Asking For A Friend

by Parker, Ali

  She nodded again, but then extracted her hands to put them on my shoulders with a serious expression on her face. “You can make it up to me, but once it gets warmer you have to bring me ice cream every day.”

  Marissa and Denise cracked up behind me. Denise murmured between giggles, “That’s my girl.”

  “That’s not quite how it works, baby.” Marissa said, coming to stand beside Annie. “But it was a good try.”

  Annie shrugged, a giggle escaping her. “It was worth a try.”

  “Yeah, it was,” I agreed. Straightening up, I looked at Marissa. “Okay, so breakfast and then we head out?”

  For a second, I wasn’t sure she was going to agree. But then she looked down at Annie and back at me. “Okay. Yeah. Why not?”

  Breakfast was eaten in a flurry of activity. Marissa and Denise worked like a well-oiled machine while Annie hopped around and filled me in on what happened at school since she last saw me.

  Eggs were cracked, a pile of toast grew on the center of the island. I offered to help a few times, but Marissa told me I was on Annie duty. I liked that.

  When we were done, the girls got Annie through a bath and ready for the day. I rinsed the dishes and loaded up the dishwasher. It was the least I could do. It also made me feel like I was part of their family and I was genuinely surprised by how much I liked that.

  “Where are we going?” Annie asked excitedly once we were in the car. She and Denise were in the back while Marissa was riding in the front with me.

  “We’re going to walk the Freedom Trail.” I told her, glancing at Marissa when we stopped at a red light. “I figured if we were pulling her out of school for the day, we’d better do something where she would still learn.”

  “We’re learning?” Annie groaned. “That’s not fun.”

  “It will be,” I assured her. “The Freedom Trail is like learning history in action. It passes by sixteen locations that are all significant to the history of the United States.”

  Annie wriggled her nose. “I don’t like history.”

  “I promise you will today, honey.” Marissa said, turning in her seat to face her daughter. “The guides dress up in historical clothes and you get to see so many things you’ll hear about in school. Think about how exciting that will be when you start learning about all the places we’re going to go to today.”

  She considered it and finally agreed, albeit reluctantly. “Yeah, I guess that will be cool.”

  Once we got to the start of our tour and Annie met our guide, dressed in a soft pink billowing dress, her tune changed. “This is going to be awesome. Can we dress up, too?”

  “Not on the tour, unfortunately,” I told her. “But there is a theater nearby where we might be able to go afterward. They have all these kinds of clothes and I’m sure they’ll let us in.” The guy who managed the theater was a friend. I designed his house for him a couple of years ago.

  I was pretty sure he would let us bring Annie to play around a little bit later. Once the tour got going, I’d shoot him a text to ask.

  Annie gave a satisfied nod and sidled up next to me while we waited for the tour to fill up. “What exactly is the Freedom Trail?”

  “It’s a two and a half mile path through downtown that passes by all those historic sites we told you about in the car.” Annie stuck close by my side as the tour got started and kept asking me questions to ask the guide.

  Since I’d done the trail a few times, I could answer most of them without needing to ask the guide. Annie looked sufficiently impressed by this and made me feel like a superhero again when she gazed up at me the way she was doing right now.

  It astounded me that Brice could have turned his back on her. He had no idea what he was missing out on. She was funny, smart and the sweetest little person on the planet. Thinking about him made my fists clench though, so I pushed the fucker out of my mind.

  With renewed vigor, I turned my attention back to Annie and it stayed there for the rest of the morning. I’d let her down once, but I would never do it again. I loved this little girl and she deserved a male figure in her life. I didn’t dare think of myself as a father figure just yet—I didn’t deserve to until I regained their trust—but she deserved a man who adored her the way her dad should have.

  Even though she wasn’t biologically mine, I vowed to myself to love her like she was. So I tuned out all the bullshit and kept my focus on her.

  Marissa and Denise were walking behind us, their heads mostly bent together as they talked. They took a ton of pictures though. Selfies of all of us together, photos of me and Annie, Annie and Marissa, me and Marissa, the girls, the scenery. They documented it all.

  My phone pinged in my pocket and when I pulled it out, I saw a reply from my friend at the theater. He said they’d be ready and waiting for us. I smiled, stashing my phone away again. “Good news, we’re a go for going to dress up after this.”

  Denise and Annie whooped loudly while Marissa came to my side and gave my arm a squeeze. “Thank you for this. I can’t remember the last time I saw Annie this happy. Well, aside from fishing. You seem to have a way of choosing activities she swoons over.”

  I smirked, looping my arm around her waist. Denise was walking with Annie up ahead, talking to the guide about the significance of the clothing people wore back in the day, so I felt safe showing Marissa a tiny bit of affection.

  Besides, I wasn’t sure I could keep my hands totally off of her for another minute anyway. “It’s only going to get better from here. She’s going to love the theater. I thought we could go get some lunch before we head there. There’s a diner around the block from it that makes the best burgers in town.”

  “That’s a pretty big promise.” She arched an eyebrow, a small smile playing on her lips. “But I’ll give it a chance. If the burgers suck, you’re going to owe us a shot of proving to you that the best burgers in town are, in fact, made at our house.”

  “How about I give you shot to prove that to me sometime anyway?”

  She laughed, bringing her head down to rest on my shoulder for just a second. “That sounds good.”

  We separated then, though it looked like it pained Marissa to do it as much as it pained me. “So, I was wondering, does this make up for the weekend?”

  “Ha! She pointed a finger at me, wagging it playfully. “This, my dear, is just the beginning of you making up for it.”

  “I can live with that,” I shrugged, taking her hand to bring it to my mouth for a quick kiss. Her skin was soft against my lips, but then it was gone.

  Flashing her a grin and a wink, I jogged up ahead back to where Denise and Annie were standing. It was time for me to get back to that little girl. I still had a lot of making up to do.

  Chapter 58

  Marissa

  “Layton!” Annie called from a statue up ahead from where we were on the Freedom Trail. “There’s pigeon poop on this man’s head.”

  Layton threw his head back, well as much as a six foot something guy could, and laughed. He was more relaxed and carefree today than I’d ever seen him. Even more so than when we’d gone fishing.

  He and Annie were really bonding. While I would have thought it would make me nervous to see it, the opposite was actually true. It warmed my heart so much it felt like it was about to implode.

  All day he’d been so dedicated to her. When he told her this morning she didn’t have to forgive him, I nearly started crying. There were tears in my eyes, anyway.

  The whole scene was just so touching, so honest and sincere. I could practically feel his heart breaking when he saw how sad and hurt she still was about the weekend. But Annie was more resilient than anyone I knew.

  She bounced back in spectacular fashion and thrived under all the attention he was giving her. It was the way he looked at her and listened to her more than anything that convinced me how sorry he really was. He was doing everything he could to make it up to her. To both of us.

  Every time he touched me, my heart thumped a
nd then melted into a giant puddle of goo. He was so gentle with me now, so loving.

  When he told me he loved me, I didn’t know if I could believe it. Not only because he was who he was and looked the way he did, but because after I got home last night and really thought about it, I wondered if he said it to get me to forgive him. Or just to keep me there after I told him I had to leave.

  Today was different though. He was showing me that he loved me, and that made me think he had really meant what he said. He loved me.

  The thought was as impossible as it was incredible. I wasn’t ready to say it back to him yet, but I found myself wanting to get to the day that I could. And really mean it.

  The last time I said those three little words to a man, it was because I thought saying them would make it real. Would make me love him even when I didn’t really feel it. There was a time that I thought I was in love with Brice, who was the last and only man I’d ever said the words to—except for my dad.

  But I figured out a long time ago that what I had felt for Brice wasn’t really love. The more I said those words to him to try and convince both of us that they were true, the more I knew deep down that whatever we had, it wasn’t love.

  With Layton, as lame as it sounded even in my own head, things were different. Everything came naturally with him. It all felt so right, like pieces of a two thousand piece puzzle you’ve been trying to build for months finally starting to fit together.

  Annie howled with laughter at something he said, then he bent down and she clambered onto his back. He lifted his arms to place her on his shoulders, with his hands on her knees to keep her safe.

  At that sight, my heart nearly burst with happiness. It was exactly the kind of thing a real father would do. The tears from this morning suddenly back in my eyes and a lump of emotion had risen in my throat.

  I just watched them, my heart overflowing. Denise’s hand on my arm startled me. She laughed when I jumped. “You do know I’ve been standing right here next to you, right?”

  “Right,” I cleared the emotion out of my throat. “Of course. How long have you been standing there again?”

  She rolled her eyes, still giggling. “You’re a lost cause, but I get it. It’s a damn fine sight, those two together.”

  “Right?” So it wasn’t just me being biased. It was objectively a glorious sight to behold. As objective as Denise could be, anyway. Which probably wasn’t that much more objective on this subject than me. “It’s pretty adorable to see them together, isn’t it?”

  “It really truly is,” she agreed. “Those two were meant for each other.”

  I sighed happily. “I think you might be right.”

  “Just like the two of you,” she replied, giving me a pointed look.

  “Well, no. I don’t know about that.” I was so confused. Just yesterday I’d had every intention of handing in my resignation and never speaking to him again. And no—I couldn’t believe how much had changed in twenty-four short hours.

  Denise pointed at Layton discreetly. “You might not know, but I do. That right there? That’s the guy you were meant to be with. And you didn’t hand in your resignation, did you? That man is the one, girl.”

  “I don’t know about ‘meant to be.’ That seems like something out of a fairy tale. If anyone knows life isn’t a fairy tale, it’s me,” I said. I didn’t know exactly why I was so reluctant to accept what she was saying as the truth. Maybe I was just afraid.

  Being left at the altar tended to make people more skittish. At least, that was true for me. Between my own feelings and my need to protect Annie, I wasn’t sure I could buy into concepts like ‘meant to be’ or ‘the one’ anymore.

  Those kinds of things felt like they belonged to little girls playing dress up, which was incidentally what we were off to do next. But still, it didn’t feel like I had the luxury to believe in ‘meant to be’ and ‘everlasting love’ and ‘perfect fit’ anymore.

  Though I had to admit, if those things were ever going to be true for me again, it sure felt like it was going to be with Layton. He’d seen me at my worst, seen how I could overreact and make mountains out of mole hills and yet, here he was.

  He still hadn’t pushed me to tell him what happened with Brice, or to tell Annie about the true nature of our relationship. I’d given him so many reasons to run for the hills, but he hadn’t.

  Instead he ran toward me and Annie with everything he had. He was determined to show me he loved me and that he could make up for letting us down.

  Denise watched me turning it all over in my head and had opened her mouth to say something just as Layton and Annie appeared in front of us. “Are you almost ready to go? This is the last stop on the tour. Our next stop is only about a five minute walk from here, but I can get the car if you want.”

  “No,” I said. “Let’s walk.”

  Annie bounded to my side and took my hand. “Did you hear what Layton said about that church we walked past earlier, Mommy?”

  “No,” I smiled, swinging her hand in mine as we walked. “What did he say?”

  “It’s the oldest standing church in Boston,” she told me excitedly. “The oldest church in the whole city, Mom. Out of all the churches! It was inspired by the same architect who rebuilt London after the great fire.”

  “Sir Christopher Wren,” Layton piped up helpfully, nudging my hip with his as he came to walk on my other side. “He’s a great British architect. He’s one of the most highly acclaimed English architects in history, in fact. He was given responsibility for rebuilding fifty-two churches in London after the fire.”

  “You would get caught up in the architectural history,” I retorted playfully. “Trying to turn her into an architectural buff at such a tender age already, are you?”

  “A guy can hope,” he said quietly, so quietly I didn’t know if I was meant to hear the words. But I had, and they made my heart soar. Louder this time, he said, “We have to make a right here. The theater is just around the next corner. Do you want to have lunch now, or a late lunch after?”

  “After,” Annie cheered immediately, and it was decided. While we were all still riding the high from the trail and inspired by the dress of the guide, we wanted to get into those clothes ourselves.

  The theater turned out to be affiliated with the Freedom Trail. Apparently they often performed period pieces the tourists came to see after spending the day on the trail.

  A short, balding man came out to meet us on the steps outside. He held his hand out to Layton and shook his warmly. “It’s been too long, old friend. Come on inside. I think you’ll be very pleased with what I have for you today. Tamara works in wardrobe here. She’s going to show you around.”

  An elderly woman with soft hands and a severe bun stepped out from behind him, giving us all a firm handshake before ushering us inside. “You’ll catch your death out here. Come. Come. The actors will be coming in about an hour for rehearsals, so we don’t have too much time.”

  That suited me just fine. We still had to eat and I wanted to get Annie home before the sun started setting. She wasn’t dressed warmly enough to be out at night.

  Tamara showed us to a room the size of a gym filled with rails upon rails of clothing. Some had paper with names printed on them taped to the metal and she led us right by those, noting they weren’t to remove any of the outfits the actors coming in later would need.

  In the back of the room were more rails, and in the relatively dim lighting, they seemed to stretch on forever. “Go ahead and have a quick rummage around here. If you find something you like, come get me if you need help getting into it.”

  She rushed away then, storming after a man who was apparently messing up the order of the place by moving a rail. “What is it with you new people? You never have any respect for the system. Respect it! Respect it, son. You’ll live to regret it if you don’t.”

  I half imagined her to magically produce a newspaper, roll it up and start hitting him with it. Layton chuckled next to me
and Denise stared after Tamara with an incredulous smile on her face. “I love that woman. She’s got spunk.”

  “Spunk?” Layton coughed. “I think she missed her calling as a principal at an all-girls school—in 1920.”

  “You never know,” I teased. “This might be her way of keeping busy in her retirement, you know, from being a principal at an all-girls school—in 1920.”

  Denise and Layton laughed, but Annie was already walking along the rails of dresses. She kept her hands clasped behind her back, but I could see how badly she wanted to touch everything.

  We took off after her and soon enough, were all dressed in period garb. After taking a couple of pictures and acting out a few impromptu skits, it was time to get going.

  Denise, Annie and I were in hysterics, giggling at the last skit we’d performed. Layton thanked his friend and we were off again. We had a quick lunch, and then it was time to go home.

  Although Annie protested that she was up for more activities, I could see she was pooped. “We’re going home, baby. It’s time. You have school again tomorrow.”

  It was a testament to how tired she was that she didn’t argue. When we eventually got back home, she gave Layton a huge hug and went inside after thanking him for “one of the best days of her life.”

  When she was gone, Layton held out his hand and when I took it, tugged me to his chest. I breathed in his spicy, masculine scent and sighed. “Thank you for today. It was amazing. You were amazing.”

  Pulling back his head to look into my eyes, he grinned. “I’m just glad you had fun. Seriously, I was worried it was going to be too boring, but I didn’t want Annie not to learn anything on a school day.”

  “You certainly made history come alive for her,” I told him, planting a quick kiss on his lips. “She’s going to remember this for a long time. I wouldn’t be surprised if history doesn’t become her best subject eventually.”

  Denise watched our exchange from the porch and suddenly said, “You guys should go out on Saturday. I could watch Annie. I’m in the mood for a girly movie night anyway.”