Piper’s phone rang, and she had to answer it, which took the heat off me.
“Okay, okay. I’m on my way,” she said and then hung up. “Preston isn’t feeling well so I have to go get him. Sorry to run out like this.” She headed for the door, grabbing her purse and keys from the table next to the door.
“I hope he’s okay,” I said before she shut the front door.
“I’m sure he’s fine,” Natalie said, and I jumped. I’d forgotten she was there.
“Sorry for teasing you about this weekend.”
“It’s fine,” I said. “I have six siblings. My sensitivity bone never developed.” Natalie laughed as I made sure I had all my stuff and headed out the door.
When I got back to the farmhouse, I knew I needed to film a class, but rain had started to fall from the sky, so it was going to have to be inside. Amanda had let me turn another guest room into my indoor filming room as well as the place where I stored my equipment.
Deciding to work with the weather, I planned out a rainy-day flow that would lift your mood when the weather wasn’t cooperating. I hoped that the sound of the rain would get picked up on the mic and give it a lot of atmosphere.
I checked my lighting setup before I started recording. Halfway through I realized I was doing the same side twice, so I had to go back and restart, and I’d need to edit everything together, which was annoying.
By the time I finished, it was a full-on thunderstorm outside. I turned off the recording and checked my phone. Something was nagging at me, a task that felt undone. I wanted to send Piper a message asking if her son was okay, but that was definitely crossing a boundary that didn’t need to be crossed. Still, I hoped he was okay and not seriously ill.
The time had come to eat something, since I’d forgotten to do that before I filmed. I went downstairs and found Amanda putting away groceries. I rushed to help her.
“Did you have lunch?” she asked, and I had to admit that I hadn’t.
Amanda shook her head at me.
“You sit down while I make you a sandwich.”
I pulled out one of the chairs and sat down as she made me a quick turkey sandwich with tomatoes, lettuce, cheese, and avocado. Somehow this woman knew all my food preferences.
She cut the sandwich in half and pushed the plate at me before going to the fridge and pouring me a glass of lemonade and finding a bag of chips in her grocery bags and handing that to me as well.
“Thanks,” I said as she unpacked the rest of the groceries.
I tried to eat slowly so I didn’t choke, and then washed the sandwich down with some lemonade and finished it off with a few handfuls of chips.
My energy level instantly went up as the food started hitting my system.
I cleaned up and took my laptop to the living room to edit my video so I could get it to my subscribers. That took way longer than it should have, and by the time I was done, Hollis had wandered over from the barn and Ellie and Julia had come through the door. They had grim looks on their faces.
“What is it?” I asked, closing my laptop.
“We’ve got another wave of summer colds going through the daycare,” Julia said. “Just let me wash my hands and change my clothes.”
“Same,” Ellie said with a sigh as she trudged upstairs and Julia went next door to do the same.
“I’m so glad I don’t have to deal with boogers all day,” Hollis said, sitting next to me with the bag of chips I’d been munching on earlier.
I gagged.
Ellie and Julia came back in different clothing and Amanda got going on dinner.
“Small children are just resorts for germs,” Julia said, sitting on my other side. “I’m going to do my best to stay healthy, but there’s only so much we can do.”
“I should make you some juice,” I said. “I make these shots with ginger and turmeric and lemon in them.”
“That sounds disgusting, but amazing,” Julia said.
“Tell Mom to put that stuff on the grocery list,” Hollis said.
“I will,” I said. “How’s Preston doing? I know Piper had to pick him up today. I was over at her house when she got the call.”
I’d been wanting to ask the second they got here.
“Poor little guy. He was running a little bit of a fever, so we had her come get him. We sent a bunch of kids home today. It’s going to be rough tomorrow,” Julia said with a yawn.
“I hope it’s not serious,” I said, meaning Preston’s sickness.
“I’m sure he just needs some meds and some mommy cuddles and he’ll be fine,” Julia said.
I hoped so.
Chapter Five
The nagging to send a message to Piper didn’t subside. Part of me even considered sending a message to Natalie, because she would know. Since I knew I was going to see her on Saturday, it seemed foolish to ask on Friday.
“What are you going to wear?” Julia asked me as we hung out at the barn on Saturday before going over to Paige and Esme’s.
I looked down at my tank and shorts.
“This?” I said. What else would I wear?
“Oh,” Julia said, her face falling before she arranged it in a smile.
“Oh no, don’t you do it to her, too,” Hollis said, looking up from playing on the floor with Lucky.
“What do you mean?” I asked, worried to know the answer.
“My first few dates with Julia, everyone came over to choose my outfits,” Hollis said, rolling her eyes.
“What?” I asked.
“Oh, it was a whole thing. They’d lay out the options and vote and pretty much ignored me. They had their hearts in the right place, but it was seriously annoying,” Hollis said, laughing.
“But it worked out in the end, didn’t it?” Julia said, leaning down to kiss Hollis from her standing position. It was one of the only times when Julia would be taller than Hollis.
“I mean, it did, so I’m not complaining about it. Much,” Hollis said.
“So, are you telling me I shouldn’t wear this?” I asked, pulling at my shirt.
“I’m not saying don’t wear that, but you might want to wear something else?” Julia said.
“Have you seen my clothes?” I asked. “This is pretty much all I own.” And as much as I loved Julia, we were not the same size.
“You don’t have any non-yoga clothes?” she asked.
I thought about that. “Oh, maybe. I might have a few things at the bottom of a bag in the car.”
“First, we need to go shopping, and second, go get it. Let’s see what you’re working with.”
She was trying to older sister me, and it would be silly to fight it, so I just went to the car and got the bag.
Julia pawed through it, pulling random things out and laying them out on the couch.
“Oh, this is pretty,” Julia said, pulling out a very wrinkled dress. It was long and loose, and made of a thin silk-like fabric in watery shades of blue and gray. I didn’t remember when or why I’d bought it. Something told me that River might have purchased it and snuck it in my bag the last time we’d seen each other. That was exactly something she might have done.