Secrets Worth Keeping (Finding my Home #2)- Nikita Parmenter Page 0,32

with me again.

My shitty mood worsens, thanks delivery douche.

“Where do you want me to put these?” He asks, his eyes darting around so he's looking everywhere but at me, holy fuck man, it doesn’t look that fucking bad.

“Just inside the door please” I say forcing myself to be polite.

He nods once and has the boxes stacked inside the door in no time at all, he has me sign something, still not looking at me which pisses me the fuck off but he hightails it away from me before I can fucking say anything, the ass.

Trying to shake the whole ordeal off I try to think of something else I can do to kill some time since the guys are out still. It might be a good idea to wrap their Christmas presents, I probably won’t get a chance to do it without them around before Christmas now. The guys will kill me since they told me no heavy lifting before they left earlier but whatever, I’ll be careful. With that in mind I slowly take the boxes upstairs one by one. Checking the label’s as I go, only one of the boxes is for Jenny though and I leave that one by the front door, I have no idea where she is or I’d take it to her. I carry the last box up the stairs.

Once I’m in my room I fish the guys presents out from the back of the closet where I hid them and set them on the floor by the bed. There’s more space down here so it’ll be easier to wrap them. Looking through the parcels it’s pretty obvious that the long box has the wrapping paper in it and after a quick search of the boxes, I find the tape dispenser and all the pretty bows. That lifts my mood a bit. I set everything down in the order I’ll need it and realise that I forgot to get scissors.

I want to print off the concert tickets anyway, I’ll wrap Cash’s two ticket's since I bought a photo frame to put them in, so they don’t tear when he unwraps them. The tickets for the rest of us I’ll just give out to the others after Cash has opened up his gift.

I make my way back downstairs to ask Jenny if she has a printer and if I can borrow some scissors for the wrapping paper. Walking past the lounge I pause when I see her curled up on the sofa reading a book. She definitely wasn’t there earlier, or she would never have let me carry all those boxes up stairs by myself.

“Hey” she says looking up and smiling at me until she catches the look on my face, I forgot to put the fake smile back on. “Are you ok darling?” she asks softly and it all just comes spilling out of me.

“Rylie said I was obviously fine so she’s gone to spend time with Darcy and the delivery guy took one look at my face and then wouldn’t look at me again and practically ran away from me” I am mortified when my eyes fill with tears.

“Oh, sweet girl come here” she says as she stands up and pulls me into a mom hug.

“I don’t know why it’s getting to me so badly” I sniffle.

“You have been through a hell of a lot these past couple of days, it’s understandable. I’m disappointed in Rylie, unfortunately some people lose themselves when they enter new relationships. I’m not condoning her behaviour, I’m only saying that hopefully after the newness of it settles, she should go back to normal. As for that delivery guy he’s lucky he’s already gone, or I would’ve had his balls.” She says fiercely startling a laugh out of me, “weak people get uncomfortable when presented with someone who has obvious strength” she says just as fiercely and her words sink into my soul, I am strong. “Now it’s Christmas, you aren’t going anywhere, and you’ve had a shitty morning, so since it’s after midday do you want some lunch and some eggnog?” She smirks and I grin.

“Yes please to both” I say, “thank you Jenny” I initiate a hug with her for the first time and she pulls me close.

“Anytime sweet girl, come on.”

I follow her into the kitchen, taking a seat at the breakfast bar and watch her bustle around the kitchen, she pulls out a large jug from the fridge and pours me a huge glass of