass and talk for a little bit.
"So what do you like to do for fun?" Seth asked doing his best to get to know his daughter, he had missed out on a lot and really wanted to be as involved with Lily as Summer was.
"Well I like to play with my friends from school; we mostly play Barbie and dress up. I like going to the park and the mall. But most of all I like hanging out with mommy."
"Really?" Seth asked curiously.
"Ya, mommy's my best friend and I'm hers. We spend lots of time together and she always plays with me, and watches the Golden Girls."
"Oh I see," Seth said trying not to sound too envious. The truth was Summer had a great relationship with Lily and he was jealous of that. They had spent four years just the two of them and he knew their relationship would never change, he just hoped that one day he could have that same relationship with his daughter.
"Mommy always said you'd come find us." Lily said in an almost whisper, causing Seth to forget his jealousy.
"She did?" Seth asked in surprise.
"Ya, she said that you would look for us until you found us no matter how long it took. She said that you would find us one day so that we could be a real family." Lily explained.
Seth didn't know what to say to this. Was it possible that after all this time Summer still had hope for the two of them? Did she still have feelings for him after four years? He hadn't realized he still had feelings for Summer until he saw her that day at the mall, but he thought that was just him, was it possible Summer felt the same? Seth sat and considered this for a few minutes until he felt a tugging on his shirt.
"Daddy? Are you okay?" Lily asked looking up at her father innocently.
"Oh ya I'm fine sweetheart. So hey where do you want to go next?" Seth asked doing his best to remain normal.
"Can we go to the mall?" Lily asked jumping to her feet, hoping around excitedly.
"Um, sure kiddo whatever you want," Seth responded as Lily grabbed his hand and tried to pull him to his feet.
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Summer stood staring at the door labeled 2d wishing she hadn't agreed to have dinner with the whole gang so soon. Come on Summer get a hold of yourself! These are your friends you can handle this! Summer convinced herself reaching out to knock the door.
"Who is it?" a small voice called from the other side of the door.
"Um, it's me…um Summer!"
"Summer? Hmm, I don't know you and my daddy said I should never open the door to…"
"Christina who's at the door?" the voice of Ryan called out from inside the apartment.
"Some lady named Summer!" Christina called back. The sound of footsteps could be heard until finally the door opened to a smiling Ryan.
"Hey Sum, sorry bout the wait," Ryan said moving aside to let Summer in.
"Oh, no it's not a problem," Summer said stepping into the messy apartment.
"Oh, um sorry about the mess; we haven't really had a chance to get everything unpacked yet," Ryan said reading Summer's mind.
"Sum! Oh I'm so glad you came!" Marissa entered the room greeting her friend with a hug.
"Hey Coop!" Summer responded holding onto her old friend, knowing that tonight would be okay.
Summer looked around the apartment until she found what she had been looking for. Holding onto Ryan's hand for dear life was a small blonde girl. She was the spitting image of Ryan, same deep blue eyes and shy smile. Summer could only vaguely remember what Theresa looked like, but she did not see her in this little girl. No she was all Ryan.
"Um, Summer this is our daughter Christina, Chrissy this your Aunt Summer." Ryan introduced Summer to the little girl. Summer took note of how Ryan had said our daughter and not my daughter and this made her realize just how far Marissa and Ryan had come.
"Hey there Christina," Summer said getting down to eye level with the little girl.
"Hi, you can call me Chrissy if you want Auntie Summer." Christina replied loosening up a bit.
"Okay Chrissy," Summer said giving Christina a hug. "So um Seth and Lily aren't back yet?" Summer said standing back up and looking to Marissa and Ryan.
"No but Seth said he'd be back around five so I'm sure he'll be here soon. Why don't we sit down for a while until they get back?" Marissa said motioning to the couches surrounded by boxes in the middle of the room.
The three friends sat and chatted for a bit while Christina played on the floor with her legos. Summer couldn't help but keep checking her watch to see what time it was. It was almost 5:30pm and Summer was starting to worry.
"Sum, don't worry about it I'm sure Seth just lost track of time," Marissa told her reading her mind.
Just then the door opened and in walked Seth carrying a ton of shopping bags, Lily following behind him.
"Hey sorry we're late, I could not get this one out of the mall!" Seth said dropping the shopping bags at the door. Summer, Ryan and Marissa had come to greet them at the door.
"Hey mommy!" Lily said jumping into Summer's arms.
"Hey babe did you have a good time with your dad?" Summer asked.
"Oh ya it was so much fun! We went to the park and played with my friends and then we went to the mall!" Lily said with excitement in her eyes.
Summer laughed as she looked at the Seth's exhausted face.
"The mall huh? How come I could never get you to come to the mall with me when we were in Newport?" Summer asked Seth with a laugh.
"It was Lily's idea and I just couldn't say no. Plus I think you'll be happy because we picked out a few things for you while we were there." Seth said going to sit on the couch.
Everyone followed suit and took their seats, Lily sitting on Summer's lap.
"Oh Lily this is your cousin," Summer began but was soon interrupted.
"Christina!" Lily said getting confused looks from the adults in the room, "We're in the same class at school but I didn't know she was my cousin!" Lily explained.
Everyone just laughed as Lily joined Christina on the floor to play with her legos. Everyone sat and talked for a while and then enjoyed a "home cooked meal" from Marissa which was really just Chinese food. After eating they continued to just sit and talk, sharing stories and laughing with each other just like old times while Christina and Lily continued to play on the floor stopping every now and then to tell a story of their own. As Summer looked around she couldn't remember why she had been nervous about coming tonight because looked at the laughing faces of her friends she knew they were much more than that. They were her family.