Page 45 of Full Throttled

Zoey smiles and then winks. “Good, because I love the two of you and I won’t have her being this upset. What smells so good?”

I take off for the kitchen and cut the burners on the stove off. “I hope you’re hungry. I made one of Aubree’s favorites.”

“I’m starving. Do you want me to go grab Aubree?” she offers.

I look at her. “Are you sure you want to?”

Zoey laughs and waves her hand in a dismissive gesture as she heads for Aubree’s door. “She just needs some girl time.”

Zoey has been Aubree’s room for a bit now, long enough for me to set the table, make the plates and drinks. I head back toward the room, but pause just outside the cracked door when I hear Zoey talking softly, trying to soothe Aubree.

“But I wanted to be a skeleton so I could dress up like Jack,” Aubree whines to Zoey.

“I know, but you can be a really awesome cat, like Cheshire.” I smile to myself as I remember how much Zoey liked Alice in Wonderland. She always tried to deny it, but I knew she loved it. I’m not shocked she brought up Cheshire now.

“What’s Cheshire?” Aubree says, even though the name doesn’t sound fully correct.

Zoey laughs. “It’sthecat from Alice in Wonderland.” There’s a quiet pause and then Zoey continues. “You have seen Alice in Wonderland, right?” Her voice is being dramatic for Aubree’s sake.

“No,” Aubree says quietly.

Zoey gasps. “What is your father teaching you?”

“Is it a movie?” Aubree asks, a small strain of excitement lacing her voice.

“It’s a movie and a book. It just so happens that I have both and I may have brought them with me, as well as materials to make you the best cat costume ever! I mean, that is if you want to stay in dance. I heard you wanted to quit earlier,” Zoey explains.

Aubree’s feet hit the floor. “No, I don’t want to quit anymore. Can we watch the movie? I want to see Cheshire.”

“Of course, we can, but after we eat the really good-looking food your dad made. It smells so good.”

“Okay,” Aubree says excitedly. I dart away from the door and try to make it look as if I had been in the kitchen the entire time. I look up when I sense their presence. Zoey has Aubree’s hand in hers and it’s a mental picture I snap. I never want to forget the way this looks or the fact that she just saved me a night of dealing with a temper tantrum. Zoey and Aubree connect and I couldn’t be more relieved by that. Aubree steps away from Zoey and comes around to me. She wraps her tiny arms around my legs, giving them a tight squeeze then she looks up at me. “I’m sorry, Daddy. I don’t want to quit dance or being a James.”

I smooth the curls of her hair down before reaching down to pick her up. “Apology accepted.” Aubree then goes on to tell me about how we are going to watch Alice in Wonderland and she is going to be Cheshire in the Halloween dance recital. I bite back the laugh that her excitement causes.

After a quick and quiet dinner Zoey goes into the living room to get the DVD of Alice in Wonderland set up. “Okay, Aubree are you ready to meet Cheshire?”

“Yeah!” Aubree claps her hands excitedly from her seat on the couch.

“Now, there are a few different versions of this movie but this is the original. If you like this version we can watch another version later on,” Zoey explains.

I take a seat on one side of Aubree and Zoey takes a seat on the other side. Aubree looks up at Zoey. “Is Cheshire your favorite like Jack is mine?”

Zoey smiles. It’s small and by the look in her eyes I would guess she’s thinking back to being a kid herself. “Yeah, he is.”

“Then I bet he’s awesome!” Aubree exclaims, as the movie starts up. Almost two hours later and both of my girls are sound asleep. Aubree had crawled over into my lap sometime during the middle of the movie and Zoey had moved in beside me, resting her head on my shoulder. Zoey is holding Aubree’s outstretched hand in hers. I smile to myself because at this very moment, my life is absolutely perfect.

Thirty-Seven

Zoey

It’s two days before Halloween, which also means that it’s Aubree’s Halloween dance recital. I promised her I’d be there and it’s a promise I intend to keep even though everything has gone wrong in the last couple of hours. Surf’s Up got slammed with people because the weatherman is predicting a huge swell tomorrow which always brings everyone into the shop. It’sgreat for business, but when I’m the only one on shift not so much. Then Victor, my relief, was late getting into the shop because there was a huge traffic jam due to a wreck. I’m just now clocking out, almost forty-five minutes after my shiftwas scheduled toend. I still need to rush to the clubhouse and change clothes before heading to the dance recital. However, I may just have to show up in my work uniform because I won’t miss the recital.

I grab my purse and keys from my employee locker and rush out the back door of the building. I quickly scan the area as I make my way to my car. I climb inside and slip my key into the ignition. When I turn the car over though, nothing happens. I bang my hand on the steering wheel while screaming at it to start. After a few more failed attempts I give up, resting my forehead against the steering wheel I try to regain my composure. My breathing comes out in huffs and I don’t know if it’s from the anger coursing through my veins or the fact I was trying to beat and yell my car into starting. Either way, I feel the tears pricking at the back of my eyes like a rose does when you grab it by the stem.

I sit up abruptly and shake my head. I refuse to give in. My purse beckons me from the passenger seat. I reach over and search for my phone inside. It takes me a minute to remember the passcode that Drake created for me and even a little longer to actually navigate the fancy thing to find my contacts list, which is slightly sad but that’s beside the point right now. I scroll to the bottom where I find Zayde’s name. I dial it and hold my breath, praying like hell that he’ll pick up the phone. On the third ring, and just as my hope was diminishing, he answers. “Hey Zo, shouldn’t you be at the recital?”

“I’m trying! My car won’t start again,” I tell him.

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