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Giving Him a Shot
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Asking for a Friend Meant To Be
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.
Asking for a Friend Spunk
MARISSA“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,
Asking for a Friend The Long Haul
LAYTONThe morning after the day out at the Freedom Trail, I felt like I was walking on sunshine. Like a fucking rock star. Whenever I spent time with Marissa and Annie, they made me feel like this. Something clicked in me when I got to see them and it felt damn good. The memories of Annie’s excited chatter and happy laughter replayed in my head on a loop. Along with the ones of Marissa’s smiles and the contented look in her eyes. Even Denise got a few seconds of brain-time on the highlight reel.She was a good friend to Marissa, a great care taker for Annie, and I still suspected that she was a champion for me. And so, memories of her watching me watch Marissa with this indulgent smile also made it into the replays.If someone had told me six months ago that I was going to be so besotted with a six year old and her mother, I would have laughed in their face. Hard and repeatedly.But it was undeniable that I was besotted. The more time I spent with them, the worse it became. Marissa h
Asking for a Friend Not Over Yet
LAYTONMy eyebrows shot up. I’d promised Craig I would pay a visit to the site some time. We didn’t have any meetings scheduled here. “Did he say what it was about?”“No,” she replied, her eyes sliding to my open office door. “He just said he needed to talk to you.”Nodding, I smiled. I would find out soon enough what Craig was here for. “Thanks, Carrie. Do me a favor and hold my calls while I’m in there with him.”“Sure thing,” she said, and immediately started punching buttons on her landline. As promised, Craig was waiting for me in my office. He had made himself comfortable and was sitting on the white sofa with a cup of coffee in his hands.When he saw me coming, he set the coffee cup down while standing and reached out his hand to shake mine. “Sorry to show up unannounced, I know how much you hate that.”“That’s okay,” I shrugged, releasing his hand and rounding my desk to take my seat. “I’m getting better at it, actually. It doesn’t bother me so much anymore.”Craig’s brows lif
Asking for a Friend Deep Down
MARISSA“Are you ready for some awesome mom and daughter bonding time today?” I asked Annie as I helped her settle into the car.She clapped her hands and nodded, her head bouncing up and down so hard I wasn’t sure if she could stop nodding if she wanted to. “What are we going to do today?”Since Layton gave me the day off, I returned the favor with Denise—especially because she was already taking Annie again tomorrow—and decided to spend some quality time just with Annie. It wasn’t something we got to do often enough.Between work, school, my dresses, Annie’s activities and Denise’s schedule, we had precious little time to just relax and spend time together as mother and daughter. “Well, for starters I thought we could go to the aquarium. We’ve been meaning to go since we moved here, I thought it was time we finally did it,” I said, glancing at her in the rear view mirror as I slipped into the driver’s seat of our car.Annie’s reaction was even more priceless than I’d been expecting
Asking for a Friend Whatever You Want
MARISSAWhen we were done there, Annie was entranced with the penguins and had decided that she wanted to work in the aquarium when she grew up. The harbor seal training presentation was next and once it was done, she had changed her tune slightly and announced, “When I grow up, I’m going to be a seal trainer, Mommy.”“You can be whatever you want to be, honey,” I said, squeezing her hand as I smiled down at her. “I think being a seal trainer could be really fun.”To me, the showstopper of the aquarium was the four-story Giant Ocean Tank showing off the colorful inhabitants of its Caribbean coral reef. We watched the divers descending into the tank and when Annie told me she wanted to learn how to dive one day, I agreed wholeheartedly.The aquarium took up most of our morning and a bit of the early afternoon. By the time we were done, we were both ravenous so we headed for lunch at the Chowda Co. at Quincy Market nearby.The atmosphere in the restaurant was great and the food was even
Asking for a Friend Out of Control
LAYTONSomehow, I managed to get through the day on Friday actually being productive. After Craig left my office, I popped in my earphones and got into the zone, finalizing a few designs that had been sitting for a while.I attributed it to the feeling that had still been lingering after my day out with the girls on the Freedom Trail. The feeling inspired me and helped me to finish and tweak designs I was now excited to finally be able to show my clients.Before I went home for the weekend, I sent all the designs off for finishing touches on the 3D disks to be prepared for the clients, and planned the model for the biggest one. All in all, it was a good day’s work.It didn’t hurt that I had my date with Marissa to look forward to, which was what I was getting ready for as I stood in my closet and grabbed a pair of jeans, a t-shirt and a belt. There was a black leather jacket that hung at the back of my closet. I hadn’t worn it since college, but my lips curled into a smile as I tried
Asking for a Friend Romantic Dinner
LAYTONI caught myself just before I ground my hips into her. If I did that, we weren’t getting out of here tonight. On a low groan, I lifted my head and broke the kiss. “You’d better go finish getting ready so we can leave.”Her cheeks were flushed, her pupils dilated. No doubt I looked the same. Smiling, she nodded. “Sure. Want to come keep me company? I just have to put on some jewelry then I’ll be ready to go. I’ve already taken it out.”“Is it in your bedroom?” I asked, taking deep breaths in an attempt to compose myself.Shooting me a questioning look with narrowed eyes, Marissa’s head bounced up and down. “Of course it’s in my bedroom. Why?”I gave my head a quick shake and moved to her kitchen. “There is no way I should be near you and a bed at the same time right now, unless you’re not hungry and are happy with staying in said bed all night. I’m going to get some water, take your time.”She giggled softly, then sighed. “Yeah, you’re right. No bed around us for now is probably
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