“No. She’s a phenomenal teacher actually.”
“So, she doesn’t need your help?”
“Ugh. Why must you be so good at this? I hope you never teach Henry your ways.”
I search her eyes, holding her gaze firmly. “You only get this time with Harper once. Make the most of it.”
She lets that sink in before nodding. “I know you’re right. I do. But then my brain tells me I can do better, that I should do better, that I’m letting everyone else down when I choose to spend time with Harper instead of doing all this other stuff. It’sa mess in my head and I don’t know how to stop all that noise. I feel so overwhelmed and don’t even know where to start with all the things I have to do.”
“Right now, the only thing you have to do is be a mother. And to be the best at that, you have to take care of yourself too, which means, rightnow, in this moment, you need to get your ass up to your bed and close your eyes.” When she looks like she might keep arguing with me, I say, “One thing at a time. That’s where you start. Get some sleep and then we’ll figure out the next thing.”
I’m not sure if it’s what I just said that finally gets through to her or if it’s just that she’s so fucking exhausted that she doesn’t have it in her to keep fighting me, but she finally gives in. “Okay.”
Twenty minutes later, Magan and Harper are asleep and I’m in the middle of fixing the washing machine when Sophia texts me.
Sophia
My breakfast with the girls just got cut short because Madison had to rush off to the hospital. I think Willow might have a broken arm. So, I’m free now. I know you said you were gonna mow and tidy up the garden this morning, but how do you feel about a ride? It’s been a month since I’ve been on the bike.
Me
I’d fucking love nothing more than that but I’m at Magan’s doing some stuff for her.
She switches from texts to a call. “Is Magan okay?”
“No. She asked me to fix her washing machine, but there’s a fuckload of other stuff here that she needs help with, so I’m gonna work my way through that.”
“She’s letting you help?”
“Yeah. She was too exhausted to argue with me. She and Harper are asleep now.”
“Oh, thank God you got her to let you help. She’s been fobbing me off all week. I’ll come over and help too.” She pauses. “And Griff?”
“Yeah?”
“I love you, handsome. Thank you.”
Sophia’s POV
5:30 p.m.
“He’ll be leavingwork in the next hour,” Magan says after she gets off the phone with Henry. “And he doesn’t have to go back in for five days.”
“That’s the best news of the day,” I say with a smile. “Do you want us to stay until he gets here?”
Magan shakes her head as she glances at Griff through the kitchen window. “No, I want you to take Griff home. He hasn’t stopped all day.” She eyes me again with a smile. “I have the absolute best brother-in-law a girl could ask for.”
I look at my husband who is almost finished tidying up Magan’s gardens. On top of that job, he mowed, fixed her washing machine and dishwasher, and helped me clean up her home. “Yeah, you do.” I look back at her. “Please promise me that you’ll ask for our help if you need it, honey. You don’t have to do everything yourself.”
She laughs. “You really think Griff’s gonna wait to be asked going forward? I imagine I’ll have him on my doorstep weekly so he can check for himself that I’m not in the same state I wasin this morning when he arrived. God, the poor guy. You should have seen him. He looked like he wanted to bundle me up and lock me in my bedroom for a month straight while he took over.”
“You really think he’ll only be on your doorstep once a week?” I grin.
Before I know it, I’ve got her arms around me and she’s crying again. I wrap my arms around her and hug her, giving her all the time in the world that she needs to release her emotions.
She cries for a long while before finally looking at me. “I hate that you guys didn’t get to do this.”
I wasn’t expecting that, but I should have. I should have realised that the reason why Magan wasn’t accepting the help I’ve been offering her was because of this.
