She laughs, "I know you will baby, Sarah and Allie don't need the stress. I'd better get back downstairs. Say goodbye to them and come down when you're ready."
"I will do Mom, thanks for listening."
Her face softens, "Always."
When she starts to go down the stairs, I turn and close the door, "Sorry, we couldn't help but overhear." Lacey tells me as I turn to face them.
I shake my head, "You didn't even try, did you?" They both smile, "No, okay ladies, I have got to go, I need to change Allie, and get some dinner for the both of us."
"Okay, call if you need us," I tell her, even though I know she won't, she never will. She's determined to do this all by herself.
"I will. Try not to let Jagger get to you. He's actually a really sweet guy, and you'd like him if you got to know him."
Lacey's mouth drops open in surprise, whereas I'm not even surprised, she's always said Jagger was a good guy, he just doesn't want a baby. "Go, and feed that gorgeous goddaughter of mine."
Lacey pushes my shoulder, "No, she's mine."
Sarah just shakes her head. It's something we always argue about. Sarah is undecided if she's going to baptize Allie, it doesn't matter I'm still her auntie. "Have fun at the party girls and if it gets that boring, why not go back to Oakland for a bit?"
"Not a bad idea," I tell her, actually contemplating going back home, maybe to look at the old house, it's not sold yet so I could spend a night or two there. I actually like that idea. I could feel a bit closer to Dad, go and visit his grave.
Allie's
face gets bright red, and she makes a weird, but telling sound that we've all heard before. I laugh, "We'll let you go and deal with that."
Sarah groans, "I'm going to need a gas mask, how can a small child's poop smell so bad? Okay, call me soon."
I blow her a kiss, "Will do. Bye, love you both."
"Bye ladies, love you." She calls out and ends the call.
Lacey huffs out a breath, "God, we should move to New York. I feel so helpless, she's slaying this whole mother thing though. I want to help her as much as I can, even though she won't let us help her."
"I know, but Sarah wouldn't let us. She wants us to do what we've dreamed of. So we do whatever we can do. I'm going to talk to Mom and see if there's anything we can do to help, even though she won't accept anything, Mom can be persuasive so she'll help us." It feels good having her know, I can talk to her about it now, and the frustrations I'm feeling about her struggling.
"Sounds good. Now, are you ready to go back down there?"
I shrug, "I guess so." I don't really have much of a choice.
"What are you going to do about Hudson?"
"Ugh, can we deal with one thing at a time?" I ask, not wanting to think about him or what effect he has on my body.
She smirks, "Sure, although I doubt he's going to leave it alone."
I roll my eyes, "I doubt he even remembers me." I link my arm through hers, "Let's rejoin the party. I need a drink."
She laughs, "Or two? Can we hide out in the garden?"
"Definitely," I tell her as we leave her room, "What about you and Barney?"
"What about us?" She's avoiding, and I want to know why, but as soon as we begin to descend the stairs both Hudson and Jagger are at the bottom along with some other man that I don't know.
I pull my arm from Lacey's and straighten my spine, "I'm sorry for my rudeness." I say looking directly at Hudson. I watch as his lips twitch, "I'm not usually that rude."
"It's true. She's usually sweet." Lacey chimes in.
"Oh, I know." Hudson replies and Lacey laughs, he knows who I am. Fuck.