"Daddy, I'm hungry." Emily climbed into my lap, looking up at me with puppydog eyes.
"Baby, it's almost 11:30… Daddy's tired." I tried to make excuses, but you can never say no to Emily.
"Fine…" I sighed. "What do you want?"
"Animal crackers!" she grinned, climbing off my lap and to the backpack where Julie put all the snacks, toys and such. She opened it, then fished out a box of circus animal shaped cookies. I thought I was going to have to get them for her, as I had many times before, but she was getting older. She was 4 years old now, and reminded me every day.
"Sweetie, go to bed now, ok? It's late, and Daddy's tired…" I yawned, proving my point. She nodded, crawling into the bunk below me.
"Good night Daddy!" she said softly. I sighed, closing my eyes and turning off my laptop. I tucked it in between my TV and the wall, flipping my light off and laying down on the hard mattress. We were heading to Detroit from New York City… We were going to stay there for a week, doing three concerts. It was Kendall's hometown… She was buried with the rest of her family in a graveyard near her old school. I went back there each year, but it never got easier.
Isaac
Her name was Nicole. We had met backstage at a concert 1 ˝ years ago, and had been dating ever since. The children didn't like her, they preferred Chloe over her. It had been 3 years since she had attempted suicide and failed, 2 ˝ since we separated. We had never officially divorced, but I hadn't heard from her for most of that 2 ˝ years. She took Dakota with her, leaving Lila, Claire, and Nick in my care with the promise that she would be back. Lila had sobbed for days, refusing to leave her room. Chloe finally called and had reassured Lila she would be back. It hadn't happened.
For all I knew, Chloe could be dead and Dakota could be adopted by Spanish monks. I knew that hadn't happened, but I had no idea where they were. I missed them both. Chloe was too mentally unstable to take care of Dakota by herself, so the obviously choice for her to live would have been her mother's. None of us remembered the address, and they were unlisted.
She was gone. I had moved on, and I had found Nicole. Nicole had kept me sane, she had given me a reason not to crawl into my own little world and sob.
The new album had come out just days before, and already we were on a promotional tour, doing concerts in select cities. We were now in Detroit, or rather Pontiac. I knew Zac had plans to go down to where Kendall was buried, and I intended to come with him.