“Mommy, is it morning time?”
Lorelei’s heart sank as she looked up to see Lucy peeking through the bars of the banister. She’d been awakened, after all. Because of Mark, Lorelei wasn’t going to get the chance to sleep any more this morning.
She wanted to tell her daughter to go back to bed, but she knew that wouldn’t be easy for Lucy, who was wide-awake and ready for the day.
“Yes, it’s morning,” she said with a sigh. “Are you hungry?”
Lucy clung tightly to the railing as she started down. “Yes. Can I have eggs?”
“You bet.” Lorelei waited for her daughter to reach the bottom of the stairs before leading her into the kitchen. She assumed her sisters would both go back to bed. They were tired, too. But Reagan joined her and put on a pot of coffee.
“You’re not going to get some sleep?” Lorelei asked.
“I’ll hang out with you,” she replied. “Or why don’t you grab a few more hours? I’ll make Lucy’s eggs. Having breakfast together will give us a chance to get to know each other better, won’t it, Lucy?”
“I want them sunny-side up,” Lucy said.
Reagan cringed. “What about some good old-fashioned scrambled eggs? I don’t think I could go wrong with those.”
Lorelei chuckled. It was obvious that Reagan had never had kids. “She likes them with a soft yolk and a piece of toast for dipping.”
Reagan wrinkled her nose as if she didn’t quite know where to start. “I’m not much of a cook. But I should be able to manage that. Or a bowl of cold cereal. Or a bagel.”
“It’s okay. I’ll do it,” Lorelei said. But after she slid the eggs onto Lucy’s plate, Reagan prevailed on her to go back to bed.
“I’ve got it now,” she said. “Once I’m awake, I can’t go back to sleep, anyway. So Lucy and I will play a game. Everything will be fine. Go! Sleep!”
Lorelei walked toward the stairs, but before she got there, she doubled back to give Reagan an impulsive hug for her thoughtfulness. “Thank you.”
“That’s what sisters are for,” Reagan said with a smile.
* * *
reagan
“Aunt Reagan?”
Reagan’s stomach was a ball of nerves, and she had a tinny taste in her mouth from having drunk too much coffee without eating. She’d just finished typing her resignation, had been staring at her computer screen for the last five minutes, trying to work up the nerve to send it. But the impatience in Lucy’s voice told her this wasn’t the first time the little girl had tried to get her attention.
“What?” She spoke mildly, despite the angst inside her. She had too many memories of her mother responding in a harsh, irritated voice when she’d been interrupted to want to perpetuate that behavior with another child.
Lorelei’s daughter held up a sheet of the paper Reagan had given her. “Do you like it?”
After rubbing her eyes to help ease her tiredness, Reagan made a show of studying the picture Lucy had drawn with some colored markers Reagan had found in a kitchen “catch-all” drawer. “I love it,” she said. “It’s very pretty. What is it?”
“It’s you!” She sounded slightly offended that Reagan couldn’t immediately see the likeness.
“Oh, right,” Reagan said. “Of course. The big head. The pointy nose. The purple mouth.” She noted the stick figure body Lucy had given her. “At least you made me skinny.”
“Yeah,” Lucy said as if she understood what that meant and had done it intentionally.
“Who are you going to draw next? Aunt Serenity?” Reagan imagined posting their humbling portraits on the fridge so they could joke about them throughout the summer.
Lucy pushed the picture of Reagan out of the way so she could start on her next masterpiece. “No, Mommy.”
Resting her chin on her fist, Reagan watched as Lucy drew another giant circle for the head. “Hmm. I get the feeling Mommy and I will look a lot alike.”
“Yeah,” she said again, without glancing up.
“What’s that?” Reagan pointed at some squiggly lines around Lorelei’s mouth. It appeared as though Lucy was giving Lorelei a beard.
“That’s ice cream,” Lucy explained.
Reagan hid a smile. The fact that she could feel like cracking up at this particular moment surprised her. She’d been on the verge of tears a few seconds ago. But this little girl’s innocence and honesty, and her wide-open heart, were endearing.
“Hey, how are you two doing?”
Reagan twisted around. Lorelei had entered the kitchen in a robe.
“Great. Look what Lucy’s drawn.”
“I like it,” she said.
“That’s me,” Reagan pointed out.
Lorelei paused at the table to take a closer look. “Of course. I recognized you instantly.”
When Lorelei managed to keep a straight face, Reagan arched her eyebrows. “Oh, yeah? Well, this is you. You have ice cream on your face.”
They exchanged a grin. Then Lorelei kissed her daughter’s head and moved to the counter to pour herself a cup of coffee. “Where’s Serenity?”
“Still sleeping, I guess. We haven’t heard from her.”
“I don’t blame her. I was out in seconds, could’ve slept all day.”
“Then you should’ve stayed in bed. We were doing okay down here.”
“I didn’t want to strand you for too long. Not when you were doing such a nice thing.” She used the cup in her hand to indicate the computer. “What have you been doing while Lucy draws? Getting caught up on work?”
Just being reminded of her resignation made Reagan’s stomach churn again. “Not exactly.” She angled her computer so Lorelei could read the subject line.
“Oh. I see.” Suddenly very serious, she sat down next to Reagan. “How are you feeling about it?”
She felt like shit, but she didn’t say so. How could she complain to Lorelei? “It is what it is.”
Lorelei leaned closer to the computer, reading. “You’re not sending it to Drew? I thought he was your boss.”
“He is, in a way. He’s one of the four partners, but he’s not the managing partner. I’m afraid he’d just kick it back to me, refuse to accept it or use it as an excuse to get me involved with him again. I need to send it to Gary in order to put a quick end to...to everything.”