Chapter One
Mia Sloan stood at the bedside of Maisie, her best friend’s four-year-old daughter and made a vow. “I loved your mama, Maisie. She was my best friend. Now that she’s gone, I’ll take good care of you. I’ll love you, little girl, just as if you were my own baby.”
Mia flipped her long blonde hair over her shoulder and away from her face. Staring down at the sleeping angel, her gaze slid from the child’s wild thick red curls to the chubby hands clinging to her favorite fuzzy, white stuffed puppy.
Mia remembered a week ago standing in this very spot, only that time Jasmine had been there beside her.
“Funny how I look at my beautiful little girl,” Jasmine murmured, “and the idea that I ever contemplated giving her up for adoption is so far-fetched that I shudder at the thought.”
“You were in hell at the time. Romeo had just dumped you, and we were so poor in those days. You wanted what was best for your child. It was understandable.”
Jasmine reached over to tuck Mia’s hair back over her shoulder so her face was visible, and she smiled sadly. “You never once considered that option. In fact, if it wasn’t for you, I truly believe I would have opted for the easy way.”
“Hey, pal, if I had been brought up by a single mother like yours, addicted to booze and men, a woman who left you when you were only sixteen, I have no doubt, I’d have acted as you did. You were scared.”
Jasmine leaned her head against Mia’s shoulder, her beautifully made up face glowing in the light from the open door, and she sighed.
“It seems I’ve always been scared. I don’t know how I would have survived if your mom and dad hadn’t taken me in to live with your family back then.
They were so kind, and you… you just cleaned out drawers and packed up half your closet to give me room.
Then you talked them into buying us twin beds ‘cause there were only two bedrooms and I’d have to move in with you.
I’ll never forget the first night when your mom came in to say goodnight, and she bent over to give me a kiss just like she did for you.
She whispered in my ear something I never told you. ”
“Can you tell me now?” Mia leaned against her friend and rubbed her arm.
“She said I didn’t need to be afraid anymore. And then she gave me the words I’d never heard from any other adult. She said she loved me.”
“Oh, Jassie. My mom is such a doll. No wonder Dad and I adore her. I’m so glad she found that assisted living facility in Phoenix so she’s close to her sister, Angie, in Maricopa. It’s perfect; a place where Dad can stay with her in their tiny apartment.”
“I still can’t believe they’d sell the house and give us a portion of the proceeds to bankroll us so we could move to Los Angeles and have our chance.”
“They believed in us and it helped, right? Knowing that they were so sure we’d be successful certainly gave me the backbone to start up the clothing site here.
The fact that you’d taken the cosmetology courses meant you’d have opportunities, and you worked your ass off to make enough money to pay your own way.
They both told us then, ‘You girls have ambition and goals and the brains and means to get from one to the other. You’ll be just fine. ’ Remember?”
“Yes. I remember, and then I went and screwed it all up by meeting the idiot who’s name we never speak—”
“You mean Romeo?” Mia’s sneer brought a smile to Jasmine’s face.
“Yeah, Romeo. He had me totally hoodwinked.”
“He made you fall in love. Come on, girlfriend. You were ripe for some guy to come along and sweep you off your feet.”
“It was more like he swept the rug out from under my feet and played me for the fool I was. How come I didn’t listen to you when you warned me he was a creepy jerk?”
“You thought I was jealous. Hey, let it go. He’s gone, and good riddance. We’ve done a good job raising Maisie on our own. She’s a happy, well-adjusted four-year-old who loves her world.”
“That’s because you’re in it with her. I hate that I’m always on location, traveling all the time. You’ve been super, staying home, taking care of her daily needs.”
“Right. I’m a freaking angel. Come on, Jassie. You know I work from home. Even if Maisie wasn’t in our life, God forbid… I’d still be working from home. That’s why we got this apartment with the big studio.”
Jasmine turned to look at Mia and she leaned her forehead against her friend’s shoulder. “You always know what to say to make things better. I love you, Mia. For being such a good friend and looking after me since we were kids in kindergarten.”
“You’re my sister of the heart. I tell you that all the time. I hated being an only child, and you changed my world. I wasn’t so lonely. It worked both ways, kiddo. I needed you as much as you needed me.”
Looking back, Mia wiped the tears from her cheeks and gazed down at the little one who made life so perfect. She missed her friend terribly and knew she needed to leave this place, get away from the heart-wrenching memories and build a new future for her and Maisie.
The precious little doll had no idea that her world had turned upside down just one week ago. Mia and Jasmine had been roommates since they’d left their home in Phoenix six years ago to come to Los Angeles and make their fortune.
Things hadn’t turned out quite as they’d planned. Jasmine had given up her dream of being an actress after meeting Maisie’s nightclub singer daddy, Earl Lane. First, falling in love, and then falling in hate with the same man after he’d disappeared leaving her alone to bring up their infant.
Though she’d found him months later in a club in Dallas, he’d made her accept the truth once and for all.
He wanted nothing to do with her, her baby, or her future.
His words that both girls heard on the phone’s speaker were brutal.
“Jasmine, you’re a good lay. I liked being with you.
But baby, time for me to move on. If you decide to keep the kid, good luck. Don’t call again.”
Mia had held Jasmine many times after that day as she’d cried her eyes dry and wept for broken dreams. It had been a difficult decision for her friend to keep her baby.
Mia knew without her pleas and pledging to be there to help the pair through the hard times, Jasmine probably wouldn’t have taken on the responsibility.
But the minute that Maisie entered the world, both girls were in love and blessed the fact that Jasmine hadn’t made any rash decisions.
After Maisie’s birth, Jasmine had continued working in the movie industry, but rather than concentrating on acting, she’d focused her abilities on her cosmetology degree and knowledge of skin care products.
More and more often, she got called to be the assistant for the head make-up artist on movie sets.
With her name getting volleyed around in the industry, she’d been whisked to New York and many other cities to be on location. That’s where Mia came in.
As a young girl, she’d started a blog and a podcast about the job of caring for her elderly parents. Both suffered from the beginnings of crippling arthritis and needed constant help. Her father wasn’t as bad as her mother, but he’d had his own disabilities, and he’d never leave his wife.
After two years where their health deteriorated, they forced Mia to let them sell the house and go into an assisted living place in Phoenix.
She argued with them about their plans; couldn’t imagine them living anywhere but the old home she’d grown up in.
Through discussion and laying out the true facts that the house and large yard were more than they needed or wanted, she finally saw the light, shut down her arguments and backed out of their way.
She knew part of their idea for using the house money was for her and Jasmine to have their chance in the city. Jasmine, who was like a second daughter to them, wanted to be an actress and what better place than L.A. to get her break in the industry.
Jasmine had been in their lives since the girls were in kindergarten.
Over the years, Mia and her folks had watched Jassie’s young mother deteriorate due to alcohol and hard living.
When Jasmine turned sixteen, she’d come home from school one day to find all her mother’s clothes and personal items were gone. She’d been abandoned.
There was never any question as to where she would go.
She’d spent more time with Mia’s family than at her own squalid apartment.
Being so distressed, filled with disbelief that the woman she’d lived with all her life could just up and leave her; broken-hearted, she’d gone to them to share the news.
Once they heard, the outcome was a no-brainer. She’d move in with their family. Accepted wholeheartedly, she grew to call Mia’s parents Mom and Dad.
Throughout, Mia continued her blog because the growing audience she felt close to weren’t only interested in her health reports but in her as a person. The thought of closing it down seemed so alien, she couldn’t bring herself to even contemplate it. But she now needed a new focus for her talks.
In the past, she’d begun sharing her dreams of sewing baby clothes that were specialty articles. No two alike. And her audience had stuck with her.
She’d even shown her finished products online and the shock came when order after order followed. The people watching her show demanded she let them buy her wonderful pieces. It got so she had more orders than she knew what to do with.
Accepting her success, full of ideas that never stopped, she’d hired one and then another Mexican girl her age desperate for work to help her produce the clothing.
Her specialties for mother and daughter outfits, and even shirts for daddies and dudes, were so popular, she built up a very decent source of income.
Once they’d decided to move to L.A. her audience hadn’t changed, just her vicinity and life became fun and lively. She and Jasmine had lived in a charming whirlwind of romantic escapades and career building. Until Maisie arrived.
Then Jasmine became brittle, harder, gained a disgust for the male species, and her recluse ways shifted over to Mia who’d tried to be supportive. Years had flown by as they’d centered their lives on the little girl they both adored.
When the call came that Jasmine had been killed in a car accident, in a taxi on the way to the airport to return home, Mia had gone to her knees, wailing so loud she scared herself.
Calls and messages began flooding in from friends in Phoenix as well as in L.A., and the one that meant the most was from her Aunt Angie.
She loved Jassie and adored Maisie as much as the rest of Mia’s family and was devastated from the news.
“Honey, I’m so sorry you lost Jassie. I did as you requested and went to see your mom and dad to tell them in person.
Alicia carried on so, we finally had to give her a sedative, and Frank just went quiet.
You know how he does when he’s upset. What a terrible waste of such a beautiful girl.
A taxi accident. Goodness, it’s a true shame.
Have you decided what you’re going to do now? ”
“I can’t stay here anymore, Angie. It’s too sad.
Maisie doesn’t understand what’s happened, but she’s reacting to my behavior and has begun sucking her finger and fretting terribly.
She’s constantly seeking attention and cries more than she’s ever done before.
I need to get both of us away from the memories that make me so sad. ”
“And that’s another reason I called. I want you to come and live with me here in this big ole mausoleum.
If you insist on a place of your own, I can get my handyman, Jack, to reno the larger casita on the property.
It would give me so much pleasure to share in your and Maisie’s immediate future…
just until you know what and where you want to eventually end up.
Please say you’re going to think about it.
Your mom and dad have their fingers crossed and me…
I have my fingers, hands, arms, legs and eyes crossed so you’ll agree. ”
Giggling at the image of her aunt’s goofiness, Mia answered, “Yes, a hundred times yes. I’ll be there as soon as I can get everything organized here.”