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“It’sThe Nutcracker. Daddy is taking me and Sky to see it next Christmas.”
“How fun! It’s one of my absolute favorite ballets.”
“Can you teach me?” she asks as she spins in breathless circles.
Under her breath, Skylar says to Leo, “Here we go,” before laughing and pointing to me. “She’s been itching for a trip down to see you. Olivia wants me, her and Sienna to take a dance lesson in your studio.”
“Calling that beat-up garage a studio is a stretch but,” turning back to Olivia, I say, “we can definitely run through the basics one day soon. Sure.”
And for that I get another hug and multiple kisses on both cheeks. She’s a trip.
Olivia busies herself opening and closing the top of the jewelry box as I head back into the kitchen.
Skylar takes a big bowl of potato salad out of the refrigerator and turns to me as she hip checks the door to close it. “Don’t get mad at Jack. I think the birthday thing just slipped the other night.”
Leo asks, “Where is he, anyway?”
“Couldn’t make it. He had, um, a family thing.”
Skylar looks like she wants to ask a follow-up question but thinks better of it. “Help me with this stuff, will you?” she asks as she hands me a tray of yummy looking sandwiches on mini croissants.
“These look so good.”
“Half of them are gruyere, black forest ham, arugula and honey mustard, and the other half are roast beef and sharp cheddar with horseradish sauce. Oh, and Sienna made a tray of those crab cakes you love.”
“You Perillo girls never disappoint in the food department.”
“Excuse me,” a snarky voice calls from behind us. “The Perillo girls don’t disappoint inanydepartment.”
“Sienna!”
I put the platter down and grab my girl in a hug. Over the past year I’ve grown close with Skylar, and when you’re close with Skylar, you’re in with Sienna too. That’s just how it is. It’s funny, given that the two of them were my students five years ago, but both of them have lived through more in the past couple of years than many do in a lifetime. Maturity-wise, I feel like we’re on even ground.
“How are you?”
“Sogood! She looks down at her stomach, drawing my attention to the bump, and then back up to me. “Did Sky tell you we’re due in October?”
Skylar smiles and raises her eyebrows as she goes over to take her nephew from his father. “Hello, Garth...And no, I didn’t tell anyone, Sienna.”
Two babies only a year, no, eighteen months apart. I know Skylar worries about them, and I get it. But the two of them seem over the moon about life in general every time I see them, and their joy is infectious. I envy them. At their age I thought every single thing through, weighed the pros and cons and analyzed every potential outcome. Maybe I should have been more like the two of them: carefree and sure in the knowledge that everything will just work out.
Take a leap of faith? Back then I never would have dreamed of it. But then I smile thinking of that fist date with Damien. I was carefree with my arms wrapped tight around him and my hair whipping in the breeze on the back of his motorcycle. Allowing myself to fall in love with him when I knew there was so little time? That was a leap of faith. But I wish I’d had more faith in myself when it really mattered.
I give her a hug and then Garth. “Congratulations! I bet James can’t wait to meet his new little brother or sister.”
“Thanks, Miss Daw—I mean, thank you, Grace.”
“He’s still having a hard time with the transition.” Sienna says as she rubs Garth’s shoulder. “You’ll always be Miss Dawson, English teacher extraordinaire in Garth’s eyes.”
“Not gonna lie...It is kinda weird to call you by your first name.”
“Garth? I’m one year older as of eight o'clock this morning, so if you call me Miss Dawson today, you die.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Owen
I. Am. Dead.
