Chapter 21 Lily
TWENTY-ONE
LILY
“If you were a plant, Stella, what would you need to grow big and strong?”
“Plants need water to grow,” Stella declares. Fisting a green crayon in her hand, she colors in a tree in the booklet I gave her.
“Yes, you’re right. That’s not the only thing plants need to live. Do you know what else?”
She stops coloring and peers up at me. “The sun and dirt.”
“Yes!”
She slaps my hand, ecstatic.
“There’s one more thing.” I poke my chin with my finger. “It’s something even humans need.”
Stella throws her arms out around her. “Air!”
Stella’s an angel. If I could, I would shrink her and put her in my pocket.
“Stella, I have a secret,” I whisper.
Her face turns up with a sneaky smile. I gesture her to come closer, and her little ear nearly brushes my lips.
“Do you know you’re the smartest person on this tour?”
“I’m the smartest person on this tour!” she exclaims, jumping on her knees and turning heads on her brother’s tour bus.
Should’ve known kids and secrets don’t mesh well together.
“That was supposed to be a secret!”
Steps rush down the stairs, and not a second later, her brother appears, half asleep and frazzled. “Did someone yell?”
“Did you know, Daddy?” Stella bounces, hitting my shoulder with each jolt.
Lately, she’s been calling Levi her dad and Amelia her mom.
Rubbing his eyes, willing himself to wake up, he leans his tired body on the wall. “Know what, Birdie?”
Her little lips purse. “I’m the smartest person on the bus, duh!”
I can’t hold back my laugh when she rolls her eyes at him.
He does it right back to her. “Someone so small shouldn’t be so sassy.”
“Big people shouldn’t be so silly. You should be smart because you’re so big.” She gestures with one hand lower and one higher.
“All right …” I trail off, giving Levi an apologetic smile. “Do you want to give Levi your test so he sees how smart you are?” I direct at the sass queen.
Nodding, she jumps down from the booth, and I hand her the booklet. Skipping to him, she pushes it into his stomach. A playful look crosses his face as he holds it up and reads the A-plus.
“That’s my girl.” He ruffles her tiny head. “Now get back to work.”
“Yes, Daddy!” she replies brightly, running back to her spot.
With her back turned, Levi sends me a small, defeated smile.
“Trinity wants to hit up a bookstore, and I desperately need a coffee. Where do you want to go, Lily?” Amelia asks, glancing over her shoulder as her bodyguard drives us in their Cadillac to a popular outdoor mall in God knows what city—I’ve lost track at this point.
“I also need to go to the bookstore. I want to surprise Stella with some new books.”
“That’s sweet.” Trinity gushes, “She’s turning into a tiny reader.”
“She really is.” I think back to all the lessons she’s taken over, reading the material to me. “That girl is going to go far in life … I’m calling it.”
“Levi would love to hear that.” Amelia has a faraway look on her face.
“What’s going on in that head of yours?” Trinity leans forward in her seat, worried.
“Levi always knew he would have a harder time with Stella when she got older. He never anticipated the Mommy and Daddy name-calling though.” Her fingers fiddle with the end of her sundress.
“The right thing to do is to tell her we’re not her parents—he understands that.
But how do you tell a little girl something you know will hurt and confuse her? ”
Poor baby.
“This is a lose-lose situation. Whatever you do will cause hurt, whether it’s later on or now,” I admit.
“Not only is Stella a smart girl, but she’s strong. Maybe all this stress is for nothing, and she won’t even care,” Trinity says smoothly, but shows discomfort on her face.
The rest of the drive is quiet. Once we reach the bookstore, I purchase all my favorite books from when I was a kid. Pinkalicious and Fancy Nancy are a fan favorite. My copies look used.
Sunglasses are held in front of my face.
“If you were sunglasses, you would be these. Try them on.” Not giving me a second to even comprehend her words, Amelia shoves them onto my nose.
Trinity smirks at me in the mirror. “You look hot.”
The girls gather around me as I inspect the oval black sunglasses.
Do I feel like a baddie? Yes.
Do I know the price is going to be astronomically expensive? Absolutely.
When I go to check the price, Amelia scoffs and rips them away. “Nope, I don’t think so.” She pops the P and walks backward toward the cash register.
“What are you doing?” I follow her, not liking the look on her face one bit.
“You look good, and I could tell that you like them … so I’m buying you a present,” she says simply, bolting for the nearest salesperson, acting like she’s not in a high-end store.
Damn it, this was a trap. I should have known.
Trinity holds me back when I try to chase her down. “She’s a lady on a mission. Nothing could ever stop her.”
I huff in the middle of a store I never would have had the luxury of stepping in before this tour. Amelia greets me with a yellow bag dangling from her finger and winks seductively. I half laugh … and sob.
Why am I getting emotional?
“Don’t look at me like that.” Amelia wipes my lone tear away with a thumb. “You deserve them and more.”
Pulling her into a hug, I thank her a million times, then threaten her if she ever does something like this ever again.
Shopping with these girls is not a good idea.
Eight bags are clutched in my hands, and my bank account is weeping.
My new glasses are perched on my nose. New dresses, shirts, and pants linger in my bags. Let me tell you, these ladies were on a mission to spice up my wardrobe.
“Wait till the boys see all our bags.” Trinity giggles.
The three of us combined have at least twenty bags. I have never seen so much money spent in one afternoon.
Amelia laughs. “Maybe we shouldn’t show them. They may have a heart attack.”
“I don’t think there’s any hiding these.” I gesture to our hands.
Times Three’s bodyguard walks in front of us, surveying the outdoor mall like a hawk as we make our way to the car. His phone rings. Picking it up, he listens for a second before spinning around with an alarmed look on his face.
“Just got a call saying paparazzi are swarming the building outside. There are at least ten men out there, so I made a call for backup.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Amelia mumbles, the happiness that was bursting through her body a second ago drained.
“They always find us. How do they do it?” Trinity sits on a nearby bench and huffs. Blowing the brown hair out of her face, she pushes her sunglasses up the bridge of her nose.
For a Monday afternoon, the mall isn’t busy. Amelia has been able to walk around without getting harassed every second. She isn’t even trying to blend in and disguise herself.
Ten minutes go by until three more men, dressed in black, stride into the mall and find us a couple of feet away. My eyesight isn’t the best, yet I can spot multiple people crowding around the door, blocking all paths to walk through the parking lot.
“Let’s go, ladies,” one of the bodyguards chirps.
We send each other concerned looks as the bodyguards surround us and push us forward with their strength.
“Keep your head down, no talking, and keep walking.”
As soon as we exit, it’s a zoo. The paparazzi push closer, someone grips the back of my shirt, bright lights make me see stars, and everything they yell combines together..
“New girl, tell us your name!”
“Who are you? Everyone wants to know!”
“Are you a new girlfriend?”
“You guys look great!”
“New girl, you’re trending all over the internet. How do you feel about that?”
I’m what?