AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Briana
My dayby the pool with the Gianelli brothers, apart from Enzo's brief solicitation on his brother's behalf, was so relaxing that I spent the rest of the afternoon in a hazy, warm glow. After lounging poolside and drinking for a couple hours, they'd treated me to lunch at the hotel restaurant before I needed to get back to the office for the last hour of the day to send out some emails and check in on a couple other clients.
Then I got home and was attacked by my wonderful daughter, who jabbered on to me about all the cool stuff her and Tiffany had gotten up to during the day. I was always surprised and grateful at how much time and energy Tiffany put into babysitting Mikala. She could have parked my kid in front of the TV for the whole afternoon if she'd wanted to, but they always did at least one activity together. Today, they'd read a book together and practiced their times tables, though I knew it would be some time before Mikala was really able to understand them. Mikala had called her friend, but the Averills had been busy. But my daughter hadn't let that get her down. She'd found something else she wanted to do.
“Welcome home, roomie,” Tiffany greeted from the kitchen. She grinned and offered me a cookie. “M insisted that I make some, even though I told her she could only have one and the rest would have to go in the freezer until later.”
“You must be energetic today,” I said, taking the offered cookie and biting into it. The chocolate chips were still warm and melted onto my tongue. Yum.
Tiffany smiled at me and shrugged. “Perks of sleeping in until eleven every day, I guess. Mind if I grab a nap before work?”
“I formally release you from your duties,” I said with a mock bow. “I'm going to clean while you nap, if that's okay?”
“Of course. Thanks!”
Tiffany headed off to nap, and I fell onto the couch, cradling Mikala in my arms. “I hope you weren't too demanding of Auntie Tiffany today,” I said with a crooked smile.
She giggled. “Of course not, Mommy. I save that for when you get home.”
I chuckled and tickled her a little, thinking about what I could do as a nice thing for Tiffany to show appreciation for everything she'd done for us. Sure, it could have just been common decency that compelled her to take us in after I left Elroy, but she'd done much more besides that. Looking after Mikala for one thing. Although I knew that she loved my girl like she was her own, I still didn't think it fair that she had to look after her so much. But, with a bigger promotion came bigger paychecks. I was sure I could do something for her in a couple weeks or so. Like maybe paying her back for the two months I'd lived here rent free and ate all her food.
A knock on the front door tore me from my thoughts. I looked down at the wiggling jellybean in my arms. “Who do you think that is, Mik?”
“I dunno. Maybe it's Daddy.”
I smiled big at her but muttered, “I hope not,” under my breath as I went to the door. A part of me hoped it was Dorian, come to officially ask me himself to join him in Hawaii. I still wouldn't be able to go, but it'd be nice to have him want me to go.
But the person at the door wasn't anyone I would have expected. Gwynne Averill, mother to Mikala's friend Tempest, was standing on the front step. We were friendly, but in the way parents of kids who were friends were friendly with each other. Definitely not super close, although she smiled when I opened the door and then pulled me into a warm hug.
“Hey, you,” she cooed. “How have you been?”
“Um, good.” I pulled back from the hug and tried not to frown with confusion. “What's up? Not that I don't mind seeing you, it's just that I haven't had someone just show up at my doorstep for a long time.”
Gwynne laughed and patted her champagne-colored curls. “Yeah, it's a bit strange, I know. But I had something to ask that I thought would be easier in person than over the phone. Do you have a minute?”
“Sure, of course. Come on in.”
In the living room, I asked Mikala to go play in her room for a while. She was more than happy to oblige, and I wondered how the hell she could still have so much energy after her busy day. Thank god she was a well-behaved kid. If she'd been a rowdy brat, I didn't know what I would've done with myself.
I grabbed Gwynne a bottle of water, and we sat down on the couch to chat. “So, I'm going to Disney with my kids tomorrow,” she began, shooting me another bright smile. “My ex's niece was going to come to, but her mom decided at the last minute not to let her.”
“That's such a shame,” I said, still unsure what that had to do with me. “Poor kid.”
“I know, right?” Gwynne shook her head in exasperation. “Anyway, poor Tempest got so excited about the idea of having someone other than her brother with us that she's absolutely devastated. She even made a sing-a-long playlist of Disney songs for the plane ride.”
My heart went out to her. Poor kid.
“I was wondering if maybe Mikala would want to come with us?”
I hesitated, biting my lip.
She jumped on my hesitation. “I know not everyone can afford something like that, so let me put your mind at ease. She'd be using the passes I've already bought, and Martin chartered a private plane, so that's not an issue. You wouldn't need to pay a thing. The whole thing is on me. You'd be doing me a favor, really. Making sure things didn't go to waste, and making it so my kids aren't at each other's throats for nearly two weeks.”
“Two weeks?” My head was spinning.
She nodded. “We're leaving tomorrow and coming back next Saturday. If that's all fine with you, I'd like to take Mikala back to the house tonight so we could leave early.”
A thousand thoughts raced through my mind at once.
