“I missed brunch?” Not that brunch was a huge deal for me. We had it in our kitchen every damn afternoon. But the thought of missing something while everyone was having a good time really, really bummed me out.
You were on a private jet over the Atlantic, getting eaten out by your hot boyfriend.
Okay, myself had a point.
“We can do it again on Sunday,” Holli said quickly. “That amazing nurse you hired for us, remember?”
“Right. Well, consider that your Christmas present so you can’t turn it down,” I ordered. “I’m not going to listen to any arguments. And if she ever quits, let me know. We’ll hire someone else and put her on the payroll.”
“You’re a fucking saint, you know that?” She fell quiet for a second. “I really miss you, Soph.”
“I miss you, too.” I took a shaky breath. “I really never thought we’d have our lives changed by kids. We always said that wasn’t going to happen.”
“Okay, but also, I’d planned to be a single mom,” she reminded me. “I was going to clone myself and have another little me wandering around at my side. I still might, when they figure out the ethical dilemma of whether or not to clone people.”
I’d heard way, way too many long-winded and weird complaints about the speed of cloning science to let that line of reasoning continue. “Well, I’m glad you’re not a single clone mom. Because Deja makes you so happy.”
Holli sighed dreamily. “I’m so glad I locked that down.”
We made arrangements to meet for brunch on Sunday. I left Holli to make the reservations, though not without reservations of my own. She didn’t always have great follow through on things she had to remember once a phone call ended. She promised me she’d written it down.
The moment we hung up, I felt like a huge weight had been lifted from my chest. Mom was right. I couldn’t let someone as important as Holli fall by the wayside. Incorporating my new world with my old one continued to be a frustrating challenge, but that was my problem.
I was finished making it everyone else’s.
Chapter Ten
Sunday morning, I set out for brunch with the girls–just me, Holli, and Deja, because Mom “didn’t want to miss church.” I knew that was a lie; Tony went to church with his mother and Mom had since become a little indifferent to mass as a result. I knew she wanted me to have time alone with my girls.
I emerged from the master bathroom as quietly as I could. I’d gotten up at eight to do my hair and makeup, but by the way El-Mudad had groaned when my alarm had gone off, anyone would have thought I’d risen at the asscrack of dawn.
“I thought the point of brunch was to indulge in sleep and eat breakfast late,” he mumbled as he rolled over, blinking in the sunlight as the shades rolled up automatically. He slapped for the switch on the wall before they could make it all the way. Beside him, Neil snored, totally immune to the noise of my early-riser morning beauty routine.
“Hey,” I said, indicating the loose curls cascading down my shoulders and the frankly epic contour job I’d done. “It takes a lot of time to look this good.”
He flipped onto his stomach and buried his face into the pillow, grumbling.
I fought the urge to drop my snuggly microfiber robe and climb back into the big, warm bed beside him. “You should get up, anyway. Olivia is going to come looking for Afi any moment.”
That was an inconvenient part of our arrangement. Though I had dropped some delicate hints to the nanny about giving us some warning before Olivia barged into our room in the morning—and there was no doubt Mariposa understood what we were up to—the kid had a mind of her own. Sometimes that mind...didn’t mind.
El-Mudad sat up and put his feet on the floor before rubbing his eyes and leaning his elbows on his knees, head down. After a moment in which he seemed to steel himself against waking up, he stood. “All right. Come give me a kiss then.”
“Ugh, closed mouth,” I said, covering his lips with my hand as he took me into his arms.
He gave me a chaste peck. “Of course. Anything else, and I risk making you late.”
“Do you and Neil have anything fun planned for today?” I asked as El-Mudad pulled on his lounge pants.
“We had planned to take Olivia to the race track and let her drive around a bit,” he joked.
I raised an eyebrow and headed to the closet. He followed me.
“I’m kidding, of course. I’m planning to stay here with Olivia. I promised her we would swim today.” He scratched the back of his neck and yawned.
My heart melted. Olivia did love the indoor pool—so much so that we’d been careful to install a mechanical lock as well as one with a code. I loved the idea of her spending the day bonding with El-Mudad, even if she couldn’t understand the significance of him in our lives.