CHAPTER 8
1804 Words
The next morning, Anna woke up disoriented. She had so many questions. She also had Adele to tend to this morning so that definitely trumped her questions.
“Good morning, Princess” Anna cooed.
“Good morning, Mummy” Still groggy from sleep, her voice was small and cute, she couldn't resist pinching her cheeks at her cuteness.
“What shall we do first today?“
“Watch Coco Melon” Adele was more active now after stretching. That darned Coco Melon!
“No,baby, you should make your bed and pray. Tell Him all the things you're greatful for”
“Ok, Mummy”
“You'll meet me in the bathroom after, to have your bath”
“Did your daddy tell you we're going on a trip?“
“Yayyyy. I love trips” Adele bounced, clearly excited.
“Are you coming with us? Where are we going?“
“Calm down” Anna was laughing too, infected by her smile. “We're going to California”
“Ooh. We're going to Cali, baby” With that, Adele skipped out of her room, in search of Ryan. Anna could only shake her head.
After getting Adele ready for the day, she was ready to bounce too.
“Where are you going?“ Ryan's voice startled her.
“I'm…Good morning, Ryan”
“Yes, answer my question, Anna” Rude, much?
“To school”
“Without breakfast?“
“Yes, I'll skip. I have an early lunch today”
“I don't care. Sit your behind down and eat” He spoke in a low authoritative voice.
“Yes, Sir”
“I won't tolerate skipping food henceforth, you hear me?“
“Yes”
“That goes for you, too, Adele”
“Yes, Daddy”
“I'm done, Daddy” Adele spoke up again after a few minutes.
“Have a good day today, baby”His tone got softer with Adele.
“You too, Daddy”
“Come here, give your old man a kiss” Adele smooched him on the cheek and ran off to the door.
“No running, baby” He hollered after her.
“Mrs. Wright,watch her”
“Yes, boss”
“You” He turned to Anna “Be done in 5”
“I'm done”
“Let's get going then”
“I thought we agreed to go to school separately” Anna spoke up.
“Yes, and?“
“What do you mean? Are you just going to shamelessly go back on your word?“ Anna questioned incredulously.
“Yes” He was even calm about it as if he didn't see how wrong it was. How were they supposed to build trust?
“I can't believe you” Anna didn't care if she was being rude.
“I can't have you walking around in that skimpy thing you call a uniform”
“Skimpy? It is barely above my thigh”
“My point exactly, I can't have my wife getting ogled by random weirdos”
“I have been wearing this skirt way before I met you and nobody else has a problem about my skirt length”
“Because they're not married to you”
“What…” But he cut her off “We have to go now else we'll be late, not that I care” he gently put his hands on her back to propel her towards the car.
She decided not to speak to him till they got to school. Surprisingly, there was a back gate that she didn't know about. His driver pulled up and they both alighted.
“No questions?“ Ryan asked.
“No, thank you for the ride” With that, she left him behind, confused. He was expecting her to bombard him with questions about the back gate.
“Yo, Anna, where have you been?“ Amelia jumped on her from behind which almost made the girl fall.
“Geez Amy, what have you been eating?“
“Are you body shaming me?“ Amelia faked a pout.
“Shut up”
“Seriously, babes, where have you been?“
“Well…” Anna scratched her head, hoping she would drop it but Amelia was the most curious thing ever. She always had to get to the bottom of the issue.
“Are you holding out on me?“ Amelia asked playfully but she felt guilty nonetheless.
“I promise. I'm going to explain everything soon” She simply couldn't lie to her best friend.
“So, something is going on” Amelia did not know something was going on. She was just pulling her legs.
“Yeah. My grandmother has been taken care of”
“By whom?“
“Like I said, I'll explain later”
“Later when?“ Amelia whined.
“When everything's resolved”
“I hope everything works out soon, Anna”
“So you can get the full story?“ She rolled her eyes.
“That, too” Anna laughed.
“You're the best friend a girl could ask for”
“I try” She replied smugly
“ Modest, much?“ They both laughed.
“Let's get to class”
California was everything Anna thought it was and more. It exceeded her imagination. She finally had a reason to try on a swimsuit. She was excited and scared about it.
“How do you like the house?“ Ryan asked her.
“It's beautiful” She said, truly in awe. The house had its own private beach. She could simply walk out to the beach
“I love the privacy. I wouldn't want anyone to see me in a swimsuit”
“Why is that?“
“I'd probably look like a dud in it” She mumbled under her breath.
“I didn't catch that”
“I should check in on Adele. She must be so tired”
“Okay” Ryan answered, confused.
The next morning, Anna woke up late. She blamed that on how comfortable the bed and the sound of the sea waves simply lured her to sleep more. That had to be the best sleep of her life.
“Good morning Mummy” She took in a minute to take in the sight before her. Ryan reading the newspaper and Adele eating her breakfast. She could get used to it!
“Good morning, Angel”
“Good morning, Anna” Ryan greeted, already folding up the paper he was reading.
“Good morning, Ryan” He looked good. She had never seen him dress so casually. He was dressed in joggers and a white tee that clung to his body. Ryan caught her checking him out and smirked.
“Do you have any plans for the day?“
“Not exactly. I have never been here so I don't know fun things to do”
“True. I'll be heading out for my meeting soon. It's in Sacramento. Let me know if you want me to drop you and Adele off anywhere”
“But I don't know anywhere in California”
“I keep forgetting that…”
“Don't worry about Adele and I”
“Are you sure?“ He was hesitant about leaving them here by themselves.
“Yes. I could use that opportunity to catch up on the shows I've missed”
“But…”
“I insist, Ryan. Besides, you could take us out tomorrow instead”
“Ok, I like that plan”
“See you later”
“Bye, Daddy”
“Bye, Angel”
She spent her day well. First, she watched several episodes of coco melon with Adele. She found herself enjoying the show and even singing along. Adele was now sleeping after exhausting all her energy pretending to be a princess. She finally had time for herself.
She started watching Breaking Bad. It had five seasons but she started watching it anyway, knowing fully well she wasn't going to finish it.
She finally fell asleep on the third episode.
Ryan entered his beach house quietly, not wanting to disturb the girls. He suspected that they were both sleeping.
“You scared me!“ He half yelled when he found Anna on top of the stairs.
“Why are you sneaking in?“ Anna folded her hands, questioning Ryan.
“Because I didn't want to disturb you and Adele”
“Clearly, you weren't successful”
“Did I wake you?“
“Yes”
“I didn't mean to” He was standing in front of her now, he should move away but her sweet scent invaded him and he found himself wondering what she would taste like.
“Did you eat?“ Anna asked, noticing how close they were standing, moved away.
“Huh?“ He was still in a daze.
“Are you hungry?“ She repeated.
He cleared his throat before responding “Yes”
“Let me fix something for you”
“You don't have to”
“ I want to. Just freshen up and come to dinner”
“Will do” He could get used to coming home to freshly made dinner.
After his bath, he saw that the table had been set but Anna was nowhere to be found. He was kind of looking forward to eating with her.
“I didn't know you were down already” He looked up at his voice and the sight before him was absolutely jaw-dropping.
“I…I'm…Um…Where are you going?“ He forced out.
“I didn't have the opportunity to dip in the waters earlier so I'm going for a swim”
“Oh, ok”
He forced himself to not go after her but he couldn't resist it. Twenty minutes later, he was done with his food and ready to swim too”
“Can you even swim?“ He hollered to get her attention.
She hollered back. She was chasing the waves and laughing. Occasionally, she would sit in the water for a while and run again.
“Come here” He had the sudden urge to be close to her. To feel her wet skin. To feel the silky material of her swimsuit under his fingers. He smirked when she abandoned the waters to come to him.
“Do you want to learn to swim?“
“Of course”
“I could teach you”
“Yayy” She jumped up and down excitedly.
“But under one condition” She deflated and pouted.
“What do you want?“
“Come closer”
“What?“
“Come closer” His voice was deeper and his eyes were darker now.
One thing she was sure of was that he was up to no good.
- Writer
