He held out his hand. “Come here.”
He wiggled his fingers and I slipped my palm against his. I watched his grasp take over my hand as I set my drink down. I sighed heavily. He always knew when thoughts of my mother took over my mind. And as my stare found his, he nodded.
“She’s going to be okay.”
I sighed. “I know. I know she is.”
“She hugged you tight before we left. That’s a good sign.”
“I don’t know. I just wish--”
“Things can’t be different, Rae. But they can get better. Trust me, this traveling will do you both some good.”
I smiled softly. “It’s already doing me a lot of good.”
“I’m glad to hear that.”
“Oh, that reminds me. How’s the book coming along?”
He blushed. “It’s fine.”
“Come on, Clint. There’s nothing to be embarrassed about. How’s your writing? You got up pretty early this morning. Did you have a dream you wanted to jot down?”
He paused. “I wanted to catch the sunrise in order to be able to accurately describe it.”
“Will I be able to read some of it soon?”
“Once I can get it edited and written down cohesively, yes.”
“So, no to the immediate future.”
“But yes to eventually. Gotta look on the bright side, gorgeous.”
I snickered. “Well, I can’t wait to read it. You’ve killed me with that cliffhanger you left me on.”
“Patience, baby. Patience will be your friend with this.”
My laptop dinged again and I furrowed my brow. I faced forward and opened my laptop before a massive smile crossed my face. I had reviews pouring in from everywhere. So many people leaving such kind things about my ability to help them learn English. Payments came through, doubling the number I had this morning. I had enough money to push through a second payment. Another dump into my bank account that would more than cover our journey to Naples twice over.
“I take it something good happened?”
I snickered. “Pay day is always good.”
Clint paused. “Wait, you’re getting paid again?”
“Uh huh.”
“Didn’t you just get paid?”
I tapped the ‘enter’ key before closing my laptop.
“So long as I have a certain amount of money in my account on the site, I can dump it into my bank account at any time without penalty fees. I just hit that threshold, so my second payday of the week should be in my account come tomorrow morning.”
He smiled brightly. “I’m so damn proud of you.”
I grinned. “I’m proud of your stepmother going after your father the way she did to get you extra money for this traveling.”
He chuckled. “She’s nothing if not persistent.”