Lucy ran around the house gathering her things. George watched her and tried not to laugh. She had her backpack packed full of her things and she was pulling on her hat as she ran into the room. George had got a call that Layla and Ringo were on their way to his house to pick up Lucy. She was excited to say the least.
"Are they here yet?" She asked. George shook his head as he sat down on the couch. Lucy stopped running around and sat next to him. George picked up his guitar and started to play a little bit.
The afternoon before George had spent hours trying to cheer Lucy up. After Maria left, Lucy missed her and her mum and Richie. So, George took her out for a late lunch. They went to a little cafe-turned restaurant Edelweiss (A-del-vise). After lunch, they went to an ice cream parlor for dessert, Lucy seemed pretty cheered up, but just to be sure George took her to the park to play for the afternoon.
After that, they had dinner and George took her to a toy store to pick out two toys. She's picked out a new coloring book and a new doll with curly brown hair and a pink dress. She was cheered up to say the least. She'd falled asleep on the way home.
The doorbell pulled George from his thoughts and Lucy gasped. George shook his head, knowing it wasn't her parents. They never rang the bell. They came right in. George answered the door and found Paul and Weslyn. They always rang the bell.
"Hey are Mr. and Mrs. Starkey home yet?" Paul asked grinning. He saw Lucy peaking around the doorway from the living room and George shook his head.
"Nope." He said turning around. The two followed him inside, "But they'll be here any minute." He scooped up Lucy and he tickled.
"I'm sure you're just dying to go home." Weslyn said teasingly. Lucy shrugged and sighed.
"I miss my mummy." She pouted. George kissed her cheek and she sighed.
"Well Mummy will be here soon." He said sitting on the couch.
"I can't believe Maria actually went home!" Weslyn exclaimed suddenly. She crossed her arms over her chest and scowled, "I tried so hard to get her to stay! She has friends here and she's got you here and it just so annoying that she doesn't want to stay here just because she doesn't want to leave Jenna, who by the way is her sister, not her own child." Weslyn rolled her eyes and Lucy and George laughed at her.
"It's OK, Wes." George said, hearing the sound of the door before anyone else. "Maria has her own life. I don't care if she doesn't want to live here." Weslyn made a face at him, but didn't get a chance to answer it.
"MUMMY!" Lucy screamed before she shot across the room to Layla. She wrapped her arms around Layla's knees and held on tight. Layla dropped the bag she was carrying and picked her up.
"Oh you've grown a foot!" She said kissing Lucy's cheeks, "I missed you so much!" Lucy hugged her mother's neck as Ringo followed her in. "Were you good for Georgie?" Lucy nodded and buried her face in Layla's shoulder. "Did you have fun?" Lucy nodded again and Ringo tapped Lucy on the shoulder. She sat up and grinned at him. He took her from Layla and she hugged him.
"Did you bring me a present?" She asked from his shoulder. He laughed and squeezed her tight.
"Maybe." He said kissing the side of her head, "You want to go home?" Lucy nodded without sitting up and he grinned.
"Say bye to Georgie, Paulie, and Weslyn." Layla said waving. They all waved back, "Thank you for keeping her George." He waved her off as they left for home. George flopped back onto the couch onto something hard. He groaned and pulled a notebook out from under him. It was Maria's.
"Maria left her book." He said tossing it onto the coffee table. Paul and Weslyn looked at each other and grabbed it. "What are you doing?"
"Looking at it?" Weslyn said making a face, "I wanna see her new drawings." George didn't want any part of this, so he got up and went into his room. He needed to wash the sheets, so he ripped them off his bed and took them to the washer. He put them in with some detergent before he went back to Paul and Weslyn. They were still looking through the book. George walked over and snatched it from them.
"She doesn't let people look at her book." He scolded. He took it into his room and he put it on his bookshelf before he went looking for a new set of sheets. He put them on his bed and made up his bed before he collapsed against the bed. He sighed and took a deep breath in. One of his pillows smelled like Maria's shampoo. She closed his eyes and just breathed in her scent. He missed her quite a lot and she'd only been gone a day. He did really care a lot that Maria didn't want to stay in England and he really felt he needed to know why, but she never said. He wasn't going to force her to stay in England. He couldn't even if he wanted to. She did have a life in America, but so had Wes, and she came to be with Paul.
George turned over and looked at the ceiling. He wanted to call her, but he didn't know her number. Weslyn would have it, but he couldn't ask forit and come away without being embarrassed about it. He'd have to wait for a letter from her. He didn't want to wait though. He sighed and sat up as the phone rang in the other room. He got up and ran to it hoping.
It was only John.
This was going to be hard. Very hard.
