The Prince's Devious Proposal - Holly Rayner Page 0,52

so tall, and so close together. Even though Naomi had grown up in a big city, she still found New York intimidating.

The plane landed. Naomi grabbed her bag and disembarked, hurrying through the airport to baggage claim. She saw Sarah when she was still several yards away, standing beside the luggage carousel, and hurried to her sister’s side.

Sarah embraced her. “It’s good to see you,” she said. “How was the flight?”

“Great. Boring.” Naomi looked around. “Are the kids here?”

“Home with Harry,” Sarah said.

“Neither of you had to work today?”

“When we heard you were coming, we took the week off.”

Naomi shook her head. “It amazes me that there are employers who will just let people do that with no consequences. Every time you tell me you’re taking time off, I have to remind myself that that doesn’t mean you’re going to get into some kind of trouble at work.”

“No, normal bosses let their employees take vacation time,” Sarah said. “Your boss was some kind of sociopath. I’ve been telling you for years that you needed to leave that place.”

“Then you think I made the right call?” Naomi asked.

“Definitely,” Sarah said. “This is what Mom would have wanted you to do. She’d be glad to know that the money she left you is helping you get yourself out of a difficult situation and find something better.”

Naomi smiled, feeling the knot in her chest loosen. It was always such a relief to be with her sister. Though they hadn’t ever been especially close, the fact that they had grown up together, living parallel lives, gave them a knowledge of each other that no one else could duplicate. Nobody knew better how to put Naomi’s mind at ease than Sarah did.

They found her suitcase and went out to Sarah’s car. “Do you want to stop for something to eat?” Sarah asked. “Or should we just go home?”

“We don’t need to stop,” Naomi said. “Maybe I’ll order something later if I get hungry.”

“And we have plenty of food at the house,” Sarah said. “Of course you’re welcome to anything while you’re here…except Jamie’s string cheeses. He screams bloody murder if anyone else eats his string cheeses.”

“Jamie’s four now?” Naomi asked, feeling guilty that she wasn’t sure.

Sarah nodded, clearly not minding having to answer the question. “Jamie’s four and Ella is six.”

“Wow,” Naomi said. “That’s, what, first grade?”

“Kindergarten,” Sarah said. “She’ll start first grade in the fall.”

“I can’t believe you almost have a first-grader,” Naomi said.

Sarah laughed. “Right?” she said. “I remember when you were starting first grade. Remember that backpack you had with the puppies and the soccer ball?”

Naomi laughed. She had forgotten all about that, but now that Sarah reminded her, the memory came back. “I didn’t even know what soccer was,” she recalled. “I just picked it because it was pink and it had dogs on it.”

“You were obsessed with it,” Sarah said. “You wore it around the house for a week before school started that year.”

“Did I really?”

“Oh, you wouldn’t put it down. Even at the dinner table. You sat way forward in your chair so that you could keep your backpack on behind you.” She laughed. “It was really cute.”

Naomi smiled. This was one of the great things about being with her sister. Sarah had known her longer than anyone. She could remind Naomi of things about herself that Naomi had forgotten. It was the kind of thing their mother had once done.

Naomi was glad she still had someone in her life who could do that for her.

They pulled up in front of Sarah’s house. Harry was waiting outside with the kids. He hugged Naomi, then got her suitcase out of the car. “I’ll take this to the guest room,” he said.

Jamie and Ella wrapped their arms around Naomi’s legs. “Aunt Naomi’s here!” Ella cried.

“Let Aunt Naomi get inside,” Sarah said. “Let’s go show her the sign you made, okay?”

The kids released her and ran into the house. “We made you a sign!” Ella called back over her shoulder.

“They’ve been really excited,” Sarah explained. “They needed some way to channel their energy, so we got out the crayons.”

Sure enough, a huge banner hung from the second-floor balcony. Jamie and Ella had drawn pictures (and, in Jamie’s case, scribbles) across most of its surface, and one of the adults had printed “Welcome Aunt Naomi!” in big letters.

Naomi was overwhelmed. “This is really sweet, Sarah.”

Sarah wrapped an arm around her waist. “I’m really glad you’re here,” she said. “It was sad for me