Page 137 of Promise Me Sunshine

“Mom!” Ainsley launches herself into her mother’s lap.

Reese was supposed to be working until late tonight to make up for cutting out early on the conference yesterday. But there she sits at the kitchen table with Miles. We’ve clearly just interrupted an important moment; they’re both serious. But not tense. Actually, Miles looks downright relaxed.

“Hi,” I say to him, and it takes every modicum of strength I have not to draw a little heart on the ground with my big toe.

“Hi.”

“Oh, myGod.Get out of here, you two,” Reese says playfully. “Spare me.”

Miles stands up and stretches. “Shall we?”

“Oh.” I glance between them. “I thought I was supposed to be staying until bedtime?” It’s only four o’clock right now.

“Go, go,” Reese says. “I’m taking off work. I thought Ainsley and I might do something fun.”

Ainsley jolts up in Reese’s lap and puts a hand on either shoulder. “What is it?” she asks too loudly, three inches from Reese’s face.

“Harper invited us to her cabin for the weekend.”

“Oh.” Ainsley deflates a little.

“And her cabin just happens to be next to an indoor water park.”

“Oh!”And she’s back!“We’re going right now? Should I go pack?”

“I already packed for you.”

“You can eat the muffin in the car!”

Reese is laughing and hugging Ainsley; she looks lighter and happier than I’ve ever seen her. “What muffin?”

I hand over the muffin and wave as Miles tugs me out of the kitchen and all the way up to his apartment.

“Was everything all right with you and Reese?” I ask as we toe off our shoes. “It seemed serious.”

“Yeah.” He heads to the kitchen and comes back to join me on the couch; he’s got two little bowls of mixed nuts.

“What’d you talk about?”

“A lot. Let’s see…well, for starters she’s thinking she might take a leave of absence at work.”

“Really? Whoa.”

“Yeah. She mentioned that she’d definitely keep you on, though.”

I wave a hand through the air. “I love working for them, but I can always find another family to work with. That’s the nature of nannying work. They need you until they don’t.”

“Mary Poppins. OG commitment-phobe.”

I smile. “Reese was just feeling overworked?”

“No. I think she actually really enjoys the pace of her work. But it gives Ains the short end of the stick. When she saw the dance last night”—he valiantly makes an effort not to bodily wince at the memory—“I think it made her sad. Not because I was the one dancing with Ainsley. But becauseshewasn’t. So her plan is to use up the vacation she’s accrued and see how it feels. If she wants more time, she might take the leave of absence.”

“Wow. That would really change their lives.”

He nods. “Hey,” he observes, peering into our almost empty bowls. “We both left the almonds till last.”

“Uch, I hate almonds,” I say, dutifully eating one so it doesn’t go to waste.

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