Lucky Stars by Christi Whitson

Author:Christi Whitson [Whitson, Christi]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-09-04T23:00:00+00:00

Fifteen

Gemma

As soon as I was through my front door, I practically sprinted down the hall to my bedroom to change out of my dress. I threw on a pair of yoga pants and a sweatshirt before trying to repair my hair and makeup a little. Not that it would matter. Miranda would probably take one look at me and know I’d gotten laid. Though she might not know it happened twice.

Oh well. That wasn’t important right now.

I knew Hayden had probably assumed the whole ‘emergency text’ thing had been an excuse to split early, but that hadn’t been the case. Miranda’s text had said Hallie was having a very hard morning and wanted to go home. I wasn’t sure if that meant something had triggered a meltdown or if she was simply missing home, but I hadn’t been able to call her in front of Hayden. I would have to tell him about Hallie at some point, but today wasn’t the day for that conversation.

Thankfully, Miranda lived just a few minutes away, and I cringed as I hurried up the front steps. I could hear Hallie crying from outside, so I let myself in without knocking. My sweet girl was sitting in the middle of Miranda’s living room, hugging her knees to her chest as she cried. I moved right into her line of sight and smiled at her, relieved when I saw her watery gaze focus on me. It wasn’t a full-on meltdown, but something had certainly upset her.

“Hey, sweetie. Mama’s here,” I said softly, quelling the urge to stroke her hair. Without knowing what had set her off, I couldn’t be sure touching her wouldn’t make matters worse. “Take some deep breaths for me, okay? Can we say our stars together? Leo, Cygnus, Pisces, Orion…”

Hallie quieted little by little, and eventually she was able to name a few constellations in between sniffles. I held my arms out to her, letting her decide whether or not she wanted to be touched, and I breathed a little easier when she unfurled her little body and came to rest her chin on my shoulder. Miranda was watching me with a sorrowful expression, and Kinley’s eyes were shining with tears as well, her face half hidden against her mother’s neck.

“I’m sorry you had to come so early,” Miranda apologized, but I shook my head dismissively. Hallie had calmed down enough that she didn’t fuss when I stood up and moved to the couch, settling her on my lap.

“No, I’m glad you texted. How long was she like that?”

“Maybe a half an hour. I waited ten minutes or so to text you, but I couldn’t get through to her. Something was wrong with her breakfast, but she couldn’t seem to explain what it was. We tried a few things, giving her a new plate, new food… even Kinley couldn’t figure it out.”

I glanced again at Kinley, who was uncharacteristically silent, her brown eyes wide and observant. She didn’t return my smile.

“I bet if it had happened at lunchtime, you would’ve been right on top of it.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.