Page 56 of Not A Chance

Abbie

It’s not about her age, babe. It’s her first year in her forever home!

I could imagine Abbie waving that concern off. God, she knew how to push all my feelings buttons.

Indie

Yep, I’m sure you were “getting ready for work” all right. And short of discovering he’s been hiding a secret criminal empire all these years, there’s nothing, babe.

I replied, shifting the conversation off my overly sentimental thoughts around finally getting a pet.

Abbie

Boo. And I was really getting ready for work. Aiden left an hour ago.

Emery

Wow.

Abbie

Wow, what?

Emery

He’s sleeping in these days! Heading out at 7:00 AM is positively sloth-like for him.

Indie

Well, he does have a gooood reason to stay in bed these days, doesn’t he Em?

Emery

Why, yes, he does.

Abbie

I thought we were talking about Indie. How did this become tease Abbie time?

My lips parted on a laugh, startling another pedestrian trying to pass me as I’d slowed down my pace to type.

Indie

Because it’s too fun now that you are loved up in a gorgeous house with a gorgeous man. And I’m all for it, girl. For you. Not me. Give me my old apartment in downtown Amado any day. Gah. I miss walking over to the community center after work.

Emery

Oh!I meant to tell you. I stopped by there a couple weeks ago and picked up a slot to teach a drop in art class for any of the kids you were working with.

That was Emery. All goodness to the core. The muscles in my chest squeezed my heart tightly at how much I missed my volunteer tutoring shifts at Amado’s central community center. I’d been working with some of the kids since I started college, and I’d had to leave them so abruptly. But of course, it was another thing my father saw as disposable in my life.

Indie

Thank you, Em. I’m sure they’ll love it more than the math equations I always forced on them.

Emery

Don’t for a second think that I’m going to be able to fill your shoes there. But I thought it would be good for me to remind myself that my undergraduates were once innocent. A fresh perspective and all that.

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