Page 20 of Endlessly Yours
I shook my head, running my hand up and down Alice’s back.
“We’re surrounded by military bases, and in this district especially, there are students whose parents are in the military. Meaning they’ll be just as new as you. In fact, some will even come into school in the middle of the school year. And by then you will be the one who will seem local.”
“I’ll never be local here. I don’t want to know some military kid. I want to know my friends.”
And with that, she stomped away, and I watched her go, knowing that everything we did from here on out would be a fight.
Even getting her to go to therapy once a week so far was like pulling teeth. The only way that I had been able to get her to go at all was that I had tricked her into it the first time, and now the therapist was helping me get her there each time. Alice didn’t mind. In fact, she had fun with her therapist. I was there through part of it, but then the girls were able to speak their personal thoughts if needed. Cameron didn’t speak.
And Alice talked all about her fairy and fay world.
“I’m going to like second grade. Twos are better because they’re even.” Alice smiled up at me, and I couldn’t help but run my thumb down her cheek.
“Your mom loved second grade. I liked third grade more because we had an amazing teacher. But your mom loved even numbers.”
“Mommy always said even numbers would be the best years. And next year I’m going to be eight. And Mommy said that would be a fun year because it’s a magical year.” Alice’s eyes welled. “Will it still be magical if she’s not here?”
I swallowed that tug of emotion and ran my hand down her back.
“It’s going to be magical. And just because your mother isn’t here right now, doesn’t mean she’s not watching you. She’s watching you from afar, and she’s going to help make sure it’s magical. Even if she can’t be here. Because you know your mommy wanted to be here more than anything.”
And I wanted my sister to be here more than anything.
“Okay,” Alice said with a bright smile before she pulled back and grinned. “Can I go play outside?”
I looked through the large glass French doors at the back of the house and nodded. We weren’t in a full neighborhood, since the Wilders had bought this land and were slowly making it so renters could live in the homes that Brooks and his team built. I wasn’t sure of the logistics of it, but it was an extra form of money, and hence the homes themselves were gorgeous. I lived in a Craftsman home now, with little details in the wood carvings and tile work that took my breath away.
When I pulled myself out of grief and the unending horror that was trying to figure out how to be a mom when I never thought I would be one in the first place, I couldn’t help but stare in wonder at the meticulous and caring work that Brooks had put into this place.
A place that he had just handed me the keys to and yelled at me in order to take it.
He hadn’t even been there when we had moved in. Instead, he had gone outside Austin to work on the expansion for the Wilders, leaving his family, my friends, to help move me in.
His house next door had lain empty for this past month, and I didn’t know if I was grateful or annoyed about that.
No, I had to be grateful.
Because he had given me security I hadn’t even known I’d needed, and he hadn’t asked for a single thing in return.
Instead he had given me space, and now I didn’t have to wonder how I would feel when I saw him again.
Of course, he could be home at any moment, and there was no going back.
I looked up the stairs to where Cameron lay in her room, Taylor Swift blaring out of the speakers, and went back to the small office that was off the dining and living area.
It had glass doors as well, and the place was soundproof somehow, so if I had the doors closed, I could focus on work, but if I had them open, I could hear if the girls needed me.
One whole wall was floor-to-ceiling windows, and we had put my old settee in front of it. That had been in storage this whole time, and now it was a perfect reading nook. Behind my desk were custom bookshelves that I knew Brooks had built himself, including staining them and adding little flourishes like a hidden fairy door.
And it just gave me another glimpse into the man himself.
And didn’t that scare me.
My favorite Taylor Swift song played even louder, and I closed my eyes, letting it soothe me as I hoped it was doing to Cameron.
She didn’t know that we shared a similar love for that artist. Or the other countless so-called oldies that she played.
She called them oldies—I called them my favorite artists.
