I HIT SAVE ON THE document I’ve been working on for the past few hours and turn to smile at my daughter, her eyes still tired since she just woke up.
“Can I go play with Mr. Axel again?”
I smile, reach up and hold her soft cheek in my palm. She smiles bigger, her dark brown eyes sparkle with happiness.
“Please,” she whispers loudly.
“Little bird, I think Mr. Axel has other things to do than play with your adorable self.”
Her smile grows and I wait to see what her brilliant little five-year-old mind comes up with.
“He told me the other day I was the prettiest princess in the whole world and I could come have tea parties with him all the time!”
Something about the image of Axel Reid telling my daughter she could come over and have a tea party was just so ludicrous that I burst out laughing, causing Molly to join in and laugh as well. That’s my daughter, always smiling and always laughing, even if she is clueless to why.
“Molly, Mrs. Izzy watched you the other night for mommy while I got some work done. I don’t think it would be nice for me to ask her to watch you when I don’t have anything to do for work right now.”
“Sure you do,” she states in the most adorable voice and points to my computer.
“Sure I do what?”
She smiles brightly, “Have work to do. I saw you working just now.”
Well, I can’t very well argue with that.
“Molly, I always have work to do, but that’s why I have a schedule so that I can have tons of little bird time and still make my deadlines.”
“Deadline doesn’t sound like a fun word.” Her nose scrunches up and she sticks her tongue out.
“Deadline is Mommy’s least favorite word in the whole world. I like peas more than I like deadlines.”
Molly grabs her tiny stomach and throws her head back to giggle. And giggle loud. Her blonde ringlets jumping up and down with the force of her hilarity.
“But you hate peas, mommy!” she giggles even harder.
“I know, little bird,” I smile and tap her nose.
She doesn’t say anything else but just continues to look at me with a big smile.
I smile back.
Waiting.
“So . . . Can I go see Mr. Axel?”
And there it was.
“How about this? How about I call Mrs. Izzy and see if maybe she is free for a few hours and I’ll work those nasty pea deadlines I hate so much. But, Mr. Axel might be at work, okay baby?”
She nods her head, those beautiful ringlets dancing again, jumps off my lap and runs back to her room. I can hear her moving around and the sounds of her making what I’m sure will be a huge mess, echoing down the hall. With a deep sigh, I pick up the phone and call the Reid house to see if my darling daughter can spend some time with the two people she has adopted as hers.
Growing up without grandparents myself I know what it’s like to want that familiar closeness, so it shouldn’t be a shock to me that she’s grown so close to them. Axel and Izzy Reid have treated Molly like she’s their blood grandchild since before Dani’s wedding. If it isn’t Molly asking to go spend time with them, it’s them calling to see if I need some time to work. It’s been a blessing I’m happy to have in my life, but it still feels weird to rely on someone else when it comes to Molly.
But I also wasn’t lying when I said that deadlines are something that I hate more than peas, and I hate peas a lot. A whole hell of a lot. With my newest novel due to my publisher in just weeks, it’s something that has been stressing me out and affecting my writing. A bad combination for an author. Maybe Molly knows what I need more than I do.
For as long as I can remember, I’ve loved writing. When I was growing up, I used writing as a way to escape. Now, as an adult, it’s much the same—but now I also write for pleasure and not just for companionship.
I published my first book when Jack was deployed the first time. I never, not in a million years, expected my first romance novel to be a success, but here I am five years later with multiple bestseller titles. Writing kept me from being pulled under by the grief I felt when Jack died. It kept me warm when the loneliness became too much to handle. It was, in a sense, the therapy that I needed to begin to heal.
My books got a little dark during the first year after losing Jack, but it’s the books that I hit publish on during that time that are some of the most raw feelings I ever, to this day, have put into my pages.
It’s not hard to write about fear, loneliness, pain and heartbreak when you’re living it. It was through those characters that I was able to start rebuilding my life.
I place the phone to my ear and wait for it to connect.
“You’ve reached the Reid house, where we can put the plea in pleasure in seconds.”
My eyes round and I burst out laughing when I hear Nate’s answering voice.
“Give me the phone, boy! Sometimes I wonder if you were dropped on your head,” I hear Axel gruff in the background.
“Oh come on, I knew it was Megan!”
There’s a sound of shuffling through the line before I hear the phone clatter against the floor.
“You crazy old man!” Nate laughs.
The phone clatters again and I laugh listening to the two Reid men acting like children.
“You two take it outside! Overgrown apes. Hello? I’m so sorry,” Izzy’s sweet voice comes over the line and I laugh again when I hear the men clearly have not taken things outside.
“Hey. It’s Megan,” I say between giggles.
“Hey honey. How are you? How is that sweet little princess?”
“I’m good. However, Molly has basically insisted I call because she says Mr. Axel promised her he would be willing to play tea party every second of her life.”
Izzy laughs, the sound bringing a smile to my lips. I’ve been so lucky to have formed such a close relationship with Dani’s parents. In the last year they’ve become family to Molly and me.
“Like you even have to ask,” Izzy says.
“You know I do. Plus I know she loves you to pieces, but she was very specific that she wants that tea party and she wants it with Mr. Axel. I swear that kid could talk the heavens into rain.”
“If I tell Axel that I turned that princess away he would wring my neck. I swear the older he gets the more insane he is. Molly is a sweetheart, Megan. Bring her over, I’m sure you could use the time to write. Hey, why don’t you pack her an overnight bag and we can have a sleepover. I’ll have Dani bring Owen over. Maybe a little girl’s night is just what you need.”
I laugh, “I don’t need anything, Izzy. I couldn’t ask you to keep Molly overnight!”
“Darling girl, you need more things than you can see.” She oddly tells me. “Bring her and bring a bag or I’ll lock you out, take her shopping for clothes, and not give her back until tomorrow afternoon. See you soon!”
I pull the phone back when I hear her disconnect and stare blindly at my cell. What the hell?
“Mommy!”
I shake my head and turn from my desk to where Molly is standing. All thoughts of Izzy’s strange comment gone when I see she has turned herself into a real life Disney princess. She’s wearing head to toe dress-up gear consisting of about five different princess costumes.
My girl, never a dull moment.
“Come on, let’s go get you packed. Mrs. Izzy said she wants you all night and just won’t take no for an answer.”
“Yay!” Molly screams and smiles a huge smile up at me.
Looks like I’m going to have a night to myself whether I want one or not.
DING.
I stop mid-step and turn my head to my front door. I‘ve been back from dropping off Molly for about two hours and in that time I had managed to clean the house and catch up on about two weeks of emails.
DING.
I narrow my eyes and walk to the door. As long as we’ve lived here, we still don’t know our neighbors. They’re all older and don’t want to be bothered to meet the widow and her kid, which is fine, we’ve gotten used to it. Since Cohen pulled me into his group of friends it isn’t odd that one of them pops over. Usually it’s Cohen or Chance checking on things around the house, but with Chance gone I know it’s not him. Cohen, since getting married, doesn’t stop by as often. I know he’s busy, but he makes a habit of coming by and making sure we don’t need anything.
He’s done that every few weeks since we lost Jack. He and Jack were good friends and I know Cohen uses those visits to make sure Jack’s family is okay. I wish I had the heart to let him know how much those visits hurt more than help, but it’s on those rare bad days that I slip into that depression that never seems to go away all the way, his visits are just what I need.
And now, having grown into an amazing friendship with Dani and her group of girlfriends, my life is almost bursting with people when before there was no one but Molly.
DING.
“I’m coming,” I mumble to no one and hurry to pull the door open.
I pull the door open with a smile and quickly frown when Dani pushes her way in, brown bag in hand and dressed for the club.
“What in the hell?”
“Don’t give me any lip. You’ve been avoiding me and I get it, I over stepped, but it’s been two weeks. Mom called, said bring Owen over because you need a girl’s night but won’t ask for a girl’s night because—her words—that girl is stronger than she has a right to be—not sure what the hell that means, other than I’m pretty sure my mom is calling you stubborn. Either way, time to get ready for a night out.” She ends her rambling and turns to face me in a huff.
“Uh,” I stutter.
“Nope. No timid or unsure Megan now. The girls are on the way so it’s time to get your ass ready!”
She holds up the brown bag and my brow lifts in question when I hear the glass clink.
“Liquid courage, my friend.”
I laugh, because really what can I do. Dani’s going to get her way here or she will just bring the party to my house and I’m pretty sure old Ms. Timmons will shit in her diaper if a party hosted by Dani Cage starts next door.
“Where are we going?” I ask, turning my back to walk toward my bedroom, knowing she will follow.
“Don’t know. I guess we’ll figure it out when we get there. There’s a new club downtown that I’ve been told is a great place. Ember dragged Maddi out there last week and Mads said it was pretty chill.”
“Maddi and I have a different interpretation of chill.” I remind Dani.
Maddi—or Maddisyn Locke—is another friend that I met through Dani and I swear that girl is always working some hidden angle. If she’s in on this little impromptu party then I know something’s up.
“Whatever. It’ll be fun. Plus, I haven’t had a night without Owen in a few weeks. I love my boy, but mommy needs some girlfriend time.”
I glance away from her with a roll of my eyes and head to my closet to try and find something appropriate for going out with the girls to some club downtown.
“That one,” Dani says absentmindedly after watching me flick some hangers around and then turns to sit on my bed.
I look over at Dani to judge her outfit before I even dare follow her barked order. She’s dressed for a night out, but I’m shocked Cohen let her leave the house like that. She’s got on a tight black dress that hits right above her knees with a slit in the middle giving her boobs a highlighted ‘v.’ The dress is long sleeved so really she isn’t showing much, but I know Cohen is the type of man that doesn’t like his woman’s assets showing and with her still nursing their son, there is plenty of boobage to show.
“Where is Cohen tonight? I find it hard to believe he saw you leave the house in that.”
“Of course he did. He’s in tonight. Something about a game on television or something.”
Had I not been flipping through my clothes I might have caught the look she gave me when she finished talking, but because I was too focused on the fact that I have nothing to wear to a club, I missed it. Probably just as well, because if I had caught Dani Cage in her lie about where her husband is, there is no way she would have been able to drag me out of the house.