Hendrix - Kelsey Clayton Page 0,46
I don't know what time it is, or if the sun is even up, thanks to my black out curtains, but I know it must be early. This little girl is a big bundle of energy at all times.
“Stinky-Pants!” she shouts. “It's time to wake up!”
I close my eyes the second she notices they’re open, and she giggles. She falls down next to me, and I can feel her breathing on my face. Judging by the way she's trying to hide her laughter, I know she's up to something.
She reaches forward and pulls one of my eyelids up. “I know you're awake.”
In one quick move, I jump up and grab her. It catches her off guard and she squeals as I tickle her until she's begging me to stop.
It's been a couple weeks of them living here, and I never knew how nice it would be to have the house filled with more than just me. Getting to tuck Brenna in every night and watching TV with Saige…I didn't know what I was missing.
“Come on!” Brenna says excitedly. “Mommy's making breakfast!”
Like she knows the direct line to my heart, I get up and pull on a pair of sweatpants. If there's any way to get me out of bed on a day I don't have practice at the ass-crack of dawn, it's with food.
I walk out to find Brenna sitting at the table and Saige slaving over a hot stove. She's still wearing pajama pants and a tank top, but she could look gorgeous in anything. Even with bed head.
“B said you were making breakfast,” I murmur, looking over at everything she's cooking. “She didn't say it was a whole damn feast.”
Saige rolls her eyes playfully and smiles. “Like you're going to complain. Don't think I forgot how much you love your breakfast on off days.”
“It's the only time I can eat it without throwing up.”
Even in college, if I ate breakfast before practice, it would all come back up. The only option I have on those mornings is either a pre-workout shake or a protein bar. Anything else is a lost cause.
I sit down at the table with Brenna, and Saige hands us our plates full of food, only mine comes with an envelope. I look at it suspiciously.
“What is this?” I ask her.
She doesn't answer me, so I put down my fork and rip it open. Inside is a little over five hundred dollars. Oh, right. The idiotic stipulation she added into our agreement for her to stay here with Brenna.
“I don't need this.” I toss it into the middle of the table.
Sitting down with her own plate of food, she hands it back to me. “That was the deal, remember? You let me pay rent. I'll give you the other half when I get my next paycheck.”
My eyes widen. “That's only half? Saige, you don't need to give me that much! You two hardly add anything to the electricity bill, and if you haven't realized, the house is paid for.”
“There's still other bills like water and property taxes. Those can't be cheap.”
I shake my head. “Honestly, I don't even see them. I have someone who takes care of all that for me.”
She isn't backing down as she sits back and crosses her arms over her chest. “Either you take the damn money, or I'm going to find an apartment for me and Brenna.”
B pouts. “Mommy, no! I like it here.” She turns to me. “Dude, just take the money.”
I nudge my daughter in the side. “Oh sure, take her side.”
No part of me wants to accept it. I only said it to get her to agree to stay and stop looking at apartments. The thought of Topher being able to get to her and Brenna made me sick, and seeing her searching for an apartment made me want to pull a Lennon and throw her computer in the pool.
Yes, my best friend did that.
“How about you give the money to me?” Brenna suggests, making me snort. “I mean, he is my dad. That makes this my house, too.”
“Brenna Elizabeth!”
I practically choke on the piece of pancake I had just put into my mouth. “What did you just say?”
Saige's eyes widen when she realizes. “Uh, I...um…”
She's completely tongue-tied, and actually, so am I. I open my mouth to say something, but I realize Brenna is sitting right here and maybe it isn't the conversation to have in front of her. Especially if she is just as unaware about