Don't Say You Love Me

Chapter TWELVE

Teegan

It's Friday again before I know it.

On Tuesday, Lola stayed at the house for dinner. My mom made tacos and we ate together with the kids. I can see that Lola and the kids have a special bond, which makes sense. She lives close by and obviously has spent a lot more time with them than I have. But I'm making up for lost time, now. Even though I'm going pretty damn far away in a couple of months. I want to make sure Oscar and Josie don't forget me.

Lola left at 7P.M., after my mom heard from Francis and he said he wasn't landing until 9P.M. Before she left, she told me about the party on Saturday.

"I don't know if you'd want to go," she said, leaning against the front door.

I was in the hallway, maybe six feet away from her. She hadn't been rude or snarky to me, but she also hadn't made any effort to be overly nice. I honestly don't know what to expect from her.

"It's a fourth of July party. Everyone dresses in red, white and blue and we have a big cook out and do sparklers and have a fire. It's a tradition," she went on.

"I'm not sure I should go, considering..." I said, but let my voice trail off because I didn't know if my mom was listening from the other room.

"Right. Well, Naomi is crazy. Everyone knows that. It sucks you had to experience her wrath."

I nodded. "Luke did not say he had a girlfriend. But we were also just talking. That's it."

"You're new. You didn't know to not even look in Luke's direction if Naomi is around. Now you know." Lola laughed, so I smiled. "Well, let me know. I'll be in Avila all day Saturday."

"Okay. Thanks," I finished and then watched her go.

The rest of the week went fast, once again. Wednesday, I talked to Kiara for a while in the evening. She told me about her job and how busy she's been. I told her about the beach and how I'm not sleeping well, but otherwise things are good.

By Friday morning, I'm actually looking forward to going to work at the hut.

"I have no work stuff today, so I'm keeping the kids home from daycare and we're going to have a fun day!" my mom says, as I'm drinking coffee.

The kids have already finished breakfast and are off playing in the basement. My mom's sitting across from me, the newspaper spread out in front of her. 

I look out the window and see that it's very sunny. "It looks like a great day for that."

She nods, her long hair falling around her shoulders. "Francis is going to meet us at zoo in Santa Barbara after his shift this afternoon. We haven't taken the kids there since last summer."

"Oh, that sounds fun." I finish my coffee and look up at her. Her dark eyes are so much like mine. Her long dark hair is the same, too, but I keep mine shorter.

"I wish you could come. I regret having you work the Friday shift," she says and then laughs softly. "Make sure you call if you need anything."

"Yeah. I'm sure I'll be fine," I agree.

An hour later, they are packing up the van to leave. It's an hour drive to the zoo and the kids are excited. They've been talking about all the animals they are going to see, and Josie cried when I was told her that I wasn't going.

"Tell mom to take lots of pictures, okay?" I say to them as I help them get into their car seats.

"We will. I want you to see the flamingos. My favourite," Oscar says and then grins. "Have fun at work."