“You can’t be serious,” I argued with Sayer.
He was unapologetic. Even though it sounded like hewas pouring himself a bowl of cereal. “I’m paying for this, Six. You bettermake it good.”
I dropped my head back and ground my teeth together infrustration. Fine, if he wanted to play games, we would play games. Only on myterms. Using the raspy-ness in my voice to my advantage, I dropped my volumeand turned up the sex appeal. “Rise and shine, sleepyhead. It’s 7:07 on thisgorgeous Wednesday morning. We’re expecting sunshine and temps in themid-sixties today. Should be perfect weather for whatever evil deeds you haveplanned.” I was all breathy and tempting sexpot when I finished with, “Now it’stime for me to get dressed, so I’m going to hang up the phone, but if you needanything else, go ahead and bother someone else.”
Quickly pushing end with a trembling finger, I tossedthe phone to the other side of my bed and crushed Juliet against me. My entirebody was shaking and it took everything in me not to start crying.
I couldn’t keep doing that every morning. Was heinsane? Had prison made him crazy?
“Who was that, Mommy?” Juliet’s voice was muffledbecause of how tightly I was hugging her.
I relinquished some of my hold and took herrosy-cheeked face in my hands. Her bright blue eyes were soft with sleep andher dark hair curled around a face that was a perfect mix of her father and me.“No one,” I whispered, trying to hide the emotion still lingering in my throat.“Just someone at the resort that needed help waking up.”
She yawned wide and flopped back against me. “I needhelp waking up too.”
My heart swelled, despite the trauma of having Sayerback in town. I knew I deserved his torment. I had been waiting for it for along time. But what he would never understand was that it was worth it.
This daughter of mine was worth it.
I had promised Sayer my forever. I had sworn to neverleave him, to always wait for him, to make it work for us no matter what. And Ihad meant everything I said. Juliet was the only thing on the planet that couldhave made me break those promises. She was the only thing worth destroyingeverything I had with Sayer and my old life.
And she would always be worth it.
“You do need help waking up,” I whispered into herhair. “How about we try a banana to start with? Do you think that would help?”
“I think a donut would help better,” she suggested,sounding so sincere I couldn’t help but laugh.
“Oh, really? You need a donut this morning to getmoving?”
She dropped her head back, blinking up at me. “Well,it couldn’t hurt.”
I threw my arms around her again and laughed harder.Where had she come up with that? I blamed Francesca. Like usual.
“You’re right. It probably couldn’t.” She was so tiny,so fragile, so… perfectly sheltered from this awful world. I didn’t know how Iwas going to save her this time. I didn’t know how I was going to get her outof this mess I’d created. Only that I was. I wouldn’t let her get wrapped up inmy sins. I wouldn’t let the poison of my past taint her childhood—or any partof her life. We were going to get through this. I was determined. Even if thatmeant becoming the criminal I left behind. Even if that meant dredging up oldghosts I had meant to keep buried.
Even if that meant leaving Sayer one more time.
“Okay, how about this. If you brush your teeth untilthey sparkle—I mean, do a really good job—we’ll make time to grab a donutbefore school. You good with that?”
She nodded enthusiastically. “Yes!”
I kissed her forehead, unable to let her go just yet.“Love you, sweet Juliet.”
She kissed my chin. “Love you too, sweet Caroline.”Then she turned around and threw her hands in the air, singing loudly, “Bah,bah,baaaaah!” before running off to brush her teethand get dressed.
“Worth it,” I whispered again. “So, worth it.”
An hour later, I walked into Maggie’s on the Mountainwith a dozen donuts in one hand and two coffees in the other. Maggie stoodbehind the counter sorting newly arrived keycards and filling out theircorresponding paperwork.
“You’re an angel of mercy.” Maggie sighed when Iopened the box of donuts.
I set her large latte down in front of her. “There’san extra shot in there just for you.” I opened the box of donuts. “And an applefritter.”
Her eyes narrowed. “What did you do wrong?”
“What?” Avoiding her scrutiny, I got busy hanging upmy jacket and stashing my purse in the file cabinet. “I had some extra timethis morning. I thought I would be nice.”
“You never have extra time in the morning,” shereminded me bluntly. “Are you quitting? Did someone else offer you a betterjob? Because it might pay more, Caroline, but not everything is about money,you know.”
