Chapter 7
Cleo
It had been a couple of weeks since Cleo had spoken to her twin brother, Evan. He had worked the past three Friday nights in a row and thus hadn’t made it to those family dinners. She’d never admit it out loud, but Cleo missed him.
Evan worked at a tech company who supported some major online websites.
So, when upgrades were required, or an outage happened, it was all hands-on-deck.
With the run up to the holidays fast approaching, the shifts he had to work got longer.
During those times, her family rallied even more and helped to take care of his eight-year-old, Sophie, when needed.
Cleo walked into her kitchen and flicked on her coffee maker before walking over to the counter where her phone sat. She picked it up and ignored the unread emails waiting on her and called to video chat with him.
“Auntie Cleo!” Her niece’s adorable face took up the entire screen as she leaned in to kiss the image of her aunt.
“Hey Sophie! Where’s Daddy?” Cleo asked with a smile.
“Daddy’s doing his teeth, so he can’t talk just now. So, I get to talk instead. Can we go to the park today? Daddy said it’s not going to rain, so you won’t get dirty this time, so you have no excuse to say no.”
In what seemed like a single breath, her niece had managed to call her out on her dirt phobia, throw Evan under the bus, and get her way. Hmmm… she clearly had tricks to learn from her niece to deal with some of her clients.
“Tell your daddy he needs to mind his own beeswax, and we can do whatever we want when he’s not there.
” Cleo paused, “Or when Granny’s not there either, because we all know she’s the boss.
” Cleo took delight in the giggle dancing out of her niece, so she leaned in close to the phone and whispered, “Even Grampy knows she’s the boss. ”
Sophie was no longer giggling but full belly laughing with her aunt now.
“Right, Soph, go get your bag ready for staying at Auntie Cleo’s tonight, ok? I’m just going to catch-up with her for a minute.” Evan took the phone from his daughter, and Cleo could hear Sophie clambering up the stairs like a herd of elephants to her bedroom.
“Hey stranger, feel like I’ve not spoken with you in ages! Are you ok?” Cleo examined her brother’s face, noticing the dark rings under his eyes, and the uncharacteristic stubble on his face.
“Yeah, I’m good,” Evan sighed and looked away from the screen.
“Evan, what is it?” Cleo’s brow furrowed with concern for her brother.
“Nothing, I’m just tired, that’s all.” When he looked at his phone, he noticed Cleo’s arched eyebrow. “Honestly, I’m ok. Just juggling a lot at work, and Soph’s birthday is coming up, which is always hard to be happy for, you know?”
Cleo did know. Evan’s wife, Taylor, had passed away when Sophie was born. Every year she saw her brother relax a little more through the year but make up for it come Sophie’s birthday. She wished she could do more; the whole family did.
“Look after yourself, ok? If you need to cut back some hours at work then do it, I’ll cover whatever money you’d lose.
Even if it’s just for a day or two to get some sleep.
You’re no good to Sophie if you’re exhausted again.
You know this, Evan.” Cleo channeled their mom, knowing it was what Evan needed to hear, even if he didn’t want to.
“I’ll think about it.” He replied. “Anyway, don’t worry about the park, but I was hoping you’d do something outside with her. She’s been cooped up this past week because Clara had been watching her in her apartment after school, and I think the air will do her good.”
Clara was Taylor’s mom and one of the sweetest people Cleo knew, but she lived on the eighth floor of an apartment block, so she didn’t have a yard for Sophie.
“No problem, I know just the thing,” Cleo said with a smile. “Right, I’ll let you go. Tell Sophie not to learn any new tricks from Grampy this morning please, I can’t deal with that this weekend after the week I’ve had.”
With that, Evan laughed, and they said their goodbyes before ending the call.
Cleo plugged her phone in to charge and padded bare foot across her kitchen to get the coffee which had only just finished dripping into her cup. She wrapped her hands around the cup and breathed in the spiced aroma, while hugging her elbows tight against her body.
Saturday mornings were one of her favorite times of the week.
She took the time to relax and unwind from the past week, wore her favorite oversized hoodies and yoga pants, enjoyed a cup of coffee before spending at least an hour reading, and then prepared herself for whatever the weekend’s plans were.
This weekend: quality Sophie time—her absolute favorite.
Her niece’s eyes nearly popped out of her head when Cleo showed her what they’d be doing that afternoon.
“Treasure hunt? With a real metal detector??”