It was nearer to lunch when Jayden, Alexandra, and of course, little Andy showed up, along with Alec and Ruby. Unfortunately, Chan’s other friends—Nikkita, Georgina, and Isabella—had all returned home. Nikkita back to South Australia and Georgina and Isabella to New Zealand.Chan greeted them with delight, and Dara and Soriya immediately went to kiss Andy. Jayden and Alec joined Sam, helping the man prepare the barbeque for lunch. By that time, more kids arrived along with their parents and, of course, Nina and her group of posh friends.Nina, dressed in a sexy black dress, her hair styled beautifully, came into the kitchen and told Marian in a condescending manner to start setting up lunch for the kids and adults outside because it was getting late. Marian rolled her eyes and wanted to slap the woman. But of course, she couldn’t. Her hands were deep in satay meat.Dara stared at the woman and said, “So you’re the one organizing this party?”Nina glared at Dara. “Yes? You have a probl
Lilly’s birthday party went great, starting from lunch until well after dinner in the evening. Drinks and food flowed freely as both adults and children enjoyed themselves tremendously. Chan was indeed happy she was a part of the celebration.Of course, as with any party, the people who helped out would always be tired by the end of the day, and this rang true for Chan. She and her sisters had been at Sam’s house at nine that morning and had helped out ever since. It was well after dinner; Lilly had blown out her seven candles and had opened all of her presents. The cake had been cut and shared, and now all there was for Chan to do was go home.Her dear friends, Alex and Ruby, and their respective partners had left straight after dinner, as they had an early start tomorrow. Alex, her husband Jayden, and their baby boy Andy were flying back to America, while Ruby and her fiancé Alec were returning to England. Chan hugged her friends goodbye, while Dara and Soriya sadly kissed Andy, pro
It had been almost an hour since Sam had seen Lilly leading Chandra up the stairs toward the floor where their bedrooms were situated. He had no idea why his daughter was taking Chan up there, but he wasn’t worried. In fact, he kept the conversation going with Chan’s sisters and a bunch of other people.Nina was sitting intimately close to him, which, for the first time, made him rather uncomfortable. Jeremy wasn’t far away, laughing and enjoying himself tremendously. The subjects of their conversation ranged from world peace, charity, which Dara was very passionate about, and the effect of global warming.“We should be going,” Dara said finally. “Man, that was a good talk.”Soriya couldn’t agree more. “Speaking of which, where the heck did our sister disappear to?”Nina eyed the two sisters with distaste. She didn’t really care for them, nor their pretty sister in whom Sam seemed to be too interested. Although she’d heard that particular sister was dating Jeremy, she didn’t see how f
When Chandra woke the next morning, it was to the sound of rustling papers. She fluttered her eyes open, feeling a little more than disorientated. She gazed long and hard up at the ceiling, wondering why she didn’t recognize the beautifully ornate designs of birds and butterflies and flowers.Where am I? she wondered contritely, suddenly very aware she wasn’t in her own room.More rustling of papers.Chan was curious. She squinted her eyes as she turned to her right. There, sitting comfortably in bed, was Lilly. The little girl was already up and reading the book they’d started last night.Chan shot up immediately. Oh my God! She’d fallen asleep right there in Lilly’s bed, and in Sam’s house of all places!She panicked and scrambled to make sense of what had happened.Lilly saw her sitting up and smiled. “Hi.”Chan cleared her throat. “Hi,” she replied. “Is it morning?”Lilly giggled. “Hmm. You fell asleep, too.”Chan sighed. “God, I must have just dozed off.” She touched her forehead
Chandra poked her head out the door a few moments later, her eyes scanning the bedroom for Sam. She found him on the other side, checking his phone. She cleared her throat. “Err, Sam?”Sam raised his head, his eyes bright and a smile plastered on his lips. “Hmm?”Chan licked her lips, blushing profusely. “I was wondering if you have a spare shirt and pants I could borrow. My dress is all wet and not quite…”Sam understood. He chuckled. “Sure.”“Really? Thanks.”“No problem,” he said and headed over to the walk-in closet.Still hiding behind the bathroom door, with only her head peeping out, Chan clutched the towel tightly against her body as she watched Sam retrieve what looked like a man’s shirt. His shirt.No. That wasn’t what she meant. She wanted a female shirt and pants. Not his shirt.But it was too late. He came over and handed her one of his casual T-shirts. She stared at it, not knowing what to do.“I don’t think my pants will fit you,” he said. “Just wear this for the time b
They came into the laundry room a few moments later, and Chan began putting her clothes in. She was hoping Sam would leave her to do whatever he was going to do, but he didn’t. He even helped her put in the washing powder and then start the machine. Of course, she didn’t need help with any of that, but it was very considerate of him.They headed back out together and were on the landing of the second floor when Lilly came running out her bedroom door.“Daddy!” she greeted him with delight.Sam said, “Good morning, sweetheart. What do you want for breakfast today?”“Pancakes!” Lilly said excitedly. “Chan wants to have pancakes, too, right?”Chan chuckled. “Why not?”Sam put Lilly back down and said, “Then you two darlings go and wait downstairs. I’ll just quickly clean myself up.”“Okay,” Lilly said, taking Chan’s hand.Once again, Chan was delighted he referred to her as one of his darlings. She smiled as Lilly led her down the stairs.The two didn’t have to wait long. There must be a
Her sisters were at the door, waiting for her patiently, when Chandra turned up a little later in the morning after Sam and Lilly had dropped her off. She was indeed glad she was now wearing her clean dress and underwear. If she were to come home in Sam’s work shirt and nothing else, her sisters would assume the worst had happened. Not that they’d be unhappy about it, though, considering how they’d happily left without her last night.“So?” Soriya asked, smiling cheekily as they headed toward the living area.Chan queried, “So what?”“How was your sleepover?”Dara looked heavenward.On that note, Chan turned to frown at her sisters. “You guys didn’t wake me. I am so embarrassed. Gosh, falling asleep in another person’s house like a kid.”Dara laughed. “Yeah, well, you and Lilly did look cute sleeping together.”Chan blushed. “Who else saw?”Soriya couldn’t wait to answer. “Sam, of course. Us. Then there’s Jeremy and Nina as well.”“Shit!” Chan muttered. “I can’t believe both Sam and J
By the time the Chandler sisters got home, it was nearly four in the afternoon, and Chan hadn’t checked her cell phone to see if anyone had texted or called her. When she did, she found four missed calls from Jeremy.“Wow!” Soriya said behind Chan. “He must really worry about you.”Chan didn’t know how to respond to that and started dialing back. A few seconds later, Jeremy picked up.“Chan? Thank God! I was beginning to wonder,” he said, chuckling away.“Sorry, Jeremy. I was visiting Grandma Su,” Chan said. “She’s a family friend and lives quite a way out of the city.”“Ah, I see,” Jeremy replied. “I wanted to know if you got home okay this morning after last night.”Chan blushed at the reminder. “Yes, I got home okay. Sam and Lilly dropped me off this morning.”“Yeah, I went to their house, but no one was home. I thought I’d pick you up and drop you off… But I guess I was a bit late, huh?”Chan giggled. “Yes, unfortunately. But thanks for being thoughtful.”“Hey, I was wondering if