Her sister must’ve interpreted their mother’s answer as an open invitation—which made sense since she assumed Stephanie had invited her—because she clapped her hands in celebration before grabbing one of the suitcases on the ground. “Let’s go inside!”
Stephanie stood to the side to let the two women in. As much as she wanted to put a stop to this now, to tell her sister that she had not asked their mother to come here, that the woman wasn’t even welcome in her home…she just couldn’t do it. She couldn’t crush her sister like that. In front of their mom and Ace. She’d take her aside later and let her know that she’d had no idea their mom was coming. Until then all she could do was hope her mom didn’t do any more damage than she already had.
“Yes! Breakfast!” Simone squealed. “I thought you might be making breakfast that’s why I stopped by!”
Stephanie looked at Ace as she shut the door, her tone flat as she said, “Told you.”
“I’m sorry.” Sincerity shone in his aqua blue eyes.
She wasn’t sure what he was apologizing for. “Don’t be. This is just my life.”
She started walking towards the kitchen when Ace squeezed his fingers into her hip and leaned down to whisper in her ear, “Is it your birthday?”
“No.” Stephanie refrained from rolling her eyes. “It’s next week.”
“When?” Ace followed up.
“Friday. But it doesn’t matter. I’m not doing anything. I don’t celebrate it.”
As she made her way into the kitchen, Ace by her side, Stephanie realized that the last time she’d celebrated was her fifth birthday. Two months before her dad had left. After that her mother had never remembered or didn’t care. Either way she didn’t take it personally. The twins wouldn’t have had birthday parties either if it hadn’t been for Stephanie. If there was one good thing she could say about Connie Holland it was that she was an equal opportunity bad mother.