All The Small Things

169

[Luca POV]

When I woke up the next morning, I was actually in a really good mood. I don't know why, but I like being happy. So I didn't question it. I was also little, so I was excited to go to Carter's.
"Dady!" I exclaimed, hugging him from behind while he brushed his teeth. Since he had toothpaste in his mouth, he couldn't answer me. So he just pushed my hair out of my face and quickly finished brushing his teeth and then spit out the toothpaste.
"Dady, up?" I asked as he rinsed his toothbrush.
"C'mere, Bug," He mumbled, scooping me up.

After he made me brush my teeth and hair, Dady helped me get dressed.
"What bottoms?" He asked, showing me a pair of light blue jeans, my SpiderMan PJ pants, or a pair of black shorts. I really couldn't pick between my shorts or my PJs, so I did eenie meenie miny mo in my head before picking SpiderMan. Dady helped me change into a black tank top since it was supposed to be warm today before helping with my socks and shoes. When he dropped me off at Carter's, I was actually really hungry.
"Do you want cereal or a waffle?" He asked, and I obviously picked waffle. He cut it up for me and let me eat next to Sage.

"Does your Daddy work a lot?" Lexie asked across from me.
"I guess," I said, shrugging.
"Are you sure? Cause when my Dady was out that much, he wasn't working," She told me, making my good mood falter.
"He workin'," I said, trying to keep my mind from jumping to conclusions. Just because her CG did that doesn't mean Jacob will. Jacob wouldn't do that.
"If you say so," She said doubtfully.

"Luca, do you want another?" Carter asked from the kitchen.
"More," I answered, signing at the same time. He set another waffle in front of me, cut it up, and gave me more syrup.
"Share?" I asked Sage next to me, but she was spaced out. She was playing with her food, and Lexie wasn't really eating either. So, I subconsciously started breaking my waffel into even smaller pieces, and so it looked like I ate more than I did while Lexie kept talking.

"Done," I loudly said, so that Carter heard me.
"Let me wipe your face," He mumbled, wiping his hands on his shirt before grabbing a baby wipe. He quickly wiped my mouth, making me scrunch up my face.
"Go play," He told me, tossing the wipe in the trash. I ran to the living room and picked up Leo from the couch before starting to play with cars. I didn't wanna bring him to the kitchen cause I'm not good at being careful with syrup and didn't want him to get messy.
I don't know why Carter had the news on, but I didn't pay any attention to it. At least, I didn't until I heard Kayden's name. I instantly snapped my attention to what was on TV the second I heard the mention of his name.

"Earlier today, a disbarred Whiteland police officer, Kayden James, took his own life. He was supposed to be booked into jail today on rape charges, but when he didn't turn himself in, his former coworkers were tasked with performing a welfare check and then bringing him in. Well, when they got to his home, they tried knocking for several minutes before being left with no option other than to make forced entry. The officers responding reported that he had a gunshot wound, which was found to be the cause of his death, and that he had been deceased for at least a few hours,"

I listened intently, not even making it past the second sentence without starting to cry. I know he did all those things to me, but I also know he was sick. And that he had family. And that he wasn't all bad. I couldn't help but feel like I caused this. I'm the reason he was gonna go to jail, and if I had just not talked about it, he'd still be alive. I also felt an immense amount of shame, considering the initial relief I felt when they said he was dead.
"Luca, c'mere. We're gonna go outside,"  Carter said, walking into the living room with Sage and Lexie behind him. I looked up at him, stood up, and clung to him. I want my Daddy. He stated silent for a second, most likely watching the recap of the news before picking me up.
"Shh, I know," He softly comforted me, starting to scratch my head.