Chapter 26: A Sunny Day in the Middle of Chaos - part 2

I walked to the edge of the pool and held out a towel.

“Come here, my favorite little drama queen. Let’s dry that eye before you turn into a blind mermaid.”

She climbed out and flopped into my lap, hugging me tightly. Her wet head rested against my shoulder.

“I miss Daddy,” she whispered.

My throat clenched.

“He’ll be back soon. And until then, we’re here together, remember what you told me?”

“That you’d stay with me forever?”

I smiled and hugged her tighter.

“Exactly.”

She gave me a sloppy kiss on the cheek and ran back to the pool, yelling that she was going to splash Adam again.

“I literally can’t handle how adorable they are,” Brenda said, slipping her sunglasses back on. “If you don’t marry Abraham, I will.”

“Shut up,” I said, but laughed with her.

After that convo, we decided to stop talking altogether—for a bit. Because if we kept going down the “you’re totally in love” road, I was going to end up crying by the pool and permanently scarring the children.

“Wanna play spy?” Abby yelled, suddenly wearing a pair of oversized sunglasses she clearly stole from her dad’s closet.

“Only if I’m the boss!” Adam ran off with a towel around his neck like a cape.

“Or we could play the silent game for five minutes,” I muttered to Brenda with a tired look.

“You chose to be a nanny, now deal with it,” she smirked, already getting up to chase after them.

The rest of the afternoon passed in that kind of perfect chaos: water fights, stolen popcorn, failed attempts to enforce rules. Brenda, of course, won the kids over instantly and was already being called “Auntie Brebre”—a nickname she’d probably never shake off.

By the end of the day, after sunshine, heat, and way too much energy spent, the kids were half-asleep on the couch, damp hair and heavy eyes. Brenda gave me the look—the one that said she knew exactly what needed to happen.

“Movie night with popcorn and pillows?”

“Movie night with popcorn and pillows!”

We transitioned from pool to living room like it was a NASA mission—blankets, pillows, a giant popcorn bowl with more butter than any nutritionist would approve of, juice boxes, a Disney movie playlist. Boom. Battle station complete.

“Whoever falls asleep first loses,” Abby declared, already sounding like sleep was creeping in.

“I never lose,” Adam said, chin up. The same Adam who, thirty minutes later, was snoring in Brenda’s lap.

That’s when I noticed—

The house was quiet.

Brenda looked at me with a knowing smile, her fingers running through Adam’s hair.

“Let’s put them to bed. We both need showers, and you need comfy clothes,” she said with a wink. “Or a sexy nightgown… y’know, in case the hot homeowner shows up out of nowhere and decides to bend you over in the hallway.”

I rolled my eyes, laughing.

“Thanks for the mental image. Now I need therapy.”

I carried Adam, she carried Abby. We tucked them in, both knocked out like little angels. Then I got her set up in the guest room with everything she needed and told her to make herself at home.

Finally, I padded barefoot to my own room… heart a little tight.

Abraham still wasn’t back.

No word.

No message.

No smoke in the sky.

Nothing.

I brushed my teeth, washed the chlorine off with that fancy soap that smelled like a five-star hotel, and finally slipped into my favorite black nightgown—comfy, simple, decent… with a very minor cleavage detail. Whatever. I was home. Kinda. Not leaving until morning. The kids wouldn’t see me like this.

I flopped onto the bed, pulled the blanket over my legs, and rested my phone on my chest. Sighed. Closed my eyes.

Of course, peace lasted a whole three seconds.

My phone buzzed.

I blindly reached for it without opening my eyes. Probably Brenda, asking if she could eat the rest of the chocolate in the fridge.

Without thinking, I answered.

— “Whaaaat?” I mumbled, still half-asleep.

— “You answered without even checking who it was?”

The voice. That voice.

My soul left my body.

My eyes flew open so fast I nearly gave myself whiplash.

The phone screen lit up my face and there he was.

The skull balaclava.