Page 10 of In the Lonely Hour

She nodded before any words were able to come out. “Yes.”

“I’m sorry about that. That was disrespectful of me, but I have to be honest with you, I don’t like his ass.” Layla chuckled, and it lingered because of the serious expression on Andres’s face. “It’s some about his energy that doesn’t sit well with me.”

“I understand, and I apologize for him. I don’t know why I thought he would show interest in what was going on. I should have just told you that I didn’t think him being here was a good idea.”

Andres released a long breath and her hand. “It’s cool. That’s the customary way we begin these programs. Sometimes the parents overcare and sometimes they undercare. It is what it is. Shall we get started?”

She nodded, allowing him to take the lead. First, he went to speak to Dior and see how her room was set up. Aside from the million toy stuffed animals, the rest of her room was filled with books, fiction and nonfiction, puzzles, and art supplies. Just recently she’d asked for a TV, but she only watched about an hour of it a day. Her small dining table was where she spent the most of her time. It wasn’t just where she ate; it was where she studied and did her art projects too.

Layla showed Andres the rest of the house, including their daily schedule on the refrigerator. The last place they went was out to the backyard, where her greenhouse was. Unfortunately, she hadn’t tended to her plants or garden in a year… ever since Carlos told her he needed space.

“I just come out here for a glass of wine from time to time now,” Layla shared.

“Do you want to start back up with your gardening?”

“I would love to, but I really don’t think I’ll have the time. Dior has her days. Sometimes she won’t want to be bothered at all and others she’s under me talking my ear off and needing all of my attention. She is self-sufficient to a certain extent, but it hasn’t just been her that’s been on my plate. She’s taken a lot of it, but I’ve been maintaining our household as well. Carlos is gone now, so it would have been easier with just me and Dior, but now I have to start working, and I haven’t done that in over a decade. I’m not sure how long it’s going to take me to get backused to working on top of doing the cooking and cleaning and caring for my daughter. Gardening will be the last thing on my mind.”

“Remember what I told you,” Andres started, running his fingers across the withered petals on her roses. “The better you treat yourself, the happier you will be. Dior will respond and feed off that. If she’s like the rest of my kids with A.S., she might feel more empathy than you realize and just isn’t able to express it... yet. I want you to give yourself the same time, attention, and care that you give her. You deserve that shit, aight?”

Layla chuckled softly as she nodded. Her head hung briefly, causing him to head over in her direction.

“That’s a lot easier said than done.”

“Not anymore. You got me now. I’m going to free up some time for you to care for yourself as long as you let me.”

All Layla could do was nod. She was tired of being a ball of feelings every time she was in his presence, so she didn’t want to reply or cry. Honestly, she didn’t see how she was going to have time for herself when she started working, but Andres seemed to be confident that with his help, that would be the case. The more she saw Carlos’s true character unfold, the more parts of Layla wanted to enjoy life for herself just as he was doing. If Andres’s presence in their life would be the key to that… Layla was looking forward to everything he had in store.

After installing all of the cameras around their home, Andres began his first roleplaying session with Dior. He wanted to make sure that Layla could not only keep up with their progress but trust that her daughter was always safe with him if she couldn’t be around for their sessions. Typically, Andres used roleplaying sessions to help his kids of all ages prepare for encounters with others of any kind. For Dior specifically, they were focusing on roleplaying making friends.

When they were done, they talked about all the different animals Dior could name and why she liked each one, which led to her going through her collection of stuffed animals. He found himself laughing at the names she’d chosen with her mother because they didn’t fit the animals at all. For instance, her stuffed whale was called fish and the giraffe was kitty. Itreminded him of his mother’s weird way of naming their dogs over the years.

They started talking about the huskies he’d temporarily become the guardian of while he was staying with his parents and if Dior wanted any pets of her own. Andres was confident, just off the few times he’d worked with Dior, that she was fully capable of living an independent life when she became of age. His biggest thing from now until the day he stopped working with her was making sure she understood who to and who not to associate with. He didn’t want anyone trying to take advantage of her. Not just because of her uniqueness but because he’d felt protective of her and her mother since meeting them both.

Once they were done talking about animals, they began to draw. Andres had his music going on his phone, and Dior surprisingly struck up a conversation about wanting to learn how to dance. That was all Andres needed to hear. He quickly did a search for the clean versions of songs that featured some of the most popular dances by black influencers on Tik Tok. As they tried to learn the dances, Dior kept falling into a fit of giggles.

It wasn’t long before Layla was coming in with a wide grin to see what they were up to. After taking a few pictures and videos of them, she started trying to learn the dances too. Dior ended up learning them the quickest, and by the time Andres had learned one, he was tired as hell. A short time after their impromptu dance session, it was time for Dior to start winding down. She loved doing things in order and with reason, and Andres admired that.

As he prepared to leave for the evening, Layla asked, “Do you have time for a glass of wine?”

“Yeah, that’s cool. I don’t like that fruity shit, though.”

Layla smiled as she led him to her dining room, and Andres couldn’t resist zeroing in on her pear shaped ass. It wasn’t big but it had a little bounce to it. He loved how natural her framewas. The past couple of nights, Andres found himself dreaming about the body that was hidden underneath her colorful outfits. It didn’t matter how low her energy felt, Layla was always dressed in bright colors. Today, it was yellow. And… it was the first time she seemed lighter and more at ease.

“Is Chardonnay okay? It’s the only thing I have that isn’t super sweet.”

Andres chuckled with a nod. “Yeah, that’s cool.”

“Good.” Her smile was sweet as she grabbed two glasses from the cabinet. “I just wanted to thank you before you left. Today is the first day in a long, long, long time that I’ve had hands on help with Dior. There were several points this evening that I didn’t know what the hell to do with myself.” Her breath came out shaky before she chuckled softly. “I opened my Kindle app for the first time in forever and started on a new book.” As she handed him his glass, her eyes watered. “Thank you, Andres.”

As he accepted the glass, Andres allowed his fingers to brush over hers. He wanted to say it was his job, but really, Andres would have wanted to be around them even if it wasn’t. Because of his sister, there was a huge hole in his heart for children with Autism, and he’d always been a softie when it came to kids. On top of that, there was something about Layla that had been drawing him closer and closer every time they were in each other’s presence.

“What do you like to read?”

Her smile widened. “Romance. Any sub-genre, just as long as it has a good love story. Do you like to read?”

“Yeah, but mostly mystery, paranormal, and thriller.”

“Ooh spicy.” Her eyes lit up. “What was your latest read?”

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