New Life (Book 2)

Chapter 6

The cool evening breeze whisks past my face, tousling my hair as it goes. The sun is hot, but its heat is more forgiving than anything I had to endure while in Houston. With a deft hand, I push my hair back, only to have it slap against my face again. This is precisely the reason I hate wearing it down. I search my pockets for a hair tie before whipping it into a messy bun. I squint in Lee's direction to see her still walking alongside the flower patches, bending over to sniff them periodically. "Lee, be careful of bees!"

The wind carries my voice to her and returns her reply. "Okay, Mama!"

I enjoy the beautiful views of the Potomac River and the DC skyline for a minute before my eyes land on Sierra. She has her head in my lap as she lay on the sleeping sac we brought just to make her comfortable. She has her eyes glued to her phone, her fingers scrolling and swiping without end.

"What are you doing?" I ask, my fingers starting a slow journey through her hair.

"I'm looking at minivans."

"Minivans? Why?"

"Because we have a family of four and we'll be adding two more with the new year. My car doesn't have that much space and neither does Grace's."

"So, we use mine. I have an SUV that seats seven people." I don't think we need any more space than that.

"And when you're not around?"

"Then we do an exchange. I'll trade you my SUV for your Benz."

"Fuck no! I'm not giving up my Benz."

"You don't even drive it," I complain. It's been parked in the garage since we got back to DC and her brother dropped it off. We either take my SUV or Grace's Honda.

"I don't care. You're a reckless driver and I don't want you wrecking my car like you did yours in Houston."

"I was trying to save your life!"

She looks up from her phone to glare at me and I like peace, so I drop it. "Fine. Choose any SUV of your choice. I'll let Gracie know to do the same."

"Thank you," she breathes. She pulls herself into a sitting position and turns to me. "I'll do it tomorrow. Right now, I want to kiss you."

I smirk and savour her lips as she presses them to mine. She pulls back, her eyes hooded, before she's leaning in to kiss me again. This time I can tell it excited her, but unfortunately, we couldn't do anything about that. I break the kiss gently, giving her one last smooch. "Let's not get carried away."

She frowns. "How long do I have left?"

"Twenty-one weeks and four days. But it may just be like a little over two months."

"Christ! I don't think I'll make it, Em."

I caress her cheek. "You will because you can do anything you want to do."

She smiles and I see her eyes flicker over to Irelee before landing on me. She's been doing that every few seconds and I don't mind because that means I don't have to. The park incident really has us paranoid and we'd all love to not have a repeat. My phone alarm goes off, stealing our attention. Turning it off, I look to Sierra. "Time to go get Gracie."

She nods. "Yup. Help me up, please?"

I stand and help her to her feet before reaching for the sleeping sack. She calls Irelee over and I look up to see her coming with a bunch of flowers in her hands.

"These are for you," she says handing Sierra some pink Brogan Villas. "Because your favourite colour is pink."

Sierra grins. "Awwww, thank you."