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But my eyes land on the little girl in the Elsa dress. I try to sort through the timeline: Chase has been gone for only twenty months, but this girl is at least five.
The woman dumps her things on the table, and I lunge forward. ‘I’m sorry,’ I blurt. ‘Do you need help?’
I don’t wait for her to respond before I grab the canvas and a bag. I place them on the table, and she seems to deflate with exhaustion. ‘Thank you,’ she breathes, pushing back stray strands of hair. I wonder if she knows she has paint on her cheek. ‘I wanted some alone time in the studio, but Eloise here—‘ she cuts her daughter a grin ‘—refused to stay with her father.’
‘I’m a pwincess,’ Eloise tells me confidently.
I smile at her. ‘Where’s your crown?’
‘You a witch,’ she says, and beams with so much childlike innocence a pang goes through me. ‘You smewwy witch.’
The woman scolds her daughter, but I can tell she wants to laugh. I suppose I do resemble a witch: my hair’s a mess and Chase’sSimpsonspyjamas hang off me. I probably smell worse than I look.
‘I’m Miley, by the way,’ she says. 'Chase's sister.'
‘Frankie. I'm a friend of Chase's.'
'I'm so sorry,' Miley says. 'I thought you were Genevieve. You look so much alike. Where’s Genevieve, then?’ She drops her voice to a whisper. ‘Did he leave her in Provence?’
‘I’m not sure.’ I add, because I sense her next question, ‘I had some trouble with my boyfriend and Chase is letting me crash here for a bit.’
Miley stares at me for a moment longer, assessing me. And then she smiles and says, ‘Right, then,’ and turns to the kettle.
I get the sense she doesn’t believe me, but I’m relieved she doesn’t pry.
I return to my stool, and Eloise follows. She tugs on my trousers. ‘You get me present?’ she asks.
‘Eloise,’ Miley warns with a sigh. ‘I’m sorry,’ she says to me. ‘She expects presents off everyone. Even on my birthday, she got jealous of me opening my presents, and I had to re-wrap them so she could open them.’
‘Nooooo,’ Eloise whines. ‘My birthday! Fankie, my birthday!’
Miley lets her spoon clatter to the counter. ‘Oh, Eloise! Enough.’
Eloise’s lip quivers. ‘Want cake,’ she says quietly.
This kid might be my new favourite human. I imagine this is what I was like when I was little, always wanting to eat, wanting to open presents every day. I don’t know whether to laugh or cry.
‘This is exactly why I wanted to leave you with your dad,’ Miley says, pouring her tea.
I take a sip from my own mug. ‘So do you live around here, then?’
‘Hampstead.’ She grabs the milk from the fridge and adds it. 'There’s a new studio that opened up about two weeks ago, but with Rich and I working alternately to look after Eloise, there’s not much time to do anything else. And when Rich finally had a day off, Eloise decided she’d rather spend the entire day annoying me. Thankfully Chase is home to babysit for an hour.’ She sips from her mug and winces. ‘Golly, that’s hot.’
She must sense my confusion, because she elaborates: 'We homeschool Eloise.'
‘Wanna see Tase’s dwagon!’ Eloise announces. I don’t have to ask to know she means Larry.
Miley rolls her eyes.
Before the pregnancy I couldn’t tolerate kids, but I like Eloise. She carries her mum’s wit, it seems. I can’t help but wonder what my child would have been like had I decided to go through with it. I’d have read to them every night, and reminded them every day that I love them, and if they wanted to do silly things, I’d do silly things with them.
‘I sure do hope Genny can make the wedding,’ Miley says suddenly, more to herself. She rests her elbows on the island as she slurps her tea.
I don’t want to talk about Chase’s girlfriend, but I can’t exactly ignore Miley. ‘The wedding?’
Her green eyes—just like her brother’s—flit to me. ‘Rich and I are getting married in three weeks. Genny was supposed to be a bridesmaid, but I need her to come to the fitting… Oh well, if she doesn’t show, I guess you’ll just have to be Chase’s plus one.’
I nearly choke on my drink. ‘I don’t think Genevieve would like that.’
