Glide

Chapter forty-one

"There you go," Sophie says with a satisfied smile, parking her car outside David and my house.

"Thanks," I say, picking my purse up from the floor. "And thank you for letting me tack along today."

Sophie had invited me along for one of her self-pampering days. We got massages, face masks, mani-pedis, and our hair trimmed. I feel plucked and preened to perfection. I admire the soft pink shade of polish on my nails.

"Anytime," she flashes me a smile, more genuine than I've seen for the past few months since Cadin and Ethan were moved back to their mom. It is nice to see her be happy again.

"I had fun."

"Me too," Sophie says, squeezing my shoulder before looking at the time on the dashboard. "Anyways, in you go."

I chuckle. "Trying to get rid of me?"

She gives me an affronted look. "I have plans."

"Hot date?" Through the ups and downs of fostering, she and Jayden have stayed solid, and it makes me so happy that she's found her person.

A soft smile graces her lips, and she cocks her head to the side. "Just quality time with my boys."

In my new job within the system, I'm talking to a lot of families like Sophie's, who have their own children but want to take in foster kids. Ollie isn't biologically Jayden and Sophie's son, but after the adoption went through last year, he might as well be.

Surprisingly, or maybe not, he's the one who's dealt with this whole thing the best. Since it's no more than a year since he was in the system himself, I think he saw the eventual outcome much clearer than either of his parents.

I lean over to give her a quick hug. "Say hi from me." Then I climb out of the car, sticking my head in. "Talk to you later."

"Call me tomorrow," Sophie calls as I'm about to shut the door.

"Okay... why?"

She rolls her eyes. "Does a woman need a reason to want to talk to her best friend?"

"But you just spent the whole day with me..." I lift an eyebrow, thinking that we must have exhausted all recent news in either of our lives today.

"And it's never enough," Sophie says. "Now scram. Love you."

"Love you, too." I laugh to myself as I turn towards the house, dusk settling around me. The headlights from Sophie's car are briefly reflected in the dark kitchen windows as she backs out of the driveway.

I guess David hasn't come home yet.

I love this house. It's homey and warm and ours.

Unlocking the door, I fumble for the light switch as I enter, but nothing happens. The entrance remains shrouded in darkness. "Shoot," I mumble, turning the switch off and on one more time just to make sure. Maybe a fuse blew, and I have no idea how to fix it. I don't even know where the relay is. "Baby, are you here?" I call out, but get no response.