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“Are you inviting more people over?” Sera asked, looking at her oldest daughter’s haul as she set them carefully on the counter, then made sure that they were all standing.
“No, why?” she asked, pushing the bottles further onto the counter.
“No reason.” Sera hid her smile.
Harper took the popcorn and two wine coolers, then headed into the living room, telling those in the room about the booze as she went. Within moments, Lucy and Cliff were in the kitchen in their matching gray Grand Cannon T-shirts and shorts. Cliff took two beers and headed back to the movie, not wanting to miss anything.
Lucy stayed behind and opened the bottle of wine, taking out a tall water glass that had a Disney princess on it, and she poured herself a generous amount. “Want some?”
“Sure,” Sera said and watched her daughter do the same for her. The bottle was almost empty after the two glasses were full.
“I gave you a little more … shitty date and all.” Lucy grinned and picked up the one with less in it, though Sera could barely tell the difference.
“Thanks, Luce,” Sera said to the brunette as she went back to her movie.
Putting her empty plate in the dishwasher, she grabbed two Cokes from the fridge and grabbed her wine in the other hand. Heading out to the living room, she gave one of the pops to Emma, who barely noticed her but did grab the beverage. Fighting the urge to kiss her head, Sera instead headed for her room.
Upstairs, she dropped off her wine on her nightstand, and headed up to the third floor. Agatha would be drawing; it was a given. Even though her daughter hadn’t made a lick of money on her talent, she didn’t stop doing it. Drawing was her only constant. Jobs came and went but drawing remained.
“Everyone is downstairs watching Twilight,” Sera told her as she crested the top of the stairs and saw her hard at work, with a half-sleeping seven-year-old watching from a chair nearby.
“They are so fucking lucky.” Agatha looked up at her with a grin. No way was this one going down to watch that movie series, Sera thought to herself. Sera wasn’t even sure she had made it through the first of the movies back when the obsession first hit the house.
“Just saying.” Sera laughed and set the other pop on her easel.
Agatha was the second to the youngest and was completely different than her sisters. She was the first of Bradford’s children she suspected wasn’t actually Bradford’s. Buzz the baby was also not his, with her red hair and gray-brown eyes. Judith Lovely would’ve have had a lot of explaining to do if she had stuck around.
Oddly, it was her first black-haired daughter that called her mom. None of the others did on a regular basis. Mostly just in love or sarcasm, or both. But she and Agatha had a bond that she didn’t have with the others. It was more than just their shared love of the girls, and it went beyond friendship. The twenty-six-year-old was probably her daughter in every way but birth at this point.
“You’re home from your date early. I thought you would be out until morning.” Agatha leaned back in her chair. In the last few months, the attic dweller had finally gained a pound or two. She was even looking healthy—not happy, but healthy.
“Not tonight. A dud.” Sera picked up the half-asleep little girl from the old green chair and sat down with her on her lap.
This one had black-haired as well. At seven, she was still Sera’s baby. Violet was Agatha’s shadow and wanted more than anything to be Agatha, but her personality was her mom’s, and everyone knew that. Bubbly and outgoing was something Agatha would never be.
Agatha cracked open the can of pop. “Too bad.”
“Do you work tonight?” Sera asked. You never knew with Agatha; she worked nights and got fired more often than not.
“Yes, Cliff got me on at the Grog until this shit blows over. So much for his ‘never going to work here again’ speech of last winter. What an ass. Tips are big right now, though.” Agatha shrugged. Bartending was never going to be Agatha’s thing, but she kept at it for now. She was always complaining and usually got fired after a few weeks … or days … or hours.
“I was in there last night. It was insane for a Thursday.” She didn’t mention that Harrison had been in there or that he had seen her topless. Or that he mentioned it twice now and was trying to rattle her.
“It is, and I hate it. Where do we go now that the Grog’s been stolen by hipsters? I can’t drink with a hipster.” Agatha moaned. It was their bar, but if they were going to meet at a bar, it was the Grog.
“It’ll die down once everyone realizes it’s a dive.” Sera noticed her baby had fallen asleep in her arms.
“I hope so.” Agatha was looking at the girl also. The nineteen-year age difference on them was nothing, based on how close the two were.
More often than not, people assumed that Agatha was Violet’s mother since they shared their hair color and artistic talent. Sera was the complete opposite and had no artistic talent at all.
“I better put her to bed.” Sera looked down at Violet, who was already in yellow pajamas, thanks to her older sister.
Sera tried not to take advantage of Agatha or any of her adult daughters, but sometimes it was nice knowing that she didn’t have to worry about her kids getting home on time or getting them places. Being a single mother was stressful enough, but she had so much less stress because of the girls.
“You do that. I’ll be up here until eleven, and then I work until close,” Agatha said. She always worked nights, always.
When Bradford kept putting off his return date until he didn’t even pretend anymore, the five girls had been there when Emmaline had been born. They’d also been there when she needed someone to watch the baby, so she could continue with school. It had even been Harper who had insisted that Sera start dating after Emma had been born since Bradford was living with a woman anyway.
