Page 48 of When Lies Unfold

I’m not sure which of us is more surprised. Lola’s startled greetin’ matches how I feel when I notice my daughter standin’ outside the room.

Without the nanny. Again.

Fuck. I sink back into my chair. I’d be proud if circumstances were different. Her talent for losin’ the people tasked with followin’ her would be commendable. Plus, somehow, she figured out which room Lola’s in.

If only Andro showed as much potential as this little girl.

“Hello, again.” Lola glances past her, peerin’ down either side of the hall. “Why do I get the feeling you’re not supposed to be alone?”

Alma holds up a piece of paper, and I lean closer in an attempt to see what’s on it, but I can’t tell from this angle.

Lola accepts it, and her voice immediately softens. “Is this a picture of you and me?”

Alma nods with a shy smile before duckin’ around Lola and slippin’ inside the room. Lola shakes her head and mutters under her breath, “Sure, just come right on in and get your father more upset with me.”

Heavin’ out a breath, she shuts the door and leans back against it. Her expression turns amused as she watches my daughter climb on the bed and start jumpin’ on it.

Alma’s dark curls float in the air with each bounce. “Your bed’s better for jumpin’ than mine.”

It’s like someone’s stabbed me directly in the chest. Hearin’ her little voice, so happy and carefree… Christ. I absently rub along my rib cage.

Hesitation blankets Lola for a moment before she appears to shrug it off. Climbin’ up on the bed to join Alma, she gives a little bounce. “Huh. Not bad.”

Alma giggles, and what she does next has a searin’ heat bloomin’ in my chest. She reaches for Lola’s hand and grasps it while the two of them bounce up and down on the bed.

The tension in Lola’s features subsides bit by bit the longer she and my daughter bounce. What’s worse is how my daughter chatters on with her as if they’re close friends instead of only meetin’ earlier today.

“We should do this tomorrow, too.” My daughter announces this mid-bounce. “But I’ve gotta lose my nanny again.”

Lola’s mouth parts, then snaps shut before she opens it again. “Tomorrow, after I finish my first job, your father said I would fill in as your nanny.”

Alma stops jumpin’, eyes goin’ wide, her mouth fallin’ open. “For real?”

“For real.” Resignation coats her words, but intermixed in her tone is a hint of affection. “So, I guess we’ll be hanging out more often.”

Alma drops to her butt before flingin’ herself back against the mattress. “Yay!”

When Lola’s mouth forms a smile, heat ignites in the center of my chest again, but it’s a different sensation somehow. She lowers herself to lie back beside Alma, and they stare up at the vaulted ceilin’ in silence.

Lola’s question is muted and tentative. “Can I ask you a question?”

“Okay.”

Lola turns her head to look at my daughter. “Why don’t you normally talk?”

“I don’t know…”

Lola studies her, and a beat passes before she whispers, “I just want to say…I know what it’s like to not have anyone to talk to.”

Alma shifts to peer at her. “Really?”

Lola nods. “Really.”

Alma averts her attention to the ceilin’ before she finally speaks again. “I don’t like talkin’ to the others ’cause they treat me like I’m dumb. Like I don’t know anythin’.”

Lola covers their joined hands with her other. “Oh, sweetie. I’m sure that’s not the case.”

Alma shrugs. “I just want somebody to be my mom. Like the kind that bounces on beds with me and colors with me and bakes with me.” Heavy silence hangs before she asks tentatively, “Will you be my mom?”

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