On the drive home, I get a call from the security gate at the mansion.
“There is a young woman here who insists she knows you,” he informs me.
“Who?” I ask, confused.
“Izabel?”
“From California!” I hear her shouting in the background. “Your best friend, in case you forgot!”
The guard sighs. “Do you know her?”
I giggle. “Yes, I know her very well.”
“Can we let her in?”
“Yes, and tell her I’m two minutes away,” I say excitedly.
A surprise visit from my best friend is exactly what I hadn't known I needed!
I haven’t even stepped through the door to the mansion when she bowls me over with the biggest hug ever.
“Dude, did you forget I existed? You don’t call, you don’t text,” she complains dramatically.
I laugh and pull her in for another hug. “I missed you so much!” I declare, squeezing her tightly.
“Where are my sweetie pie muffin twins?” she asks, stepping back. “Wow, is this how you go to work now? Are you beating men off with a stick or what, because you look freaking gorgeous.”
“Funny, this is the same stuff I wore in California,” I laugh.
Stella comes down with both girls already bathed and in their pajamas.
“Mama! Lizard!!!” They shout her nickname ten times louder than mine when they realize who it is. She earned this nickname a few years ago, when the girls started talking. I would call her Izz or Izzie. But once Kira discovered this amazing creature that looked like a miniature dragon, and at the same time realized how close Izzie was to a lizard…well, that was the end of it.
Both of them bowl into her, and she sits down on the floor to pull them onto her lap and hug them.
“My munchkins!” she exclaims happily. “Man, I missed you guys so much!”
“They're already in their PJs?” I ask Stella.
“We’re having a popcorn and movie night in a tent me made over the bed,” She smiles.
“Oh wow, that sounds amazing,” I say, hugging each of the twins.
“So, does that mean I can steal you for a cocktail?” Izabel says, raising her brows in hope.
“Actually, yes, if Stella is available to stay with the girls?” I ask Stella.
“Of course, go enjoy yourself.”
“I’m going to shoot upstairs to change, then we can go,” I grin, excited for a little time away from everything and to catch up with my best friend.
I come back down fifteen minutes later, wearing a pair of tight jeans and my comfortable sneakers, to find Izzie sitting on the sofa with the girls on her lap, telling them stories about California. Particularly about the ducks we used to visit at the local park.
“Do you think they miss us?” Kelsey asks.
“Imiss you!” Izzie says.
Stella comes through after me and calls to the girls, hyping them up, “It’s movie time!”
