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Me: Hello, newneighbor!
Stella: YES! Team Stella for the win! You’re staying with me,BTW.
Me: Not happening,BTW.
Stella: Why? Don’t tell me you’re crashing at Dallas’s? Howromantic.
Me: Are you nuts? I’m renting aplace.
Staying with Dallas is not anoption.
What would he tell his daughter? That I’m homeless and then—surprise!—I’m carrying yoursibling?
Chapter Ten
Dallas
“But… but Auntie Lauren lets me have it,” Mavenwhines.
I snatch the coffee cup from my six-year-old, who is under the impression she’s a grown-up, and replace it with an organic apple juice box. “I’ll be having a conversation with AuntieLauren.”
My sister’s idea of a well-balanced diet is iced coffee, margaritas, and deli sandwiches from the hospital’s vendingmachine.
She sits down at the table with a un-caffeinated frown at the same time I place a bowl of strawberry oatmeal in front of her. I promised Lucy that Maven would be taken care of, and that means making her eat balancedmeals.
My days have gone from traveling the world with Hollywood’s elite to packing nutritious lunches, attending dance recitals, and reading the same bedtime stories for months onend.
But I wouldn’t trade it for theworld.
Time is valuable. Hug your children. Kiss your wife. Make life your bitch because you never know when it’s going to turn onyou.
I grab my phone and sit down next toMaven.
“What are you doing?” she asks before taking a bite of heroatmeal.
“Texting youraunt.”
“Tattletale,” she mutters with afrown.
Me: Mom and Dad paid for four years of nursing school, and you don’t know that kids shouldn’t have coffee? Your license needs to berevoked.
My phone beeps a few minuteslater.
Lauren: Relax, old man. Unbeknownst to your caffeine-fiend spawn, I give her decaf. She wants to be my mini me, which I approveof.
My family has been the key to my survival. Lauren stepped up to be a mother figure to Maven when Lucypassed.
Me: That’s scary. Is the apartment underneath you stillvacant?
The struggling musician who lived underneath her got evicted last month for playing music all day and night. She threw a party in celebration when heleft.
Lauren: Depends on why you’re asking. If it’s for a dude in a band, thenno.
Me: Give me your landlord’snumber.
Lauren:WHY?
Jesus, they might be my backbones, but they are damnnosy.
