24. Lani
Lani
“Whatcha dooo-in?” Rory asked, climbing onto the couch.
“Just paying some bills,” Lani told her.
“Why?”
“So we can have electricity.”
“Why?”
“So the lights will work.”
“Why?”
Lani sighed and smiled at her daughter. “Hey, do you think that you could get me a glass of water?”
“Yes!” Rory sprang up from the couch and ran to the kitchen, a girl on a mission. She ran back a moment later and shouted, “We’re making lemonade!”
“Great!”
Lani finished her computer-related chores and then wandered over to the dashboard of the website where she sold her coloring books.
She smiled, tickled to see that the number of books sold had finally inched up past one thousand in the months since she had started. It must have been a good day for sales.
And then her stomach dropped.
There had been over one thousand books purchased that day.
She refreshed the page, wondering if there was some weird glitch.
The number went up by another five sales.
“What in the world…” Lani stared open-mouthed at the screen for another moment, then clicked over to the social media sites she used to promote her work.
Sure enough, there had been a tidal wave of notifications overnight. She scrolled through them and saw that some girl with a huge following had posted a video of the coloring book, alternately gushing about the art and coloring in the intricate details of some of the illustrations.
That video had nearly ten million views.
Lani couldn’t breathe.
“Here’s your lemonade!” Rory sang. She crossed the living room, carrying a glass in both hands.
“What’s wrong?” Just behind Rory, Tenn frowned in concern at the look on Lani’s face.
“Mama, we made you lemonade!”
She sucked in a breath and took the glass from Rory’s hands.
“Thank you, baby.”
“Are you okay?” Tenn asked, sitting down beside her.
“I sold over a thousand books,” she said breathlessly. Rory gasped and clapped her hands.
Relief washed over his face, and he grinned. “Congratulations.”
“No, you don’t understand. I sold over one thousand books overnight. More than twice what I had already sold. In months. And the sales are still coming through.”
“Lani, that’s amazing.”
She showed him the video that had set off the tidal wave of sales, and the flood of comments and new followers that she had gotten as a result.
“Mama, you sold a thousand books?” Rory asked, crawling up onto the couch beside her.
“I did, baby. I can’t believe it.”
“That means we’re going to Italy!”
Lani gaped at her daughter, then smiled bashfully at Tenn. “I did say that, didn’t I?”
Olivia appeared from down the hallway. “We’re going to Italy?”
“I think we are.” She cast a questioning look towards her husband, who smiled and grabbed her hand.
“I guess it’s time to start looking at flights.”
“I’d say we’re overdue for a vacation, wouldn’t you?”
“Eager to escape from paradise?” he teased.
She sighed and squeezed his hand. “I want to spend some time together as a family – away from all of the demands and distractions of daily life.”
Tenn’s eyes softened. “That does sound nice.”
“It’s an adventure!” Rory shouted.
“It sure is.” Lani laughed and opened her arms, and Rory launched herself into her embrace. “What do you think, Olivia? Are you ready for an adventure?”
“I guess.” She crawled up next to Tenn and peered at them cautiously. “What will we do there?”
“Eat phenomenal food,” she said, smiling at Tenn.
“And see amazing art,” he added.
“And say buongiorno to everybody!” Rory said.
“There’s pizza and ice cream and music and all sorts of fun things to do,” Lani told her.
“Okay,” Livie agreed, grinning. “Let’s go to Italy.”