Thirty-One | Lyric
Thirty-One
Lyric
Cole took the kids to run errands, giving me a few hours to get some work done, which felt weird on a Saturday. But I still had a huge decision to make, regardless of whether I wanted to or not.
I’d been working for Laroque for so long that I’d grown accustomed to doing the bare minimum, just to say I had a job in fashion.
But the passion I had once had for designing clothing had burned out a long time ago, even if I hadn’t wanted to admit it.
It was like I had packed up a dream, moved to New York, and let it dwindle to nothing while I tried to navigate life without the man I loved.
That was until yesterday, when I accidentally created the perfect brand.
Everything I sketched came so easily to me that I could barely keep up with getting the sketches down as ideas flooded my brain.
I had to stop and write them down, making sure to store the information somewhere in case inspiration decided to flee as quickly as it had arrived.
There were easily fifteen designs that I could launch right away, with the opportunity to expand on them as needed. The ideas I had were simple, yet beautiful. They were fully functional designs that brought a sense of stability, allowing mothers to feel beautiful without sacrificing comfort.
While I had never had the pleasure of being a mother, I’d learned quickly from taking care of Chloe that I never stopped moving.
She was constantly on the move, and I never knew where my phone was because I was busy chasing after her.
I could only imagine multiplying that with several small children and knew that I needed to cater to the demographic that Laroque often overlooked—mothers.
I was so busy adding color and small details to one of the sketches that I hadn’t heard the door open when they returned.
“Hey, we picked up lunch while we were out,” Cole said, smiling at me as he headed toward the kitchen table where I had been working. “I hope you’re hungry.”
“I’m starving,” I replied, gathering the colored pencils and putting them back into the case. I set everything aside and heard my stomach growl loudly as the smell of hamburgers filled the air.
My eyes widened as I saw Kara and Ben come in, carrying takeout bags from my favorite food joint.
“No way!” I said, clapping happily as they grinned at me. “I haven’t had Foxy Burgers in forever!”
“I figured you hadn’t,” Cole replied. “I saw it when we were heading back and thought it would be a nice surprise.”
“I didn’t think they still had one in Willow Falls.” I sat back and waited while Cole pulled out my food and set it in front of me as Chloe climbed up beside me. Kara handed her the kids' meal box and barely pulled her hand away as Chloe ripped it open and shoved a handful of fries in her mouth.
My eyes widened in surprise as I watched her, wondering if Cole had bothered to feed her a snack while they were out. They were gone for a few hours, but I didn’t know where they had gone.
Everyone took their seats as Cole finished passing out the food before sitting down to join us.
“They don’t,” he replied as he unwrapped his hamburger. “We stopped at the one in Cyprus Canyon on our way back.”
I nodded and took a bite, feeling like it was none of my business why they went to Cyprus Canyon.
Even though I was legally their guardian, that didn’t erase Cole’s presence in their lives.
I wasn’t going to ask him to stop doing things he likes doing with them, just because a piece of paper granted me permission to do so.
As far as I was concerned, he was as much their legal guardian as I was.
I was surprised that Clay hadn’t listed him as their guardian, but figured he had his reasons and maybe didn’t want to tie Cole down to raising his kids.
“I forgot how heavenly their food is,” I said around a mouthful as I held my hand in front of me as I spoke, trying hard not to moan because it was seriously that good.
“I wish they wouldn’t have closed down the one here,” Cole replied. “But the drive isn’t too bad, so I can’t complain. I would do a lot of questionable things for a burger and fries from Foxy Burgers.”
“Uncle Cole!” Kara shrieked with a giggle as she took a bite.
“What?” Cole shrugged. “It’s true.”
“What kind of questionable things is the real question,” Ben said, arching an eyebrow. “Like the kind of things that Aunt Lyric would judge you for, or things that you could go to jail over?”
“You only go to jail if you get caught,” Cole teased with a wink.
“I would probably judge those things,” I said slowly, feeling everyone’s eyes on me. “But... if it meant you brought a burger for me, I could easily look away.”
The sound of laughter filled the room as we ate as a family, something I thought I would never have.
After lunch, I was hanging out with Chloe on the couch when I heard a slight commotion as Cole held the door open as Ben and Kara brought in handfuls of bags.
I leaned forward, my heart dropping into my stomach as I saw the name on them and spotted different color fabrics peaking over the tops of them.
“Please don’t be mad,” Kara said gently as she approached, standing in front of me while Chloe scooted away so she could see the TV.
“Why would I be mad?” I asked cautiously, unsure of what they were up to. While I had a good idea, I didn’t want to assume anything.
“Well, I kinda asked Uncle Cole to take me to Cyprus Canyon this morning. I know that you said you weren’t ready, but I saw how happy you looked the other day and I –”
She stopped talking and let her shoulders fall as she set the bags on the floor in front of her.
“I might have overstepped, and I’m sorry if I did. But you weren’t the only one who got excited about those designs. Maybe I was being selfish, but I bought some fabric and thought we could try to make some of them.”
“Ahem,” Cole said with raised eyebrows as he cleared his throat.
“Okay, fine,” Kara huffed. “I spent Uncle Cole’s money. But still, we all decided that we wanted to do this for you. We wanted to give you the resources you needed to make your dream come true.”
I lifted my hands and clasped them together in front of my mouth as tears filled my eyes.
“Kara, you didn’t have to do that,” I whispered.
“I know. I wanted to.”
“We weren’t sure what colors you decided on, so we got a mix of everything,” Ben said. “They had some sample scrap things, so we took those. They said that if you like something and they don’t have enough of what you need, you can call and they’ll order it for you.”
“I might have taken a peek at some of your older sketches and saw that you lean into certain colors. I decided to go with those since they seemed like a safe bet, especially with the mommy-and-me idea,” Kara added.
“I can’t wait to see what you guys picked out,” I replied, my heart fuller than it had ever been. “Thank you so much, you guys. This is so incredibly sweet.”
“Yay!” Kara squealed, clapping her hands together. “Let’s get this party started!”
I laughed as I sat back and watched them pull out fabric after fabric, setting them on the coffee table as Kara explained what she had envisioned each would be used for, based on the sketches she had seen.
It was a surreal experience to have this level of support, especially from kids who I thought would never come around to accepting me, let alone truly loving me.