Silver Screen Romance (Book 3)

62. He had drifted too far.

Mandy's POV

I didn't think twice about Colson or what he thought about me rushing back to Joel's with no explanation.

We pulled up to Joel's and I jumped out of the truck rushing into the house.

"Upstairs." Linzi pointed.

Once I was up there I knocked on the door and Joel opened it. "Hey. Thanks for coming in such a rush, I'm sorry if I interrupted—." He gestured behind me. I hadn't realized that Colson had followed me up here.

"No. No. It's fine. Is she okay?" I worried.

He smiled. "She's a hell of a lot stronger than I am."

I let out a breath. "She's stronger than all of us combined, she gets that from her mom."

"Let's talk in here." I followed Joel to the studio.

"So what happened?" I questioned.

He sighed. "Robin ran downstairs with Clem asking if we could decorate for Christmas tonight just like her mom and she was in her Christmas pajamas. I didn't understand why she would ask that out of the blue until Linzi explained to me that she was telling the girls stories about Ali and showing them pictures. I thought that Robin was going to react completely different after I talked to her that's why I had Linz call you as precaution. I was so selfish to keep these traditions away from Robin, she deserves to have her mom present in everything."

"You were afraid about how she would react to having Jules here?" I guessed.

He nodded. "But there is nothing for any of us to worry about Robin is perfectly okay with it."

"I know that you and Julia had a rough patch when it came to Ali, but you resolved all that right?"

He took a breath before answering. "I sure hope so."

"Maybe you and her should go for a walk and talk about it and I'll help Robin out here with the decorating until you get back. Just to be sure that Julia is going to understand and be okay with this."

He agreed and went to find Julia.

Kells' POV

After Joel and Mandy walked off, I knocked on the door and Robin gestured for me to come in.

"You're Uncle Benj's friend right?" She asked.

I nodded. "Yes, I'm Kells and you're Robin?"

She smiled and shook my hand.

"Did you know my mommy, Kells?" She wondered, while playing with a locket.

I shook my head. "No. I didn't know her, but your dad has told me a lot about her and I know she was a very special person."

She opened the locket and handed it to me. "That's her. She's really pretty, just like my Aunt Mandy."

I smiled. "I have to agree with you kiddo, your Aunt Mandy is beautiful."

Just then her smile grew bigger. "You like her, don't you?"

"Can you keep a secret?"

She nodded eagerly.

I put my pinky out. "Pinky promise?"

She giggled. "Pinky promise!"

"I do like her, a lot. Think you can help me out with that?" I asked.

She smiled and nodded.

"Thanks, kid."

"Kells, I think I'm going to call you Uncle Kells—is that okay?"