AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Chapter Six
The lights were off,and the house was mostly quiet when Sera walked in after her disaster of a date. She wanted to blame the entire thing on Harrison, but it was a disaster even before he’d arrived. Jackson had been a pompous jerk from the moment she sat down, not something that had come across in the messages they had sent to each other earlier in the day.
With his attitude, constant bragging about his job, and people he knew, she didn’t think she would make it to the main course. Harrison walking in with a date who was barely old enough to drink had been the cherry on top. Once Harrison was around, all other men paled in comparison—always had, always would.
The TV flickered as she slipped off her heels and hung up her coat. The movie ‘Twilight’ was playing on the big TV in the living room, which meant someone was home. Based on the movie, it could be anyone of her girls or all of them.
“Hey, Sera,” a voice called out from the depths of the plush couch. Harper.
“Hey, Mom Lovely,” a deeper voice called. It was Cliff Scott, everyone’s favorite bartender, which meant Lucy was there also. They were a pair, just not a couple. It was odd, but it seemed to work for them. Sera wasn’t going to judge it as long as it worked for them.
“Hi, Harper, Cliff, and Lucy, I assume.” She grinned at the group of twenty-something’s engrossed in the teen movie.
Walking barefoot into the room, she saw Emma was there also. Her eyes were glued to the screen the same as the others, but she was an actual teen, so her concentration was expected. Ignoring her mother was also to be expected.
Stopping behind her, she kissed the top of the teen’s head, her black hair smelling like a mixture of apples, sunshine, and all Emmaline. “Hey, baby, did you have a good day?”
“Yes, Mom,” Emma groaned. She always reacted that way when Sera asked her.
Sera had stopped listening to the tone of the voices in her house years before Emma had hit twelve. She’d had grumpy, hormonal teens since the day she had married Bradford. Her own baby had been no different.
“Good. I’m going to make something to eat. Anyone want anything?” she called to the group, running her hand over her daughter’s dark, soft hair one more time before Emma jerked her head away from her mom’s hands.
She hadn’t been raised with much affection and hadn’t wanted that for her kids, any of them. Though she held back a little with the older girls. But she wanted her own kids to know that warmth. Her goal from day one was to show her kids that they are loved and worthy of that love. As far as she could tell, it had worked.
“Popcorn,” Cliff called, and the women agreed.
“Coming up.” Smiling at the group, she knew they were watching this movie because Emma was obsessed with it right now. After she had read the books, she now watched the movies over and over.
In the kitchen, she turned on the lights and started a bag of microwave popcorn for the group. Digging in the fridge, she pulled out the leftovers from a luncheon for a society wife and her friends. It was just dry chicken, but Harper was a remarkable chef, and Sera knew it would be amazing, even heated up.
Harper and Lucy were caterers and had been for a few years now. Every day their fridge was filled with leftovers from meals they’d served. The family was well fed, and the meals were amazing. Dishing up a plate, she popped it into the microwave and pulled out the bag of popped popcorn.
Harper walked into the kitchen wearing jeans and a gray “Grand Cannon” T-shirt. “How did your date go?”
“It’s just after nine.” Sera glanced at the clock on the wall as she dumped the popcorn into a bowl. That should say everything.
“That bad?” Harper grabbed the bowl from her as Sera snatched a handful of the stuff.
“Yup, worst. What an A-hole.” Sera stuffed the handful in her mouth.
“At least you realized it right away and didn’t waste too much time on him,” Harper said as the microwave timer went off.
“There is at least that. Why aren’t you guys not all out on the town?” Sera pointed to the group in the living room through the wall.
“Lucy was still working, so we stayed until she got here.” Harper shrugged.
“And now?”
“Cliff can’t leave until he knows how it ends. As if he hasn’t seen it before. We might be in for the night. We just started the second one, and Cliff is all teen-girl about them.” Harper complained about her sister’s friend with a smile. No matter what, Cliff was liked by all the Lovelys.
“We have enough alcohol for a Twilight party,” Sera replied, knowing she was probably right about Cliff. The same thing had happened with Harry Potter; he had stayed for days on that one.
“I think I’ll get something for me, but those lazies will have to get their own.” Harper put the bowl down and headed for the basement.
Taking her plate from the microwave, Sera regretted that she hadn’t heated it in the oven, but that took way more time. Sera was ready for this week to be done, so waiting for a plate of food to heat was beyond her now.
She was half done with her chicken before Harper came back up the stairs, loaded down with bottles of booze. Wine, beer, wine coolers, and a bottle of something hard.
