“No, Chelsea!” I quickly reach for her hand, pushing it out of the way. Kissing her chubby cheek, I say, “You are a real handful. Did you know that?” Babysitting Avery’s baby girl has exhausted me today, physically as well as mentally. I’m fairly sure I just saved myself from the wrath of her father. She was about to knock a glass of water off the table; I can imagine what Tyler would have to say about that if he knew. The man has become completely too much since the birth of his precious daughter. Any little incident becomes a huge thing he needs to know about.
“Well, look at you,” Paris says when she enters the lounge room. “Auntie Callie practicing for when she becomes a mummy.”
I shake my head. “God, no. That is not happening anytime soon. I don’t have the energy for this job.”
She laughs and sits next to us on the couch. Reaching her arms out, she says, “Come here, baby girl.”
Chelsea grins and flaps her arms in the air. These two adore each other.
After I hand Chelsea over, I stand. “I’ll be back.”
Paris frowns at me. “Where are you going? I just got here. I’ve got shit to tell you.”
I hold my finger up. “One minute. I promise I’ll be back.” Without waiting for her response, I head out of the lounge room in search of Luke.
My husband is in the office and glances up from the paperwork he’s been doing for the last couple of hours. Throwing his pen down, he leans back in his chair and says, “Thank fuck. I need a break.”
I nod in the direction of the lounge room. “Paris is home.”
Pushing his chair back, he stands and comes to me. “You’ve got it?”
“It’s in the kitchen. I’ll grab it and meet you there.”
I collect the envelope from the kitchen and make my way back to the lounge room where Luke is now holding Chelsea. I slow my pace. “And people don’t think you’re a pushover,” I say softly. “They haven’t met Uncle Luke.”
His gaze meets mine. “They also haven’t met my wife. That woman has a way of getting me to agree to all sorts of things.”
I move to him. “There are still some things you refuse to budge on. We should work on that.”
He drops his lips to mine and kisses me.
Luke’s kisses are still my favourite thing in the world.
“Right you two,” Paris interrupts. “I’ve got something to discuss with you both.”
I drag my mouth from Luke’s and smile at her. “We’ve got something to discuss with you, too.”
Luke and I settle on the couch. Chelsea happily bounces in his arms while he speaks. “We’re going first,” he starts. “The last few years have been tough and I couldn’t have done them without you, Paris. You’ve been there every step of the way while I worked through everything and you put up with a lot of shit from me—”
“You weren’t too bad,” she says, her eyes soft with affection.
He nods, “Yes, I was. You took on so much around here, and I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to find a way that expresses my gratitude.”
I hold out the envelope to her. “We hope this is a start.”
She frowns as she takes the envelope from me. “What is this?”
“Open it,” Luke bosses her and I lean against him. We’ve been talking about doing this for a few months now and I’m excited for it to finally happen.
Her hand flies to her mouth when she sees what’s in the envelope and her eyes widen in surprise. Looking up at us, she exclaims, “Oh, my God! You guys shouldn’t have.”
“Yeah, we should have,” Luke says and I nod in agreement. “I’m just sorry it took me so long to do. Dealing with Jolene’s appeal and Alanis’s arrest took up all my time, but I really should have made the effort before now.”
“Oh, did you see the news today?” Paris asks. “Apparently Alanis has admitted to the murder.”
Luke shakes his head. “No, I haven’t heard that, but thank fuck.” I watch as he takes that knowledge in. I know this has been weighing on his mind.
“I wonder why she did it,” I murmur.
Paris shrugs. “We’ll probably never know. She’s a psycho bitch?”
I nod. “That’s the truth.” I always knew she was a bitch; I just didn’t realise she was crazy, too.
She looks down at the envelope with her travel documents in it. “An all-expenses-paid trip to London. It’s too much.”
Paris has talked non-stop about a trip her friends are taking in a month’s time, wishing she could afford to go. Luke and I decided to gift her the trip as a way of saying thank you for everything she’s done to help us.
“Paris, you are one of the kindest people I know. You go out of your way to do nice things for those you love. This is the least we can do for you,” I say.
“God, now I feel bad for what I am about to tell you,” she says, her eyes full of worry.