A small head of curly wheat blonde hair silently made her way out of her bedroom complete with her little brown teddy bear tucked under her arm and clad with her favorite pair of pink Pajamas. She quickly ran across the hall to the room next to hers. She stood on her tip toes, and reached with all her might for the door knob. She twisted the knob and silently pushed the door open enough for her little body to slip through. She smiled when she heard the soft snores of her father coming from the bed. She silently ran to the bed that was almost too big for her to climb up on, but she had mastered the art before she turned two. She put her teddy bear on the bed first, and the proceeded to pull herself up on the bed as well.
She giggled softly to herself as she crawled the short space between the edge of the bed and her father who was still fast asleep.
She looked for a short moment at his sleeping face, and gently placed a kiss on his cheek. This was her morning routine. She always woke up first, and much like her father, instantly wanted a bowl of cereal. She would get it herself but the counters were too high for her climb up on, and the milk was simply just too heavy.
She saw a smile tug on the edges of her father’s mouth, and she placed another kiss on his cheek. When he didn’t open his eyes on the second try, she jumped on top of him and wrapped her arms around his neck.
“Well hello sunshine.” He said groggily as he wrapped his long arms around her little body. He couldn’t think of a better way to wake up than this.
No woman could provide half the comfort he felt when he woke up to butterfly kisses from his daughter and a warm inviting hug. For the past three years since she entered his life, priorities changed. It was no longer about the women, the booze, or how many awards he could rack up with each album. It was now about his daughter first, career second. He had more incentive to do the right thing, and to do right by her. He now not only wanted to be known as Justin Timberlake Super Pop Star, but as Justin Timberlake Father of Olivia Lynn Timberlake.
“Good morning daddy.” She said in her sweet little voice, as she picked her head up from its spot on his chest to look him in the eye, and offered him a toothy grin.
“Good morning to you Princess. What are you doing up so early?”
“I woked up.” She said
He laughed at her simple child like answer, “I can see that.”
“I hungry.” She said as she patted her tummy. A cute gesture she picked up from her forever hungry father.
“You are?” He said enthusiastically as he picked her up and held her up as high as his arms could go into the air. He smiled as squeals of delight came out of her mouth.
“Me down, Daddy!” she said smiling as she kicked her legs in the air.
“You can’t be hungry you just ate.” He said
“That was last night. It’s morning.”
He made a surprised look on his face to make his daughter think she knew something that he didn’t. “It is?” He said as he brought her back down and sat her on the other side of him.
“Yes, silly.” She said as she grabbed her teddy bear and sat it in her lap, “Can’t you see the sun?”
He smiled at how smart she was. She was always wanting to learn everything she could about anything. But of course when she was learning to talk he pointed everything out that she needed to learn, but she was just now starting to relate everything with its function. He was just glad she hadn’t reached the point where she asked why yet. Because honestly he didn’t have the answer as to why the sky is blue, and didn’t know how to make her understand that it just was.
He knew that she thought that Dad knows everything, but honestly he really didn’t.
He didn’t know the first thing about being a father when he started this new job, but at this point he realized that he wasn’t doing that bad of a job.
“Is that what that bright thing is outside?” He asked her as he squinted, “How did you become so smart?” He said as he poked her in the side.
Olivia giggled in response, “I hungry.”
The instant hunger was brought up his own stomach began to growl, Olivia laughed at the noise, and said “The monster inside your tummy is hungry like mine.” She said as she rubbed her stomach.
He smiled at how cute his three year old was, and threw the covers off himself. He stood up and stretched then grabbed his daughter and gently slung her over his shoulder. “Let’s go eat.” He said as he walked toward the door taking extra bouncy steps to bounce her around a little bit.
She giggled all the way down the stairs and into the kitchen, and Justin knew that the sound of the best song he could ever write in his life would never compare to sound of his daughter’s laughter.
He sat her at a stool in her booster seat, and poured her and himself a bowl of cereal. He placed her bowl in front of her, “Eat up kid. After cartoons we’ll go to the park.” He said as he ruffled her curls making some fall in her face.
He smiled when she huffed and gave her father a stern look. She sighed and pushed them out of her face.
“I’m going to be sitting right here ok, baby?” Justin called to his daughter who was currently playing in the sandbox. He fished his ringing cell phone out of his pocket; he had it in his hand but didn’t want to give his attention to the phone until he knew that Olivia knew where he was going to be.
“Livvie? Did you hear me?”
“Yes Daddy!” She said never taking her attention from the sand.
He smiled and walked to the bench under a shady tree. He pressed the green button on his phone and pressed it to his ear, “Hello?”
“It’s about time.”
Justin smiled at his friend’s over-dramatic tone, “Hello to you too Trace.”
“Where are you at? I just drove by your house and you’re not home?”
“Livvie and I are at the park.”
He could almost hear his best friend smile at the mention of Olivia, “How’s my girl?”
“She’s fine. She’s playing in the sandbox right now.” He said as looked fondly over to his little girl.
“Speaking of my little munchkin I have a proposition for you.”
He wasn’t so sure if he wanted to know what it was. Especially if talking about his daughter brought it up, “What’s that?”
“How about you leave The Munchkin with a sitter tonight?”
He shook his head even though he knew Trace couldn’t see it, “No.”
“Justin, come on. You haven’t been out in a long time.”
“No, Trace. I’m sorry.”
“Justin, don’t do this. Not tonight.”
“What’s so important about tonight?”
He heard Trace clear his throat, “Uhm…I kind of set you up on a blind date.”
“You what?”
“I set you up on a blind date.”
He sighed, “I heard you the first time. Why would you do that?”
“Because…I thought it would be good for you to get out. It’s been three years, Justin.”
“I’m well aware of how long it’s been. You don’t get the right to decide when’s the right time for me to start dating again.”
“Justin, you can’t stay in your house forever.”
“I don’t. I’m at the park right now aren’t I?”
“That’s not what I meant. I know you get out, but you don’t go anywhere without Olivia.”
“She’s my child, Trace. It’s not that uncommon for a father to take his daughter everywhere he goes.”
“Yes, but just because you have a child doesn’t mean you have to cut yourself off from the social world. When was the last time that you went somewhere just for you?”
Justin sat in silence. He didn’t even want to respond. He couldn’t believe that Trace would so something like this.
“I don’t know.” Justin said. That’s all he could come up with.
“My point exactly.”
“Just because you’re my best friend doesn’t mean you get the right to dictate when it’s time for me to get back in the dating mode. I can’t believe you did this. You know how I feel about it. I’ve turned you down every other time you tried to set me up with someone. Is that why you did this without my knowing?”
“Yes, and I’m sorry. But I think three years is long enough.”
“You don’t get to decide that! My wife died Trace. She died! I get to decide when it’s best for me to move on. Why can’t you accept that?” Justin yelled.
The silence on the other end of the line was deafening. It almost made Justin feel sorry for yelling at Trace, but he was so sick of people telling him when it was right for him to move on.
For some people three years may be long enough, but it didn’t seem like long enough for Justin.
In fact it still felt like yesterday to him.
In the span of one hour his whole world changed. Melissa, his wife, had just gone to the store to get some diapers. Olivia was only a few days old at the time, and he had offered to go get them. But she insisted she go.
Said she wanted to get out.
He knew something was wrong when she hadn’t returned in over three hours. He had called her cell phone at least twenty times with no answer.
He was about to go out to look for her when it got to 11:30 and she hadn’t shown up when his doorbell rang.
Had he known what was to be behind that door he wouldn’t have answered. Sure it wouldn’t have changed anything but just knowing what was there…
Finally Trace spoke up, “Listen, I’m sorry. You’re right. I was just trying to help. I’m worried about you, and I just thought that if I gave the extra push you’d get back out there. I over stepped my boundaries, and I’m sorry.”
Justin wiped a few stray tears away, “It’s ok. I’m sorry for yelling at you.”
“No need to apologize. I deserved it. I’ll call and cancel, alright?”
“Alright.” He said in a sad solemn voice.
“Kiss the munchkin for me?” Trace asked.
“You bet.” Justin said with a smile.
“I’m gonna go. I’ll probably drop by later.”
“Alright, that sounds fine.”
“Bye man.” Trace said.
“Bye.” Justin said as he pressed the red end button. He sat the phone on the bench beside him and ran his fingers through his hair.
Melissa had died in a car wreck. Some stupid drunk idiot ran a red light and t-boned her car sending her in the path of another car.
Needless to say there wasn’t much left of the car, and the paramedics say she died on impact.
That did nothing to satisfy his mind at all. He often found himself what she was thinking before everything happened. Did she feel any pain?
For his sake and Melissa’s he really hoped she didn’t feel any.
He leaned over a little and rested his elbows on his knees. He looked down at the ground and sighed.
He lifted his head at the sound of his daughter laughing.
That was the one thing that really hurt the most.
He was left here to raise his daughter…alone. He had no one to share in the joy of her laughter, no one to do her hair- although he had mastered the art of pig tails and the pony tail- and it was just too much at times. Not raising her, but the pain of knowing Melissa never had the chance to know what an amazing little girl they had.
“Daddy! Come look at my cassle!”
“Coming baby!” He called back as he stood and put his cell phone back in his pocket.
All problems that he was having were put aside…his daughter came first. He could deal with the rest later.
By four o’clock Justin and Olivia were on their way home. Five minutes down the road she was asleep in her car seat. Justin looked back at her from the review mirror and smiled.
It didn’t matter how much or how long he played with Olivia…he still couldn’t get what Trace said out of his head.
Maybe it was time he dated again. Or not really dating but at least getting out of the house and doing something for himself.
He owed it to Olivia to be the best father he could be…and he knew he couldn’t do that if he didn’t get at least a small break every now and then. And besides how would he ever know if he was ready if he didn’t try first?
Before he even knew what he was doing he had his cell phone pressed to his ear calling Trace.
“What up?”
“Have you called and canceled that date already?”
“No not yet, why?”
He breathed in deep and then came out with it, “I’ll go.”
He heard Trace cough loudly, “What?”
“I said I’ll go. You were right about me needing to get out, and I figured…why not?”
“That’s great buddy. Really it is, but do you think you’re ready?”
“Honestly? No I don’t. But how will I know if I never try?”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah man. Do it before I change my mind.”
“Alright man. I’ll go you back with details.”
“Alright bye.” Justin said as he hung up. He placed his phone back in the cup holder.
He let out a deep breath, and continued driving to his house.
“I can’t believe I just did that.” He said to himself as he flipped his blinker on and got off on the exit to go to his house.
He had a feeling that he didn’t know what he was getting himself into.
Author's Chapter Notes:
"I loved you, grey sweatpants, no makeup, so perfect...our love was comfortable..." Comfortable- John Mayer
Inspiration hit! So here's the newest addition...I think I finally found out where this is going. Hope you like!
Inspiration hit! So here's the newest addition...I think I finally found out where this is going. Hope you like!
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