Page 138 of From Rivals to I Do

“Phyllis, do you think you can drive my mom home?” I plead with her so I can get out of there as soon as possible.

Phyllis nods her head and I hug my mother goodbye before she can ask me anymore about the fictional paper jam and I leave with Charlee. We drive back to

our new home, and I walk her up to her new room.

She is elated to see all of her old toys again. The stuffed animals, puzzles, games – everything she loved from her old home here to comfort her again. She

happily walks around the room, reacquainting Nellie with the other toys she has been apart from for the past month.

I leave her to play while I work on the house. Leonard said he wanted it painted, so I decided to paint it. We discussed color schemes when I signed the lease

with him a few days ago, and he told me that as long as the paint job was done well, he would be happy with anything. So, I decided to paint the walls light

green.

Before hanging up the pictures and paintings I sent here, I figured it was best to get the walls taken care of. I change into some old clothes that I don’t mind

getting stained and start rolling over the white walls. Charlee decides to join me in the living room, dancing with me to the music I have blasting over the radio

while I work.

I take a break around dinner time and order us a pizza so I can feed Charlee and put her to bed. I am exhausted, but I want more than anything to finish painting

so I can finish setting up my new house.

The doorbell rings and I’m surprised that the pizza has arrived so soon.

“Great service,” I whisper to myself while I rush to the door. “That was fast–” I start saying but stop as soon as I see it isn’t the pizza guy.

Leonard is standing on my doorstep with a large, wrapped gift in his hands.

“Hi, I wasn’t expecting you. Come in,” I say, moving aside to let him in.

“Is it a bad time?” he asks me. “I can come back...”

“Not at all,” I reply. “I was just taking a break to wait for dinner anyway.”

Charlee is screaming in the other room, singing her favorite song at the top of her lungs. I stare at Leonard and smile over the shrill, out-of-tune voice.

“That’s Charlee,” I finally say when she quiets down.

“So, she’s also in the arts then,” he jokes.

I nod my head and laugh. “She wants to work with animals, actually.”

He follows me down the hall to where Charlee is spinning in circles with her stuffed octopus, humming to the tune of the music because she doesn’t know all the words to this song.

“Charlee,” I say, and she stops spinning, still dizzy, and looks up at both of us. “This is Leonard, Mommy’s boss.”

She lowers her octopus and tilts her head down, running behind my leg to cover herself.

“She’s shy sometimes,” I apologize.

“That’s okay,” he says before kneeling to be at eye level with Charlee. “Do you like your new house?” he asks.

Charlee nodded and looked up at me to make sure it was okay to talk to him.

“It’s alright, sweetie, he’s a friend,” I comfort her. I look at Leonard with an apologetic face.

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