Page 35 of Mine To Honor (Southern Wedding)

“Why?” I ask, confused about what is actually going on.

“Because I just left her in there alone and awake,” she states and her hand comes up to wipe away a tear.

“She’s not crying.” I try to make her feel better. “So I’m assuming she’s okay with it.”

She takes the cover and tosses it off herself, getting up out of bed. Standing there beside it, I lean across the mattress, snatching her hand and pulling her back into the bed. “Go to sleep.”

“Fine,” she huffs at the same time I go back to my side of the bed and lie with my head back on the pillow. I close my eyes but can feel the nervous energy coming from her side of the bed. I open my eyes, looking over at her, seeing her with her hands on her stomach, her index finger tapping the other.

“You aren’t going to go to sleep, are you?”

“No.” She shakes her head. “I’ll just wait a bit,” she says, looking over at the monitor, seeing that there is no green light on.

“Okay.” I look up at the ceiling, my eyes getting heavier and heavier. I look over at Eva right before my eyes close for good. She also has her eyes closed, and we fall asleep while listening to Cici snore.

Chapter Seventeen

Eva

“Here we go,” I say to Cici as I unbuckle her seat belt. “Are you ready for daycare?” I ask as I carefully take her out of her seat. “Where is your bow?” I ask of the little bow I put in her hair this morning. After dressing her in a pink romper, I thought it would be cute to add a little bow, Cici did not, apparently. “I can see we don’t like anything in your hair,” I mumble to her as I place her on my hip before grabbing her diaper bag. “Is today going to be a good day?” I ask as she looks around. “I think it’s going to be a good day.”

My shoes click on the concrete as I walk toward the glass door. The bangles on my left hand clink together as I reach up and pull open the door. Stepping inside the daycare, I’m faced with another door, this one with a code to get into the center. I enter the code before turning the handle and pulling it open. I’m about to call out when I see a hand on top of my hand. “I’ve got it,” a male voice assures from behind me.

Looking over my shoulder, I see a dad who is dressed in a suit, holding the hand of a little girl who must be three years old. “Thank you.” I smile back at him and he just gives me a chin up.

“Good morning, Eva,” Melanie, the owner of the daycare, says from behind her desk at the front door. “Good morning, Caine.” I look over at the man who is still standing behind me.

“Morning.” I smile at Melanie before walking down the carpeted hallway. Wooden cubbies line the right side of the wall with hooks under them, some with jackets already hanging, and a long wooden bench.

I pass three rooms before getting to Cici’s room called the Ladybugs. “Good morning,” Sylvia, Cici’s teacher, says to us as we stand at the door of the room. The bottom part is closed; the top part open. “How are we doing today?”

“We are in tip-top shape.” I look down at Cici. “Aren’t we, baby girl?”

“How was her night?” Sylvia asks me and I smile at her. She’s been Cici’s teacher since she was six weeks old and Lisa had to return to work. If anyone knows her better than me, it’s Sylvia. “Did she sleep?”

“Nope,” I reply, bouncing her, “we have decided that nights are overrated and we need to drink at least two bottles.” I kiss her cheek.

“Well, if you look this good after not sleeping all night, I wonder how you would look with sleep,” she jokes with me as I look down at my outfit. I don’t even remember what I’m wearing, that is how exhausted I am. My bubble-gum-pink pants go down to my ankles, a classic button-up, white cotton shirt is tucked in with the top three buttons opened. I don’t even know if the nude high-heeled sandals go with the outfit but that’s what I’m working with.

“Go see Sylvia and I’ll be back to get you,” I tell my niece as Sylvia opens her arms for Cici, who lays her head on my shoulder, not ready to let me go. I place my head down on hers for a second. “Are we extra cuddly this morning?”

“I have some fruit,” Sylvia bribes, “you want some berries?” She claps her hands and Cici leans out of my arms and into Sylvia.

“Good to know she’ll drop me for berries.” I laugh. “Here is her bag.” I place the bag on the door. “Call me if anything comes up,” I say and then put my hand to my mouth and blow her a kiss. “Love you.”

“Blow a kiss to Auntie,” Sylvia urges and Cici smiles her gummy smile at me and blows me a kiss. “What a good girl.” She kisses her cheek and quickly turns away. I watch for a few seconds before turning and walking back toward the door. I have my head down as I walk out, obviously not paying attention to where I’m going when I run into someone. His musky smell hits me right away. Looking up, I see the same man who held the door open for me.

“I’m so sorry.” I embarrassedly laugh at myself. “I was on the moon.”

“No worries.” His voice comes out gruff as I look up into his brown eyes. He holds out his hand for me to walk in front of him.

“Thank you,” I tell him as I walk, trying not to look over my shoulder to see if he’s checking me out. I push open the door, holding it for him with my left hand. My ring is hitting the sun at the same time as I look at the man, who is right behind me.

“Thank you,” he says to me and I just nod at him, feeling really guilty for even talking to him.

I get in my car, ignoring that I feel guilty and chalking it up to me being exhausted.

It’s just been a really weird couple of days. Moving Cici’s things into my home for good. Then Levi coming home and us starting to live together in my space. Him waking with me last night, and then him crawling into bed with me. It was dumb, we’ve been friends for a long time. We’ve even slept in the same bed once when we were drunk on vacation. But that is only because neither of us could get up without falling over, so sleeping next to each other seemed like the safest thing to do. I was chalking it up to being sleep deprived for feeling so out of whack. Even this morning when he came upstairs with a coffee for me while I was in the bathroom. Grabbing Cici from me so I could get dressed and then walking out of the closet wearing a suit. The fact that our clothes are now mixed with each other’s is again throwing me off. It has been a very unsettling couple of days. I need a good night’s rest and I will be back to normal.

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