Page 6 of And Then There Was Us
“Love you,” she said.
“Love you, too.” After he ended the call, he stood and paced. He looked out the French doors at the starry sky. Hugh had always been a confident, borderline cocky guy who lived life in the fast lane. He wasn’t a guy who felt uncomfortable in his own skin, and tonight, as he looked around the enormous house, he realized why he wasn’t enamored by the size of it. It made him feel very alone. Maybe even lonely.
He returned to the couch and read a few pages, but his mind kept drifting back to Bree. He wondered who Layla and Claude were. He imagined Layla was her sister. It was Claude that he stumbled over. That name he couldn’t write off as a sister or a pet, and the way her eyes lit up when she’d said it, he didn’t think it was her brother. She wasn’t wearing a wedding ring, and when he’d thrown out the comment about her boss being her husband, he saw the reaction he’d hoped for from both Brianna and Kat. Brianna definitely wasn’t married.But who is Claude?
He closed the book, draped his arm over his eyes, and thought about going back to the bar the next evening. It didn’t dawn on him until a few minutes later that he’d never looked past Brianna’s face. Yes, he’d definitely have to go back. That gorgeous of a face had to be attached to a knockout body.
Chapter Four
“ALMOST READY SWEET girl?” Brianna zipped her knee-high black boots that Kat had given her for her birthday over her skinny jeans and gave her outfit a once-over in the hall mirror. The gray boatneck sweater hung loosely over her slim figure, stopping just short of her hips. Her wrist bangles clinked as she brushed her hair from her face.
“You look really pretty, Mom,” Layla said.
Brianna kissed her cheek. “Not as pretty as you do, princess, but thank you. I’m helping Claude with a photo shoot this morning. Do you have your invitations?”
Layla shook her head, tossing her two long brown ponytails from side to side. “I’ll get them. Can we get a pony for the party?” She ran into the kitchen in her black leggings and blue long-sleeved shirt and grabbed the bag of birthday invitations Brianna had written up the night before.
“A pony? That’s like a million dollars. I think we have to skip the pony. But we can have ice cream and cake,” Brianna said.
Layla looked at the invitations. “These are so cool! You taped lollipops onto them! Now everyone will come for sure.”
“Everyone will come anyway, because they all love you. Put them in your backpack so we’re not late for school.” Layla had many friends, though not many playdates because of Brianna’s schedule.
Brianna remembered what it was like when she was gathering a bundled baby in her arms and rushing out to the sitter’s before work only to come back ten hours and two jobs later to pick her up each afternoon. After her mother’s initial freak-out about Brianna’s pregnancy, she’d eventually realized that having a baby wasn’t the worst thing that could happen to a girl—despite her own experience with a husband who’d left her when Brianna was only eight—and she’d come around. And although Brianna’s life wasn’t what she’d envisioned for herself when she was eighteen, she was happy. And so was Layla. That was all that mattered.
Her mother had helped when she was able, but she had also worked full-time when Layla was born. Her mother had recently rearranged her hours to work earlier in the mornings, freeing her up to watch Layla after school while Brianna worked. Now, as Brianna pulled up to the school and Layla unhooked her seat belt and climbed from her booster seat, Brianna leaned over the backseat to kiss her goodbye, and she felt like those exhausted days had taken place a lifetime ago. Somehow, between Layla becoming more self-sufficient and Brianna throwing herself into motherhood and accepting that this was her future, things had become easier.
“Have a good day, princess. I’ll pick you up after school and take you to Grandma’s. And I forgot to tell you, Grandma wants you to spend the night tonight.”
Layla drew in a loud breath. “Really?”
“Yup. She said there’s a play at the theater that she wants to take you to see. Is that okay? I’ll come get you Saturday after the play.”
Layla climbed over the seat again and hugged her. “Yes, yes, yes! Oh, I love plays so much, and Grandma always takes me to lunch. This is going to be so fun!” Her smile faded. “What about you? Don’t you want to come?”
Brianna made a mental note of another mommy moment that she wanted to remember forever. She had so many of them now, she needed to learn mental shorthand. “I might have to buy a certain little girl a birthday present.”
“A kitty?” she asked hopefully.
Brianna pretended to zip her mouth closed and toss the key out the window.
Layla groaned.
“Love you, princess. You better get going so you’re not late.”
“Okay. Two Musketeers?” Layla said with a smile, exposing the dark hole where her front tooth would hopefully soon grow in.
“Always,” Brianna said, and blew her a kiss. Layla had started calling them the Two Musketeers two years earlier. She’d asked about her father—again—and Brianna told her that sometimes God gave children just one parent because the child was too special to share. Layla had looked at her with a serious stare and said, “Then we’re like Grandma says. We’re the Two Musketeers.”
She watched Layla run up the walkway and join two of her friends before disappearing through the front doors of the school. Her mind drifted to the Patrick Dempsey look-alike. Despite herself, she let herself recall his name with a silent sigh.Hugh.Just thinking about his sexy voice sent a flutter through her stomach. Layla was doing great, and Brianna knew that entertaining the thought of anything else in their lives would only add confusion to their already chaotic schedules.Who am I kidding? I’ll never see the guy again anyway.The thought was strangely comforting and upsetting all at once.
“BREE, CAN YOU please tweak the lights one more time? I’m getting a shadow again.” Claude Delaney moved with the grace of a swan as he glided around the young, scantily clad couple on the bed. They’d been shooting the Regency Linen commercial for five and a half hours, and Brianna wished it would go on forever. Gorgeous didn’t begin to describe the couple on the bed with their perfectly sculpted and tanned bodies. Just watching them was more action than she’d had in years. If she didn’t count her bouts of self-gratification. A woman had to survive somehow. In reality, it was Claude’s photographic techniques that held her interest.
She’d been filling in for Claude’s assistant, Stella, on an as-needed basis for the past two years, picking up hours while Stella was on vacation or too sick to work, and she hoped to one day secure a full-time position with Claude. Brianna was a realist, though, and she knew that was a pipe dream. No one left Claude’s employ. Stella had been working with Claude for fifteen years, and he was sought after by all the major commercial players on the East Coast.
“Two-twenty, Claude,” Brianna reminded him.
He pursed his lips and lowered his eyeglasses to the bridge of his nose. “It’s a good thing I love you.” He pushed his glasses back up his nose with his index finger. “Five more minutes. Then we’ll wrap, so Bree Bree can go get little Layla.”
