Page 124 of As You Wish

“There might have been a raccoon incident, but overall it was great.”

His eyebrows knit. “A raccoon? You know what? I don’t want to know. You’re free now. I got on the earliest flight I could.”

“You didn’t have to. I had this.”

Gabriel looked at both of his kids. They were in clean clothes and alive. Considering how wild they were, I was doing well.

“I guess you did.”

He didn’t need to know that I was on my third cup of coffee, or that I felt like I could fall over at any time. All things considered, this had gone well, and I would be happy to do it again.

“I’ll take them from here. Thank you.”

“Wait, is Jade leaving?” Beatrice asked. “I don’t want her to.”

“I’ll come by soon enough.” I gave her a smile. I didn’t want to admit it out loud, but I needed about four days of sleep. “Don’t you worry about it.”

“You don’t have to,” Gabriel said under his breath. “This was more than I deserved.”

“Remember, I’m not doing this for you. And I actually had a good time.” I went to say something else, but a yawn stopped me.

“You’re exhausted, aren’t you?”

“Shut up.” I shook my head. “But yes. They’re a lot.”

“You should sleep.”

“I’ll do my best. You know how it can be for me.”

“I’ll be here if you don’t.”

I paused. I knew that Gabriel wouldn’t have forgotten about my sleepwalking, but there was something about the way he said he’d be here that made my shoulders tense.

“I’ve grown out of that.”

Gabriel slowly nodded. “Right. But just in case.”

“Whatever,” I muttered. “I’ll see you after eight hours of sleep.”