Page 132 of Skylar

Her mom and dad waved off her offer to help clean up from lunch.

“You just go on,” her mom said.

Skylar hugged her parents, then went up to her room to get her purse. When she came down, her mom gave her the keys to her car. “Have a good visit, darling.”

“I’ll be back in time to help you with supper,” she said as she headed for the front door.

It wasn’t long before she pulled up in front of a two-storey house. It wasn’t super big, but it was on some acreage on the outskirts of town, which gave the kids lots of room to run and play.

“Hi, Auntie Sky!” The boys both greeted her enthusiastically as they gave her quick hugs.

She ran her fingers through their dark, wavy hair. “Hey, you two. How’s it going?”

“They need haircuts,” Charli said. “So I think that while you’re here with Shiloh, I’m going to take them for that.”

At Charli’s instruction, Skylar walked through the house to the door that led to the large screened-in porch at the back of the house. It looked out over a yard that wasn’t as manicured as her parents’ or Aiden’s, but it was large and held everything a kid could want, from a swing set with a slide to a treehouse.

At the far end of the porch, Shiloh sat cross-legged on the bench swing, a book in her lap. She looked up, and a smile lit her face when she saw Skylar. “Auntie Sky! I didn’t know you were coming.”

Skylar walked over to the cluster of rattan furniture that included the porch swing where Shiloh sat and bent to give her a hug and kiss. As she sank down onto the swing next to Shiloh, she said, “How are you feeling?”

“Better,” Shiloh said as she put a bookmark into the book and set it on the chair beside her. “I don’t like feeling sick.”

“Oh, I understand that, sweetie,” Skylar said. “Hopefully it won’t happen again. But if you start to feel even a little sick, you need to tell someone. Once they know, they can give you medicine to keep you from getting worse.”

“Yeah. That’s what Momma said.” Shiloh’s shoulders slumped. “I just didn’t want to bother anyone.”

Shiloh’s whispered words broke Skylar’s heart. She shifted close enough to slip her arms around Shiloh. “You’re absolutely never a bother to anyone, especially your mom and dad. We all love you and want you to be healthy, so we’ll do whatever we need to in order to make that happen. We would do that for any of you kids.”

“Even Willow?” she asked.

“Yes, definitely. Willow too.”

The sadness slipped from Shiloh’s face at Skylar’s words, and she smiled at her again. It was a smile Skylar was so happy to see.

Skylar was glad for the opportunity to have this time with Shiloh. It was nice to be outside, in the screened in porch where bugs couldn’t get to them, instead of in the hospital.

As they chatted, Skylar let Shiloh lead the direction of their conversation. They touched on a variety of different things, starting with the book she’d been reading. From there, they moved on to one of the nurses she’d had during her latest hospital stay. Then she told Skylar that she wished she could go skating with Lexi and Amelia.

After about an hour, Charli was back with the boys, and she sent them out into the yard to play in the sprinkler. Shiloh asked to go lay down for a nap, so Charli took her to her room, thenreturned to the porch with some water and a plate of chocolate chip cookies.

“I need chocolate,” Charli said. “Desperately.”

Now that she didn’t have to worry about fitting into a uniform, Skylar didn’t feel like she had to restrict her diet quite as much. “I wouldn’t mind some myself.”

They sat eating their cookies for a few minutes, listening as the boys yelled at the top of their lungs while chasing each other through the water.

“How are things with you and Aiden?” Charli asked as she picked up her glass, slanting a look Skylar’s way before focusing on her sons again.

“We’re getting along better,” Skylar told her. “Certainly better than we did when we first saw each other.”

“So you’re friends?”

Skylar considered her sister’s question. “Yes. I would say we’re friends.”

“That’s good,” Charli said. “And the prospect of more than friendship? Has anything more developed since we last talked about things between you and Aiden?”

“Not really.” Skylar looked down at her hands. “We did talk some more, and I think I want to give him a second chance, but… I’m confused.”

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