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“Dinner’s ready,” Mommy calls from inside.
I wish I could keep talking to Dallas. Talking to him feels like a game. Like we’re teasing each other.
I’m still holding his hand so I lead him back inside.
We eat dinner and Dallas says it’s the best meal he’s had in a while, but then he winks at me. I try not to laugh because I know he’s lying.
“There’s something I want to ask you two,” Dallas says. “Kathy, I’d like you—and Layla, too, of course—to move in with me.”
Mommy’s excited. She was so surprised. She said it was like he had a total change of heart. She laughed and said maybe it was her cooking.
She wishes she could cancel her sales trip, which is scheduled for only a few days after we move in with Dallas. But she said she can’t really cancel it, since she’ll be meeting with important clients. She’s basically obsessed with her job. She sent me to boarding school because deep down I know she’s more interested in work and travel and money than she is in being a parent. Whatever. Since we haven’t spent that much time together over the past few years, we’re not really that close.
We pack up our stuff and some moving people come and put it all into a moving truck.
We drive over to Dallas’s house. First we have to go through a big iron gate with a security system. Then we drive up a long driveway and up to an enormous stone and glass house. This is more than a mansion. This is, like, a movie star’s house. It has a flat lawn with an infinity pool that looks out over the ocean.
Holy cow.
“I can’t believe we get to live here,” I say to Mommy.
“I know, honey. Just be good, okay? I don’t want you to get in Dallas’s way or be an annoyance to him, okay?”
“I won’t.” I already know Dallas won’t mind me being there. I’m not sure how I know that, but I do.
He’s waiting for us and opens his gigantic front door. “My girls are here,” he smiles. I almost forgot how blue his eyes were—and how big and muscley he is. He’s unbelievably handsome. He’s wearing jeans and a worn t-shirt so I can see all the tattoos on his arms. He has a lot.
“Hi, Dallas!” I run up to him and he picks me up in a bearhug. “Can we go for a swim?”
“Of course you can, sweetheart. I’ll have the movers take your stuff up to your new room. Go and take a look if you want. It’s at the top of the stairs to the right.”
I kiss his cheek because I’m so excited. My old room was tiny, with one small window that had a view of a brick wall. And my room at boarding school is two bunk beds that I share with three other girls. The nuns say luxury is a sin but secretly, I think it’s kind of cool.
I run up the stairs and find my room.
It’s so pretty.
It’s painted white and has a big bed with a white bedspread. It has its own balcony with a view of the ocean. But the best thing of all is that it has its own bathroom. It’s like a princess’s room. Or a celebrity’s.
The movers bring all my stuff up so I take my bag and go into my new bathroom. I put on my white bikini. I stand and look in the mirror
for a few minutes. I really am growing. My boobs are big and bouncy now. All my clothes are starting to get too tight for me because I haven’t done much shopping since later summer. During the year we’re only allowed to wear our school uniforms. This bikini doesn’t really even fit me, either. Oh, well. Dallas liked my other bikini. Maybe he’ll like this one, too.
I run downstairs and straight out the backdoor to the pool.
This place is like paradise.
Dallas and Mommy are having a glass of champagne on the patio. They watch me swim for a while. We have dinner and Mommy talks about her business trip.
Boring.
“Why don’t you go an unpack some of your stuff, Layla,” Mommy says.
“I don’t want to. I want to go for another swim.”
“Layla, don’t argue with me.”
“But it’s summer vacation, Mommy.”
