Page 43 of Entirely Yours
“So good! But I missed you, Mama. I know you sleep better with me.”
I’ll let her believe that’s true, for now.
“Well, hopefully we’ll be back in our bed together tonight,” I say, mustering as much false enthusiasm as I can before drinking any coffee.
“You won’t,” Dad chimes in. He’s scowling down at his own coffee, and I can’t tell if that’s because it’s not his usual tar or because of the words that just came out of his mouth. “Talked to Kathy before you woke up, and she said it’ll be a few weeks before we can get back in. We can go by today and get whatever is salvageable, but we definitely won’t be sleeping there tonight.”
“We—I—what?” I know our rooms were partially flooded, but it didn’t seem several-weeks bad.
“A plumber went by to check things out and found some additional leaking. Kathy apologized profusely for not answering your calls, by the way. Said she was in the middle of a rousing game of cribbage.”
I snort. “Is that a euphemism?”
“What’s a u-mism?” Chloe asks.
All of the adults in the room look at each other. “Uhm, it’s a game,” I finally come up with.
“I love games,” she replies, taking a big sip of her hot cocoa and leaving a chocolate mustache in its wake.
I turn back to Dad. “I’ll look around today for other apartments. Surely there’s somewhere we can stay temporarily.”
“You’ll stay here.” Jules is standing at the kitchen counter, arms crossed, and a look of finality on his face.
My mouth pops open.
“Close your mouth, darlin’. You look like fresh caught catfish.” Thanks for that analogy, Dad.
“But—we can’t?—”
“You heard the man. We’re staying here.” Dad sips his coffee, unbothered. “I like the cat.”
Kathy did indeed give us time to go by the apartment and pack up our things. Jules decided to come with us too, but what he didn’t tell me is that he’s recruited the entire Bardot family, minus his sister and her family, to help. They’re all lined up outside of Louie’s waiting for us.
The man doesn’t even have the audacity to look ashamed at this. In fact, he’s got one of the biggest smiles I’ve seen on him yet. Which is to say, he’s smirking with a twinkle in his eye.
He walks up to the curly headed woman that must be his mother. I can immediately tell that her personality is much more akin to Ben and Gabe’s. She squeezes Jules’ cheeks and shouts, “Good morning, my cabbage!”
“Morning, Mom.” He leans down and gives her a kiss on the cheek before turning to his dad and giving him a hug.
Mr. Bardot is…hot. He looks just like Jules will in twenty to thirty years, and it has me questioning my decision to keep Jules at arms length.
“Mom, Dad, this is Thea, her daughter, Chloe, and her dad, Hank. Rose family, this is Elaine and Hugo Bardot. You can blame them for those two.” He gestures to his brothers who both pretend to be deeply offended.
Elaine looks like she’s about to burst. “It’s so nice to meet you. God, you’re gorgeous—good job, Julien.” This last part is aimed toward her son. “Can I give you a hug?”
I barely nod before she’s rushing over, practically tackling me in an embrace. “I’ve always wanted a daughter.”
“Don’t you?—”
“I’m telling Bex you said that,” Gabe calls.
Elaine lets go of me and scolds, “Gabriel. You will saynothing unless you want me to dethrone you as my favorite son.”
“Everyone knows Anders is your favorite son,” Jules chimes in.
“I think Benoit is my favorite son right now, actually.”
“Benoit? Your name isn’t Benjamin?” I ask.
