63
Iwoke early the next morning before Amaya had so much as opened her eyes. She was sleeping restlessly, having been up and down in the night, ill with the baby. I had gotten up a few times with her, but she had waved me away and insisted I go back to bed.
“One of us should be rested for tomorrow,” she told me, bleary and clutching her stomach. I shrugged, happy to go back to bed, the tiredness weighing heavy on my system.
I leaned over and planted a kiss on her temple, being sure not to wake her up, and slipped out of bed. I went through the apartment to check on Jolene. I didn’t want her sitting there feeling like she was intruding on anything, but when I stuck my head into her room, she was sleeping soundly with her back to the door, her chest rising and falling slowly and peacefully. I decided to leave her to catch up on some sleep and slid into a long, hot shower. It had been a hell of a day yesterday, and I wanted nothing more than to spend the next few hours getting used to having a new person in our lives. Plus, maybe a little bit of celebration that Jolene was finally with us as a proper family too.
I was about to head over to the kitchen when I heard a snuffle from the couch, and my eyebrows shot up as I realized Cleo was sleeping on the couch. I made my way around the large, luxurious sofa, and sure enough, there was my sister, flat out and snoring quietly where she lay. I stared at her for a long moment and then shook her shoulder.
“Cleo,” I spoke firmly. “Cleo, wake up.”
A moment later, her eyes fluttered open, and she blinked a couple of times before she pushed herself upright. Her makeup from the night before was a little smudged, and she was still wearing the jeans and the sweater she had been in when she’d arrived yesterday.
“I don’t remember you asking if you could stay over,” I teased. “Have a good night, did you?”
“Yeah, I really did.” She nodded, cocking her head up at me as though challenging me to take her up on it. She stretched and yawned and went to lay back down again, but I shook my head at her.
“You really think you’re getting away that easily?” I asked. “I’m making a big breakfast. I could use some help.”
“Oh god,” she groaned. “Really? I just want to get some sleep.”
“Then you should have done a better job hiding out somewhere that wasn’t my living room,” I pointed out. She held her hands up.
“Fair point.” She dragged herself to her feet. “Do I at least get a little time to wash up first?”
“Yup.” I gestured to the bathroom. “I’m not having you in my kitchen looking like that.”
“Careful, or I might not end up so good-natured about it,” she warned. I chuckled.
“If this is you good-natured, I’d hate to see what’s a bad mood,” I called after her. She waved her hand at me as she went to wash up, and I turned my attention to breakfast. I had to start by clearing away the food we’d laid out the night before. Jolene had loved trying all the fancy gourmet stuff, but I knew what everyone needed was a serious dose of grease and carbs and fat to get them through the day.
Cleo and I took a walk down to the local grocery store to pick up eggs and bacon and bread, and she shook her head at me as we packed it up.
“You know Nonna would kill you for making such an American breakfast, right?” she teased me.
“Honestly, you slap her coffee on the side of anything, and I think she’d be happy pretending it was traditional,” I pointed out, and Cleo nodded.
“Pretty much,” she agreed. We headed back up to the house to start putting the food together. There was a question hanging in the air between us, one I hadn’t wanted to come out and ask but that needed speaking.
“So, why did you crash over here last night?” I wondered aloud. “That’s not really like you.”
“No, I know.” She shook her head as she greased the bottom of a pan with some oil. “But the night just kept going on and I—”
“Amaya and I were in bed by ten,” I reminded her. “So was Jolene. And we put Nonna in the car home just before that.”
“So?”
“So, it was just you and Darla in here all by yourselves,” I remarked, cocking an eyebrow at her. “Something I should know about there?”
“Nothing you should know about,” she replied, playing at prim, and I laughed.
“I’m going to get it out of you one way or another, you know that, right?” I told her, and she tapped the side of her nose.
“Good luck with that,” she replied, and I gave her a quick, one-armed hug as I went to start cracking the eggs into the pan.
“I’m glad you’ve found someone you like,” I told her. “Darla seems fun. Plus, you’ll have a date for the wedding.”
“She’s already invited, right? Can you just make her the maid of honor so I have an excuse to make out with her?”