Chapter Two
Most of the night was spent tossing and turning. I was so nervous, seeing my brother and sister again. How was I going to look after them, and study?
I was so close to finishing my international business degree. I’d worked so hard to put myself through college, earning a full scholarship. Caring for two children kind of threw a monkey wrench in the works. My shifts at the cafe weren’t going to work. I’d need to be home for both of them after school. A morning job wouldn’t help either, because I needed to be around to take them to school. My head ached from trying to absorb everything.
My alarm sounded just after 8am, at the same time, my phone began to ring. Shutting off the alarm, I grabbed the phone.
“Hello?”
“Hi Kait, its Devon.” I found myself smiling. His voice was even sexier than I remembered.
“Hi.” I murmured, trying my best to keep my voice neutral.
“I didn’t wake you, did I?”
“No, the alarm beat you by about ten seconds.” I quipped. He laughed his wonderfully sexy laugh.
“I’m glad some of us get to sleep in.” He joked.
“You actually think eight is a sleep in?” I struggled to even comprehend that.
“When you have to be up by six every morning, trust me. Eight’s a sleep in.” He laughed again, sending my insides crazy. “I just wanted to let you know I will be past with the children at 2pm.”
“Okay. Thanks.” Hanging up the phone, I laid back in the bed and threw the covers over my head, again trying to comprehend what the hell was I supposed to do with two kids. When I couldn’t put it off any longer, I dragged myself out of bed. The first thing I needed to do was speak to Ara.
Ara looked up from her bowl of cereal. “Hey. You look wrecked.” She commented, sliding down the cereal to my end of the table.
“Thanks. And thanks.” I added, sinking into the seat. I filled the bowl to the brim with rice crispies.
“What’s wrong?”
I didn’t even know how to say it. “My mother has disappeared.” I finally said. Ara stared at me, shocked. Her pretty features scrunched up in concern. Even first thing in the morning, she was beautiful.
Ara was the only girl I knew who could spend less than two minutes getting ready in the morning and still look hot. With my red, baggy eyes and wayward hair I looked like a Halloween edition troll doll in the morning. My all-time highlight was following a one night stand, when the guy woke up and gasped when he saw me.
Yes, gasped. And not in a good way.
“What?” I stared at Ara, who looked on the verge of tears. My mother was missing and she’s the one crying? That was Ara, always emotional. I had no idea how she managed to cope with a long distance relationship with a boy who was in the army.
Seeing Devon on the doorstep last night, my first thought had been for Luke, Ara’s boyfriend. The worst thing was that I actually felt relief when I realized he was there for me. That either says I’m a great friend or a bad daughter.
Or maybe both.
“Yes. Disappeared. A detective came past last night. My brother and sister have nowhere to go.” I was still struggling to comprehend what was happening, “They will be here today. I will be out of your hair as soon as I can find another place.”
“No way, Kait. You’re not going anywhere. You think I’d kick you out because of this? What kind of a*shole friend do you think I am?” She looked hurt.
“Thanks, but you haven’t met my sister yet.” I half joked, rolling my eyes.
“How old?”
“Nerina, Neri, is fifteen. Sam, my brother, is five.” Ara whistled, she shook her head, combing her blonde hair over one shoulder with her fingers. I envied the length of her locks as I self-consciously thought about my own dark haired mop that I could barely grow past my shoulders.
“Fifteen. Shit, the trouble I got up to when I was fifteen.” Ara smiled, caught up in memories. I shook my head. Somehow, it didn’t surprise me that Ara was a bit of a wild child, she hadn’t changed that much.
Ara (her full name Arabella) and I met in first year of college, after I had answered her ad for a roommate. Moving so far away from home with no friends or family around me had been hard, but meeting Ara had made things so much easier. Though we’d only known each other a couple of years, it felt as though we’d been friends for life. Ara had the big loving family I had always wanted, and I loved that they always insisted on involving me whenever possible.
With her Italian heritage, her two biggest loves were talking and eating, and she did a lot of both. She was the only person I knew who had won an eating competition. A year ago she’d won a pancake eating competition by devouring thirty-five pancakes in less than four minutes. That’s a pancake every 6.85 seconds! Despite her huge appetite, she was tiny. Looking at her, you would be forgiven if you thought she was one of those girls who only picked at salads.
I’d met Ara’s wonderfully huge extended family on several holiday occasions where she’d dragged me home with her after insisting I wasn’t going to stay home by myself. Her family was lovely, and it was obvious where Ara got her bubbly outgoing personality. Both her mum and her three sisters were exactly the same, in personality and stature. I’d never eaten as much in my life than I had when around her family.
Ara had met Luke in high school. After chasing her for years, she’d finally agreed to go out with him just after their graduation. They’d fast become joined at the hip, until six months later, Luke had joined the Royal American Air Force. Ara coped well with him being away, though I knew she worried about his safety. That was definitely something I didn’t think I could handle. Worrying about my boyfriend every day, wondering if he was still going to be alive wasn’t something I could do. I got anxious not knowing if the bin was going to be emptied on a public holiday. And don’t even get me started on the long distance thing. They were lucky if they saw each other twice a year. As you can imagine, when he was home, they barely surfaced from her bedroom.
Ara’s voice brought me back to reality, “Seriously Kaitlin, you even think about moving out I will hunt you down and kill you.” Ooh, she must be serious, she used my full name.
“Okay ‘Arabella’.” I replied, holding my hands up in surrender. I chuckled, shoveling down the last few mouthfuls of cereal, “I guess I better get a move on then.”
“Where to?”
“I have to organize a few things. For the kids. And I need to look for a job.” I had no idea how I was going to juggle college, working and two kids. Even though I knew I shouldn’t depend on her, I knew Ara would help out as much as she could. “I have no idea where to find a job that will work around such a hectic schedule.” I added. Finding a job, period, had been a mountainous task.
Ara jumped to her feet. She came running back into the kitchen with the paper, “Start here.” She slapped the paper at my chest. “Good luck.” She called over her shoulder as she sauntered into the bathroom. Making a face, I sat down with the paper open at the classifieds.