“I’m sorry, Hayden. I’d asked for two beds. I can call down to reception…” I started babbling, something I did when I was nervous. Despite it still being light outside, today had been full-on and emotionally draining. Between my desperate need for Marianne’s approval and not wanting her to hate me, the bombshell that I was still reeling from about Cassidy’s foster brother that I still hadn’t even had a chance to tell Hayden about, and the early morning flight, I was fucked.
“Skye?”
“Yeah?” I asked, the hotel room phone in hand.
“Shut up. Lay down and go to sleep,” Hayden instructed as he kicked off his shoes and flopped back on the bed. “Besides, you’re crazy if you think I’m letting you sleep across the room from me anyway.”
I didn’t even get a chance to respond before Hayden’s bear-like snores filled the room. Poor guy was rat shit exhausted.
I stood there staring at the fresh towels piled on the counter, debating a shower or a nap. As much as I wanted a shower, my eyes were already falling closed. Toeing off my shoes, I laid down beside Hayden, spread the blanket over us and passed out
Thank God I’d set an alarm.
We were both dead to the world, when the alarm started blaring, waking us up rudely. Beside me, Hayden rolled over with a groan, throwing his arm across my waist and tugging me against him.
“What’s that noise?” he grumbled sleepily.
“We’ve gotta get up and get ready for dinner,” I reminded him.
“Need sleep.”
Feeling guilty for waking him when he was obviously so tired, I let him doze and slipped out of his arms and headed in for a hot shower. Once I was almost ready to go, I chased him out of bed and got him moving.
Thankfully dinner was uneventful. The food was amazing and this time, we stuck to safer topics.
While Hayden nursed Cassie, I helped Marianne in the kitchen with the cleanup.
With a tea towel in hand, I was drying the dishes when Marianne turned towards me and handed me the salad bowl.
“I wanted to talk to you, Skye,” she began and my heart sank.
It’d been too good to be true. I should’ve known she was only being polite and now she’d had time to think about it, she’d realized what a horrible person I was and was about to tell me exactly what she thought.
“O-okay,” I replied nervously, concentrating on the bowl in my hands, grateful it wasn’t glass the way I was squeezing it.
Ignoring my panic, Marianne continued, her hands buried in the suds filled sink. “I wanted to say thank you to you.”
“Thank you?” Wow! I have to admit I wasn’t expecting that.
“For what you did for Kellie.”
“Oh.”
“You can’t imagine how grateful I was that you were there for her when I wasn’t.”
“You didn’t know…” I reminded her. The last thing Marianne needed to do was to beat herself up because she wasn’t there when she didn’t even know Kellie needed her.
“And that’s another thing I need to thank you for. Convincing her to call me. Convincing her to come home. I’d never judge her for her life choices. I might not always agree with them but I’ll always support her.”
“I know that, Marianne. And so did Kellie. She was just overwhelmed,” I offered as she handed me a platter.
“I’m just glad they’re both safe and home and where they belong.”
“Me too,” I agreed. “And I’m really sorry for Hayden.”
Dropping the cup she was washing in the water, bubbles splashed up all over her. “Sorry? For Hayden? I don’t understand.” Marianne turned to me, taking the tea towel from me and drying her hands.
To say it was intimidating when she focused all her attention on me was an understatement. “Skye, sit down,” she instructed, pulling out a chair before dropping into another one. Not keen on encountering her wrath, I did as she asked without question. “Right. Now you need to listen to me, Skye and listen good. I don’t want to hear your apologies...” I swallowed deeply. “Because you have nothing to apologize for. I don’t believe for a second you or Hayden went into this deliberately and I don’t think anything was happening before…”
