Cayden's POV

You ever notice that when you're waiting for something, time decides to go by as slow as possible. When it's a couple days until your birthday, the hours start to crawl by at a tortoise's speed. You're excitedly waiting for a package in the mail, it ends up coming late or worst getting lost on it's way to you. Your unofficial girlfriend changes her flight to come home four days earlier and all of a sudden the days just inches by little by little. I promise you, time was passing by perfectly fine before I convinced her to change that flight.

I know they say that patience is a virtue but is it a virtue that I really need in life?

I'm supposed to be studying plays. I'm supposed to be watching game tapes. I'm supposed to be mentally preparing myself for the bowl game that's taking place in two days. But I can't. Apparently, the only thing that I can do is sit on my dinning table and stare at the clock while thinking about the last time I sat at this very table with Brooke right next to me.

Cayden
Please tell me you miss me
as much as I miss you right
now.

B❤️
Nope.
I miss you even more 😘

Cayden
😘😍

    I opened the playbook in front of me again. As the quarterback and captain of my team, I need to be on my A game at Saturday night's game. No ands, whats, ifs or buts. This bowl game is the mid term of all mid terms to this football season. And if by any chance my team and I are lucky enough to come out with that W, we're going to be taking a nice trip to Levi Stadium in Santa Clara for the National Championship Game.

    My phone lit up, notifying me about the text message I just received.

B❤️
With that being said...
How mad would you be if I
told you that I wasn't coming
back on NYE?

    NOOO! Did I just jinx myself with my earlier rant?

Cayden
What do you mean you're
not coming back on NYE?
C'mon babe. Don't do me like
this!!!!!!!!!

I once again stared at the clock on the wall, watching the seconds turn to minutes.

Cayden
Babe?

After a few more minutes, there's still wasn't any reply from her.

Cayden
Baby??????

A total of 11 minutes and 33 seconds passed by from her last text and still she didn't respond to my very important question.

Cayden
DAMMIT BROOKE!
You can't just TEXT me
something like this and out of
nowhere STOP texting back.

The three dots on the bottom of my screen immediately appeared.

Finally!

B❤️
Sheesh! Relax.
I was doing something.
I'm right here. 😚

I didn't text back because I wanted her to tell me why she wasn't flying in on the day that she told me she was. She told me she already had the ticket changed and everything. So now, the only thing I want to hear from her is why the plans changed. Did she have to stay in Hawaii until her original flight date? Did she lie to me about changing it in the first place? Did she decide to not come back at all?

B❤️
Don't be a grouch...
Kiss me back 😗😙😚

Cayden
Answer me first

B❤️
Not until you kiss me back

I swear, between her and Cayleigh, I don't know who's going to be the death of me first. They can both be so stubborn sometimes and unfortunately for me, I'm always going to be at their beck and call.

Cayden
😗
There.
Now answer my question.

B❤️
Wow. I totally feel the love.
😔😔😔

It's definitely Brooke who's going to be the death of me first.

Cayden
😘😘😘😘😘😘😘😘😘😘
😘😘😘😘😘😘😘😘😘😘
😘😘😘😘😘😘😘😘😘😘
😘😘😘😘😘😘😘😘😘😘
😘😘😘😘😍😍😘😘😘😘
😘😘😘😘😍😍😘😘😘😘
😘😘😘😘😘😘😘😘😘😘
😘😘😘😘😘😘😘😘😘😘
😘😘😘😘😘😘😘😘😘😘
😘😘😘😘😘😘😘😘😘😘

B❤️
Thank you 😍

I watched as the three dots at the bottom of my screen appeared and disappeared over and over again. So far, it's reappeared 17 times. At this point, I was expecting a novel sized text to show up on my screen.

And to be honest, that's scaring the shit out of me.

Nine out of ten times, when a girl is sending you a book long response, it's never good news. I should start mentally preparing myself for the "we have to talk, it's me not you" speech.

B❤️
Let's play a game!

Let's play a game?

I gave myself three mini heart attacks for her to reply with a four worded sentence. I wonder if the game is some kind of cruel way to break up with me.
Like she asks me 21 questions and after the last question she says, "Surprise! I want nothing to do with you. Now get out of my life." Or maybe all the girls who I slept with, got together and convinced her to make me want to get into a relationship with her and then break my heart.

What? I saw that happen in a movie once. So I know there's girls out there who think like that.

Now I'm starting to regret having a revolving door of one night stands. Because if Brooke ever decided that she didn't want to be with me, that would break my heart. And I'm man enough to honestly say that.

Cayden
Okay?

B❤️
You ever went on a
scavenger hunt when you
were younger?

Cayden
Umm...
Yeah?

B❤️
What's with the question
mark? It's either a yes or
a no.

Cayden
Yes, sassy.

B❤️
Well, then...
It's time to have some fun.
Where we had our first
conversation is where you'll
find clue #1.

Cayden
What?
Brooke?
What does that have to do
with you not coming home
in four days?

B❤️
Just trust me.
Alright, baby?

Cayden
Fine.

Where'd we have our first conversation? Okay, think. The first time I met Brooke was the day of Theo's party. She was standing in front of the stairway talking with Mya and Jake.

I stood up from the chair and walked to the front of the house. When I got to the stairs, I carefully scanned every step to see where this clue could be. I walked up every step and back down. And when I didn't see anything, I did it again three more times. Just in case.

Then I checked the stand on the side of my stairs. On top of it was barren, besides a lamp. I pulled open the drawer and moved around the things inside of it and still saw nothing that didn't belong there.

Where the hell is it? What am I even looking for?

While hovering over the table with my hands pressed on it, I once again began to think of places where Brooke could have hid her clue. Isn't this where we first talked? I could have sworn it was. I turned around and blankly stared at the wall in front of me, subtly getting annoyed with how much I suck at this game.

Did I mention that being patient isn't really my thing?

That's when I saw it. The little piece of white paper hiding in plain sight right in front of my face. I walked over to the glass shelf that held all of my family and friend's photos. That's right. I may have told her hi when I first got introduced to her but we didn't have a conversation at that point. It was when I saw her looking at a picture of Cayleigh that we first talked.

Attached to a picture frame was a folded note.

~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~
Clue #1:
Our little girl means everything to me.
And also to you.
The place where I met her is where you'll find Clue #2.
~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~

I shoved the note into my back pocket and carefully put the picture frame back. I did a double take when I noticed the picture that was in the frame. It was a picture of the three of us when we were in the car, on our way to dinner. Brooke and I were in the two front seats smiling while Cayleigh was between us buckled in her car seat in the back, sticking her tongue out at the camera.

That's my family right there, guys!

Remembering about the little scavenger hunt that Brooke put in place for me, I ran upstairs to get Cayleigh.

"Hey, Princess," I said while opening her door.

She looked up from the dolls she was playing with and smiled at me. "Hi, daddy!"

"You wanna go on a drive with me?"

"Okay," she happily shrugged and gently placed her toys back into the dollhouse.

As soon as the both of us where safely buckled, I made my way to TAP. When Cayleigh noticed the familiar route I was taking, she started to ask me a million questions. "Daddy, where are we going?"

"To your school."

"Nooooo! But daddy, I thought I don't have school until after we play with fireworks. I didn't get to play with any yet. And you said I could. You promised that I could."

    "Baby, baby. Chill. You will get to play with fireworks." I looked at her through the rear view mirror. When I saw her staring back at me, I gave her a stern look. "But only with me watching. Right?"

"Right," she told me while giving me a thumbs up. She was so excited to finally be able to pop fireworks this year. "But then why do we have to go to my school?"

    "Mommy left something there and wants me to pick it up for her."

    "I miss mommy so much," she frowned.

    "I know, Princess. But she'll be back soon." Hopefully.

    "Yep. Only four more days!" Once again...hopefully.

Pulling into the parking lot, I was surprised to see that there were other cars there, too, considering it was a little past 5:00 pm and two days after Christmas. I pulled into a stall right in front of the front office. Lucky for me, the next clue was easier to find than the first because right on the door to the office, was a paper taped to it.

    "Sit tight real quick. Okay, Cay? I'm gonna go get that paper on the door," I said while pointing at the door.

    I turned off the ignition and walked out of the car after locking the doors. Even though I was only taking 10 steps away from my car, I wouldn't want someone driving off with my most prized possession in the back seat.

~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~
Clue #2:
Within this past month, my life has been filled with nothing but bliss.
Clue #3 is where we took our first kiss.
~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~

    I grabbed the paper off of the glass door. Through it, I could see the lady behind the counter waving at me. So, I politely waved to her and made my way back to my car.

When I got back in, Cayleigh noticed the piece of paper in my hand and looked at me curiously. "We came here for that," she asked.

"Yup."

    I put back on my seat belt and restarted the car. Our next destination was going to be at Cayleigh's dentist. Hopefully this next clue is easy to find, especially since the sun is almost already set and the office is already closed. I wouldn't want someone to see me looking around the property and assume I'm trying to break in. Spending a night in jail isn't a task I have listed on my bucket list.

    Before Cayleigh even got a chance to freak out, I told her where we were going. You know how she feels about going to the dentist. As cute as she is when she's upset, it also sucks seeing her in that mood. My baby's too beautiful to have a frown on her face.

    "Why does mommy keep forgetting her papers every where?"

    "I'm not sure, baby," I laughed. "Why don't you ask her when you call her tonight."

    We pulled into the shopping center where Cayleigh's dental office was located in. I parked my car in front of the Starbucks, which was right next door to the dentist.

Greeeaaat! There were a lot of people sitting outside, drinking their coffee. Just what I needed. Witnesses watching me while I looked around in front of a child's dental office like a creep.

Maybe it won't look so weird if I have Cayleigh look with me. If anyone asked I could just pretend that she dropped something when we were here earlier in the day.

Yup. I'll just add "using my daughter in a lie" to my growing list of how much of a shitty father I am. But hey, it's either that or tell them to mind their own business and watch as they pull out their phone and make a reservation for me in a waiting cell.

Yeah, let's stick to Plan A.

Cayleigh and I walked towards her dentist as nonchalantly as possible which wasn't hard considering no one was paying attention to us. So far, so good.

Before getting out of the car, I instructed Cayleigh on what to look for. A small white paper that might be folded. The two of us stood in front of the office, scanning the perimeter before taking any step near the door. I didn't see anything. There was nothing taped to the door or the two glass windows next to it. And there were no plants or other objects in front of us that the clue could be underneath.

Out of nowhere, I felt someone tapping my shoulder. I instantly turned around to face this person, while scooting Cayleigh behind me.

"Really, bro." I gave Jake an annoyed look after noticing he was the one who tapped me. "You scared the hell out of me."

"You're the one who looks hella crazy, just staring at a closed dental office," he laughed.

When Cayleigh heard Jake speak, she roughly pushed my legs aside and ran to him. "Jakey," she shouted.

"Hey, Princess," he said to her while picking her up. After pulling a folded paper out of his back pocket, he held it out in front of me between his pointer and middle finger. "I believe this is what you were looking for."

I snatched the paper from his fingers and quickly read it.

~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~
Clue #3:
We talked and we laughed.
We, especially, ate.
The next clue you'll find is where we had our first date.
~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~

"Do you know what's at the end of this scavenger hunt," I asked him.

"Yes I do," he nodded his head. "But if I tell you, Brooke will most likely rip my nuts off."

"I don't like nuts," Cayleigh announced to us with a disgusted face on.

"Yeah, and you'll continue to not like nuts for a very long time," I told her.

Jake walked with us back to the car, still with Cayleigh in his arms. After helping her buckle up, he kissed her on the forehead and closed her door. "I'll see you tomorrow before our flight," he said to me.

"Yup. See you," I replied while bumping his fist with mine.

As I made my way to Pizza Hut, I listened to Cayleigh sing along to Disney songs. I try to get in as much hip hop and rap as I can when I'm on my own since when Cayleigh's around, it's strictly kid friendly music only. But on God, I am extremely happy that she has a very angelic singing voice because there's only so much Kidz Bop that I can handle before wanting to turn it off.

I pulled into a stall in eye sight to the front door. I couldn't see anything white stuck to it so I assumed it either wasn't there or it got blown away from the wind. Finding this clue will probably be the hardest one of the bunch. Especially since Pizza Hut is still open and from the looks of the parking lot could be fairly busy inside. Maybe if I ask really nicely, Brooke will give me a hint on where to look.

My phone started to vibrate in my pocket. After pulling it out, I immediately started laughing when I noticed who it was. Theo hates what I have his name saved under in my phone, but I think it's clever and real fucking hilarious.

Theo🚪
I'm inside.
I got hungry & you were
taking too damn long!

I walked in and saw Theo and Mya sitting at a booth in the far corner, the same table we sat at when we came here with Brooke. That's the table the guys and I always requested when coming here. We get more privacy sitting back there and don't have to worry about being recorded and ending up on someone's Instagram or Snapchat devouring a slice of pizza in four seconds flat. I also like it there because it's easier to hide Cayleigh away from those very same wannabe paparazzi.

As soon as Cayleigh also saw Theo and Mya, she immediately ran up to their table. When she got there, she jumped into Mya's side of the booth and onto her lap.

"Hi, Papaya!"

Squeezing her against her chest, Mya addressed her back. "Hi, babygirl! I missed you so much."

"I missed you too," Cayleigh said into her chest.

When I reached them, I pounded my fist against Theo's then leaned over Cayleigh and kissed Mya on her cheek. "How was your flight," I asked her. Mya just recently got back to campus after going home to Arizona for break.

"It was good. But I'm kind of happy to be back. I love my parents and all but ever since I left for college, they've become the President and Vice President of the Helicopter Parents Club," she laughed.

"That's good," Theo chimed in. "Because when Cay goes off to college, Cayd and I will be taking their spots." He pointed to me. "You'll be VP, of course!"

"You're just mad because I beat you for captain of the O-line," I retorted.

"No, no, no, buddy," he shook his head at me. "I told everyone to vote for you because a quarterback not winning the captain spot for his team is just sad."

The three of us started laughing but instantly stopped when we heard a sigh come from Cayleigh. She slightly leaned back until her body hit the table. "Are you staying forever this time?"

Mya grabbed on to her hands and kissed each of her palms. "I might have to leave again for a little while to see my mommy and daddy a few more times. But I'm gonna come back again after that. And I'll definitely be here to see you turn 5 years old."

I expected to see Cayleigh smiling after that. She loves talking about her birthday. Specifically her fifth birthday. She knows being four is the only thing stopping her from going to elementary like some of the other kids who were in her class last year. In her head, going to TAP makes her a baby since it's a preschool.

But instead, in place of a smile was her sad face. She stared down at her twiddling thumbs with her bottom lip pouting out. "I hope my mommy can see me turn five," she mumbled.

"Aww, babygirl. I know she will," Mya comforted her. She gave Cayleigh another hug and rubbed her hands up and down her back. "You miss her a lot, huh," she spoke into her hair. Cayleigh nodded. "You'll be seeing her before you know it. I promise."

    Theo slid me a piece of paper. The note was still folded but through it, I could see the writing inside was longer than the other ones were. Hopefully that means this is the last clue and that I finally get to see what's the treasure that I've been hunting for from the start of the game. Or better yet, maybe it'll be the answer to my question on why Brooke isn't coming home on New Year's Eve like we planned.

"Come on, Princess," I called out to Cayleigh. "We have to go."

"But daddy, can I stay here with Papaya and Uncle Thee," she asked me.

I was going to tell her yes, but Theo spoke before I had the chance to open my mouth. "I'd love to keep you forever, baby. You know that. But I think you're really gonna want to see the surprise your mom got