One More Time (Ruby Falls #2) - Aurora Rose Reynolds Page 0,75

I grab his bag of treats from his cabinet and shake it. Like always, he stops what he’s doing, comes directly to the source of his favorite food, and curls his body around my feet.

“Why didn’t we think of that?” Olivia asks as I pick him up.

“I have no idea.” Aria rolls her eyes at me when I smile before she unwraps the tape and ribbon from his leg.

“I’ll take him back upstairs and get ready,” Olivia says, and Aria takes the cat from my hold, handing her to my daughter. She carries him up the steps, reprimanding him quietly for what he did, as she disappears out of sight.

“I really don’t know why my dad thought it was a good idea to get Olivia a cat for Christmas,” Aria says, shaking her head and tossing the ribbon in her hand into the trash.

“She loves that cat,” I remind her. “And your dad adores her.”

“He does,” she agrees with a sigh, and I smile again. I didn’t know what would happen after George said he was going to leave Aria’s mom. Part of me doubted that he would follow through, but he did, and he did it in a big way. Not only did he leave Beatrice, but he moved into my old house, started going to AA, and has put in the effort to get to know his daughter.

I’m sure it hasn’t been easy for him, but he has stuck with it, which says a lot about the kind of man he is. Her mom, for her part, moved to California to live with Josh after her divorce was finalized, and how they are doing is anyone’s guess. Josh’s request for more alimony was denied, and the judge cut down his monthly payments to half of what they were. He also put a time limit of two years or until Josh remarries for how long he could receive benefits from Aria. It wasn’t what I wanted, which would be him getting nothing, but knowing his hold over her has a time stamp makes me feel a little better about the situation.

“Are we still meeting everyone in town for dinner?” I wrap my arms around her, and her wide eyes meet mine as her hands land on my chest. One of those hands is sporting the two-karat diamond ring I proposed to her with while we were out to dinner with my family, her dad, and Colton and Gia a week before Christmas. Two weeks later, I slid a heavy solid band on behind it when we got married at the courthouse in town, her not wanting a big show but wanting to make it official.

“Yes, we have reservations.” She licks her lips, and my eyes narrow on her mouth before they meet her gaze.

“What happened?”

“Nothing happened.” She puts pressure on my chest for me to let her go, but I refuse by holding her tighter.

“You’re lying.”

“I’m not lying.”

“Just tell me and get it over with.” I give her a squeeze, and her eyes narrow on mine. Over the last couple of months, she and my mother, she and Olivia, she and Gia, and even she and Anna have conspired against me on more than one occasion, and she always has the same facial expression when she’s getting ready to spring some news on me or ask me to do something. Thankfully, it hasn’t been anything that might lead to me losing my mind, but it’s still always been something.

“There is nothing to tell you. We need to get ready to go; otherwise, we are going to be the last to show up for dinner.”

“Aria.”

“Tide.” She holds my stare, and I let out a breath.

“All right, let’s go get ready.” I give in, knowing she’s going to have to come clean sooner or later. When we get upstairs, Olivia is in her room, torturing Mittens with the laser light he will never be able to catch, so I head with Aria into our bedroom, and we both change. She puts on a pair of tights and a long sweater dress with a high collar that looks amazing on her, and I tug on a different pair of jeans and a button-down shirt.

When I’m coming out of the closet, buttoning up my shirt, Olivia comes into the room, wearing a frilly pink skirt over a pair of leggings and a long-sleeved black shirt with writing across the front. It takes me a moment to read her shirt, but when I do,