Beautifully Awake(127)

“Everything’s great. Excited for the weekend?” He kissed my lips. “Go, beautiful, you took a half day, go get your nails done or something. Where do you want Pete to pick you up?”



“Your apartment,” I said.

We decided my dad and Sharon would stay at my place for the weekend. Most of my stuff was in Chase’s anyway, because as he liked to remind me on a daily basis, “One of us has to be up before the sun while the other hits snooze a few dozen times. Gotta take advantage of proximity, baby.” Justifiable argument, but his sarcasm deserved the eye roll it got daily as well. Except when he added, “And I’m sure as fuck not going to sleep any earlier, not when your gorgeous body is lying next to me. No chance I’m wasting one precious second.” Yeah, that deserved way better than an eye roll. Mmm.

“Okay, baby, I’ll tell Pete. You gonna take them right to your apartment?”

“That’s what I was thinking, figured they might want to freshen up before dinner.”

“Perfect, see you then.” He kissed me one last time and disappeared down the hall. Obviously in a rush to do something.





Maybe he was trying to tell me my nails sucked. They did. My nervous habit wreaked havoc on my cuticles. I stood in the nail salon, staring at the rainbow of colors in front of me. If Sierra weren’t busy with her legs in the air I would have dragged her with me. But her OB insisted she take it easy for the next couple of weeks since her legs all of a sudden looked like they belonged to a baby elephant. One of the perks of being nine months pregnant at the end of August.

I flipped the nail bottles over one by one to read the name on the bottom. Such a girl habit. Even sillier was trying to guess the abbreviations the nail girls Sharpied on the top. Ha! This one was perfect. I pulled out my phone and typed Sierra a quick text she would appreciate.

Getting nails done.

HEA!

Confused???

Oh. I was disappointed with my BFF. Was she slacking on her romance novels?

Really?! Come on.

Know you have a book in ur hand!

What are we always waiting for??



Asspuck, look in the mirror-

Pretty sure we BOTH found it already :)

Her text hit me in the gut, in a good way. A really fan-freakin-tastic way.

True :)

No one deserves her Happily Ever After…

More than you!

Right back at ya.

Xoxo

I caught a couple of ladies staring in my direction. I’m sure they were wondering what the hell I was smiling at. My smile even felt huge to me. They’d be jealous.

Three hours sounded so much longer than it was in reality. Why was that? A manicure, a Whole Foods shop and a latte (decaf) drop off to the swollen BFF, and now I was running late. And I thought I’d have time to squeeze in a run. Yeah, not so much. I barely had time to shower and change. My hair still wet, I yawned and grabbed my fabulous smaller-than-luggage bag, eager to head for the airport. Eager to see my dad. Suddenly, a quiet night at home, just the four of us, sounded like a much better idea than whatever delicious restaurant Chase picked. No question, that was more my dad and Sharon’s speed anyway, especially after traveling all day. I was tempted to text Chase to see if he’d mind, but I didn’t. He was so thoughtful about this weekend, planning everything and arranging for my dad to celebrate my birthday with us. I would never disappoint him, didn’t matter how exhausted I was.

Luckily, we made it to the airport with time to spare. No traffic on a Friday afternoon was shocking. Sierra kept me company on the phone while I waited by the baggage carousels.

“Babydoll!”

I had missed that deep voice.

“Sier, they’re here. Got to go ... yes, I’ll tell them you say hi. Maybe we’ll try and pop by this weekend ... my dad would love to see you too. If you’re nice, we’ll bring you a cheesesteak. Yeah ... okay ... mm-hmm ... bye.” I shoved the phone in my bag and made my way toward the escalator.



“Hi Dad.” I flung my arms around his neck. It didn’t matter how old I was, I was always his little girl. “I missed you, I’m so glad you’re here.”

“You look amazing, babydoll!”

Sharon stood back a little bit and gave us our moment. She was thoughtful and sweet. Perfect for my dad and I was grateful he had her.

I kissed her on the cheek and gave her a real hug. “I’m so sorry I missed you when I was home.” I knew she would never hold it against me, knowing what went down the last time I was home, but I still needed to say it.

“Me too. I was jealous of Dana. She said you looked radiant and you absolutely do.”

“We’re just so happy to be here. My birthday girl looks beautiful. And so happy.”