“Hard to say. Camilla was pretty fussy right out of the gate. She calmed down a bit in time, but she’s always been pretty headstrong.”
Mentioning Camilla was hard, but I wasn’t going to pretend she didn’t exist.
“Have you heard from her?”
Sadie’s eyes flashed as soon as she asked the question. “Sorry. That was really insensitive to ask.”
“No, think nothing of it.” Any mention of my temporarily estranged daughter never failed to sting like mad, but Sadie and I were partners; she had a right to know such things. “Nothing. Not a word.”
Sadie tilted the bottle up in Emmy’s mouth, helping her with the last bit.
“I know it’s none of my business, but you could try calling her.”
I shook my head. “You know she does things on her own terms. Believe me, I’ve been through hard patches with her over the years. Camilla always comes back, however.”
It was true. Then again, we’d never been through anything this big before.
“I’ll drop it,” Sadie said. “I just hate that you’re going through this since it’s partly my fault. Wish I could do something.”
“Youaredoing something – you’re raising our two beautiful babes. Right now, that’s all that matters, as hard as it might be to think that way.” I cleared my throat, which had grown tight at the mention of Camilla. “Anyway, what’s your plan today?”
She shrugged. “The kids and that’s it. If I can get a chance, Marta at work wanted to Zoom about me starting to take on responsibilities remotely in a few weeks.”
“You feeling up to that?”
She smiled. “Yeah, I think so. Might be a hard adjustment, but she said she’s fine with easing me back into it.”
“Good. No pressure. I know I’m talking to the queen of the girl bosses, but if you want to take a few months to focus on being a mom, that’s more than acceptable as far as I’m concerned.”
Another smile. “I think I can handle a few emails here and there.” She glanced away thoughtfully. “‘Queen of the girl bosses’ – I think I could get used to that. In fact, why don’t you start addressing me as ‘Your Majesty’.”
I laughed. “We’ll see about that.”
I leaned back against the counter, Andy still curled up against me. Sadie’s face fell, and right away I knew what it was.
“Shit,” she said. “It’s Friday. How did I forget?”
I knew exactly what she was talking about.
Camilla might’ve still been MIA but Jack and Annette, however, were another story. They’d been in touch since the night of the big blowout, having responded almost right away when Sadie had messaged them to let them know she’d be moving here. Turned out Jack and Annette had actually been the ones worried they’d gone too far and were concerned that Sadie was planning on cutting them out.
Sadie had been talking to them, but as far as I could tell things were still a bit tense, nothing more than a few texts being exchanged here and there.
A few days ago, however, there’d been a breakthrough. Jack had asked if we wanted to get together for dinner, and I, of course, jumped at the chance.
“I don’t know if this is a good idea,” she said, stepping over to one of the bassinets we kept in the den and gently placing Emmy inside. The little girl burped then cooed, then slowly closed her eyes. “Maybe it’s too soon.”
“It’s never too soon for family. It might be awkward, sure. But you’ll be damn glad you did it.”
She pursed her lips and nodded, wringing her hands a bit. I could tell she was hardly sold on the idea.
“What if they come over to chew me out?” she asked. “What if this is all some kind of setup?”
I couldn’t help but laugh a little at that, imagining Jack and Annette, two of the most laid-back, carefree people I’d ever known plotting some conspiracy to get back at their daughter. I stepped over to her, taking one of her hands into my free one, Andy in the other arm.
“I don’t know your parents as well as you do. But I’d bet anything that they’re both regretting blowing up at you the way they did when you told them. They probably needed a little time to cool down, and now they’re ready to make things right. You should be happy.”
She nodded, bringing her eyes up to mine.