“Not really,” I shook my head.
“You did something you believed in and helped people.” He turned on the bed so he faced me and moved closer to me. “You don’t need to hide that from me, okay? I mean, if this is who you are, what you’re passionate about then… Good. I support you, one hundred percent.”
“I don’t think this is something I want to do,” I said. “It was a onetime fluke thing. But thank you for supporting me, I guess.”
“Anytime.” He smiled and looked at me intently. “I love you, Alice. And if you can forgive me for reacting poorly the other night, do you still wanna spend forever with me?”
I smiled back at him but I didn’t get a chance to answer. Peter knocked on the open bedroom door. Hanging onto the doorframe, he leaned into the bedroom.
“Sorry to interrupt, but Mae is freaking out,” Peter said, but the smirk at the edge of his mouth led me to believe he wasn’t sorry. “She says she can’t find some sheets her mother gave her or something, and since Alice has been taking care of the laundry, Mae really wants to see you.”
“Alice!” Mae shouted from downstairs, emphasizing his point.
“Tell her I’ll be down in a minute.” I sighed and got out of bed.
Peter lingered in the doorway for a moment as I grabbed a pair of jeans off the bedroom floor. I’d only worn a tank top and underwear to bed, but they were full-on panties that covered everything.
“Peter, why don’t you go let Mae know?” Jack suggested, not unkindly, and Peter took the cue and disappeared downstairs.
“Sorry,” I told him as I slid on my pants. “I mean, that we didn’t get to talk.”
“No, it’s no big deal.” He waved it off. “We’ve got time, right?”
“Yeah,” I smiled.
By the time I made it downstairs, Mae had completely torn through the linen closet in the hall. She’d gone over to Olivia’s to get everything straightened out with Rebekah, and afterwards, she came over here with Daisy and Peter to start packing.
They were leaving tomorrow for Greenland, but they’d left most of their belongings in Australia because they’d been forced to leave in such a hurry. Mae had gone on several shopping trips lately, but she still had things she wanted to get from the house before she left.
“Alice!” Mae yelled again, tearing an old quilt from the closet.
“I’m right here, Mae,” I said walking up to her.
“Oh. Sorry, love.” She pushed a curl back from her face and smiled at me. “I’ve just been so frazzled with all of this.”
“It’s alright. What did you need?”
“This blanket my mother gave me. It had roses on it.” She held up the quilt, which did not have roses on it. “Have you seen it?”
“No, I don’t think so,” I shook my head. “Didn’t you take with you to Australia?”
“No.” She put her hands on her hips and sighed. “I don’t think I could find it then.”
“Are you sure it’s even here? I mean, maybe you left it the last time you moved,” I said.
“I thought for sure it was here.” She shrugged helplessly, staring into the closet.
“Well, just make sure you pick up your mess when you’re done,” I teased, since she’d said that same thing to me a dozen times before. She shot me a look as I walked away, and it made me laugh.
I left her to finish sorting through what few undisturbed linens we had in the house and went to the living room. Milo had set up a game of Candyland on the floor, and he sat cross-legged across from Daisy.
“How’s it going?” I asked, crossing my arms over my chest.
“Great.” Milo shrugged.
“Where’s Bobby?” I asked.
“I sent him away.” Milo motioned to Daisy, who seemed more interested in making the colored pawns dance with each other than playing the game. “I think Ezra and Peter are working on getting money transferred for them to leave and all that.”
“How does Ezra feel about them leaving?” I lowered my voice, and Milo shrugged.
“These dolls aren’t as much fun as my real dolls,” Daisy sighed. She spun around the blue pawn and stuck out her bottom lip. “I wish Mae would let me take them out.”
“You’re getting ready to move,” Milo said, doing his best to sound cheerful. “Remember, Daisy? Mae talked to you about all the work you had to do.”
“I’m sick of moving.” Daisy spun the pawn harder, and it went flying under a nearby chair. Her face crumpled, like she might start sobbing over a missing pawn.
“I’ll get it. Don’t worry,” Milo rushed to appease her. He crawled over to the chair and reached underneath it, feeling around for the pawn.
“He’ll get it, Daisy,” I said and put my hand on her back, and her lip quivered. “It’s okay. You don’t need to get upset.”