Page 25 of Billionaire Retreat

Part 3

My Happy Ending

Chapter 6

“Sadie, don’t touch that. Sadie, I’m only going to tell you one more time… do not—”

I lunged forward as she squealed in delight knowing that she beat me to the punch. The screen on my laptop went dark and I realized that hours of work were now probably gone.

I narrowed my eyes at her and shook my finger. She grabbed it and started giggling. I tried to keep my expression stern, but there was no use. Her big smile and dimpled cheeks were too much. She was adorable even when she was harassing me.

I swooped her up to tickle her. Her giggles turned into deep belly laughs. Her laughs were infectious and I found myself laughing too until I was out of breath.

I looked at her smiling face and recalled how much she smiled even as a baby. It was hard to believe that she was almost four now. Her unruly curls stuck up around her head and she looked as if she had been zapped by lightning. She hated for me to do her hair and I learned early as a mom that I needed to pick my battles so unless we were going somewhere in public, she spent her time looking like a little wild child, as my mom would say.

“Ok, Mommy has to work. Go see if Grandma is outside.”

She did as I said, which was pretty rare, and ran towards the back door that led to our modest backyard. I knew my mom was back there reading a book on the porch.

I could hear Sadie’s voice as she questioned my mom about what she was reading.

“I’m reading a book.”

“A big book?”

“Yep.”

“With dinosaurs and monsters?” I heard Sadie ask excitedly.

I’m not sure how my mom answered but apparently it tickled Sadie who began to laugh.

She was such a happy kid I thought to myself. I remembered how hard it had been in the beginning. But her sheer happiness had given me a happiness of my own. She had truly been a ray of sunshine. Instead of coming home exhausted every night from school, seeing her had energized me and motivated me, especially when times were tough and loneliness was my best friend.

I’d started going to school again when she was about three months old, studying coding and web development. Since I preferred the idea of keeping Sadie at home over sending her to a pre-school, I knew I needed a job where I could set my own work hours and have plenty of flexibility to raise her. I did some research and then dove headfirst taking classes on the weekends and evenings, even signing up for online classes.

And to my surprise, as soon as I was done I landed a job. Two years on, I moved out of my parents’ home and settled into a little rental house a few miles away.

I knew having a baby meant I had to be practical and I knew my career as an actress in small-town Georgia wouldn’t exactly help pay the bills, so I did focus on going back to school, but I never stopped acting. It was a stress reliever for me. I starred in several plays put on at the local theater. One had actually gone viral, and I’d been pretty proud. But besides working in web development, I starred in little commercials for a few bigger businesses, mostly furniture places in the area. I’d visited Atlanta a few times to do some modeling work, but not much had come from it except for a few extra thousand dollars every now and then.

I was stunned when I received a casting call from a company in L.A. After a few Skype interviews, I landed a role that would make me and Sadie comfortable for some time.

It had been a month since I’d agreed to the assignment. I was going to play the role of a confused girl in an insurance company ad. I was going alone to L.A. The assignment was only going to be for two weeks tops. I was leaving Sadie behind which was something I’d never done before. In fact, I hadn’t spent a night away from her since she was born. The mere thought made me sad, but she adored her grandparents and I knew she’d be well taken care of.

I was leaving in the morning so I’d packed her bag and decided to have a taxi pick me up instead of having Mom drive me. Her sight wasn’t as good as it used to be and she tired quickly. My dad was at some sort of convention, so he couldn’t do it. But he’d told me to Skype him as soon as I got settled at Kenny’s place.

I checked in online and then tied up a few loose ends at work. I was sending an email to a prospective client, letting her know that I’d get back to her in a few weeks. She was a long-time client so she was flexible and always willing to work with me.

As I finished up the email, I heard my mom telling Sadie to come inside. Sadie, of course, whined and tried to convince my mother to let her stay outside with the bugs, but Mom won that fight. Sadie came in pouting and I placed my hands on my hips and gave her a stern look.

“What’s with the sad face, young lady?”

She angrily said, “Granny won’t let me stay outside.”

“Well, do you want to live outside?”

“Yes.”

“Are you sure? There’s no ice cream outside. If you live outside then how are you going to get ice cream?”