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The squeals and gasps from the girls as they got their hair washed and their faces done up in clay masks was too cute. The stylist was so sweet, helping with Mila’s hair. She’d lathered extra detangling product and gently combed it while letting her watch cartoons, so it was a tearless event. I decided to do our tea date here at the lavish restaurant and see what the girls thought of the large fountain inside. I had spotted it on the way in and knew we had to eat lunch there.
“Haley, is this how you lived in Cawifornia?” Mila asked with her darling lisp.
I smirked and took off the towel that had been warming my hair.
“Sometimes, yes.”
Maddy let out a sigh and plucked off the cucumbers. “This is nice…probably nicer than anything we’ll ever get to do with our dad.”
“Hey, don’t think like that. We should always believe the best about our people.”
Maddy crinkled her brows together. “Our people?”
“You know…the ones in our corner. The ones who are happy when we succeed and sad when we’re hurt…the ones who would do anything for us. You three have your dad and you’re a unit…you’d do anything for each other, right?”
Mila grabbed her cucumbers next and tossed them on the floor. “Yes. Also Uncle Cole, too… he’s our people.”
“Yeah, he’s definitely our people,” Seraphina added in, keeping her cucumbers over her eyes.
“Anyone else in there? It’s good to have a picture of them, that way when they do something big in your life, or their life, you can be happy for them.”
All three girls seemed to think it over then Maddy added, “Nora…I think she’s going to be in there…”
“And you, if you want to be nice to us some more,” Mila added.
I smiled. If they only knew what I would do for them if they wanted me in that circle.
“I think Nora and Cole are going to be together for a very long time, so I like the idea of having her there, and I’d be honored to be there too.”
My next question came out hesitant and slow, nervous that I might be stepping on a landmine.
“And what about your mother…should she be in this circle?”
Mila and Seraphina turned to Maddy as if she would answer for them. Maddy’s eyes watered, and it was like a record scratch.Oh my Gosh.
Inside I was begging for a time machine.
The sniffling came next, and I felt like the shittiest human alive. Fuck. Fuck.Fuckkkkk.
“I’m so sorry, I shouldn’t have asked. Can we pretend that I didn’t? I’m so sorry.” I got up and rounded Maddy’s chair, pulling her into my arms. A steady stream of tears trailed her cheeks, and I felt like a knife was lodged in my chest.
“How about lunch? Are you guys ready for some tea, and maybe some cake? There’s a fountain.” I cradled Maddy’s face to the terrycloth robe of my chest and rocked her as she silently sobbed. With a loud sniffle and a swipe of tears from Seraphina and Mila, they all broke out of it and finally started smiling.
“A real fountain with water and everything?”
Smiling at them and relieved that the blunder was behind me, I nodded.
“You can throw in pennies!”
I knew the girls were in, so we dressed, and while each of them stared at their silky, tangle-free hair in the mirror, I made a mental note to buy them some hair accessories to help them at home.
Lunch was a breeze as the girls ate and stared in wonder at the large room with ceilings at least sixty feet tall. The sights of the mountains left me speechless. Snowcapped, and standing tall against a blush-colored sky, the outline of the moon was already up, tucked behind the tip of Mount Macon. Little dots of black splattered the mountain where pieces of snow had melted from the trees. It was the most gorgeous view I had ever seen. Even the girls chewed in peaceful silence as we all stared in wonder.
Once we were done with our sandwiches, each girl took a handful of coins from my purse and unloaded them into the fountain, each one with a wish.
We were laughing all the way back to Macon as a call came through my Bluetooth car speaker. Seeing that it was Liam, I pressed answer without thinking twice.
“Hey, Liam.”
