Page 74 of When You Wish Upon a Wideout
Sienna let Beau lead her across the path and into the large parking structure, where there were more stares, more double takes. They reached the elevator and got in. Sienna didn’t stop Beau from pushing level three when she was parked on the first floor. They were somewhere between floors two and three when Beau pressed a button, and the elevator came to a sudden halt. It should have startled Sienna. But instead, the moment of privacy a few yards in the air allowed her to release the heavy, burdened breath she had been holding since she left the accounting office.
“I’m not okay. I’mpissed off,” she spat. “Because how is it fair that my insurance company is refusing thousands of dollars of tests but paying for the treatment of the results?” Her ears warmed. “That money should beforGrace’s future. She has one now.”
Beau leaned his shoulder against the back of the elevator, waiting for her to continue.
“I won’t take your money. I’m going to get the bill as low as I can, and I’m going to pay it.” Sienna finally looked up at him. “Everysinglecent.”
“I know you won’t take my money. And I know you will pay it off. If I didn’t think you could—or that you’d kill me—I would’ve gone in already and handled it for you.”
“Then why did you come?”
Beau pushed off from the elevator wall and hugged her, resting his chin against her head.
It took a minute, but Sienna’s arms slowly wrapped around his waist as she pressed her face into his sweatshirt, breathing him in.This is what it means when someone shows up for you.
“I know you want to handle it alone.” Beau’s voice dusted a subtle promise of support into her hair. “But you don’t have to be alone while you’re doing that anymore.”
* * *
“Wowza.” Emily’s hand hovered above Abigail’s back, mid-burp.
“That’s a lot of sparkles,” Sienna said when Grace came out from behind the curtain.
Abigail began to fuss, and Emily resumed patting her back. “Don’t be a party pooper, Sienna.”
“Foryou, maybe.” Grace gave Sienna an up-and-down look through the reflection of the mirror.
“Are sequins back in fashion?” Sienna asked Emily, balancing her coffee cup on her jean-covered legs.
“They never left, Mom.”
“Well, even if it’s extra sparkly, you look beautiful in it,” she told her daughter, who was fluffing her wig.
Emily nodded in agreement before adding, “Beyondbeautiful.”
The sparkly green dress illuminated Grace’s intensely dark eyes and the newly returned pink flush to her cheeks. Sienna relished the smiles and giggles coming from Grace as she twirled around in front of the mirror, trying to savor the milestone that, a few years ago, Sienna wasn’t so sure she would ever share with her daughter. The thin strap of the dress showed the small scar close to Grace’s shoulder where a port had once been buried. But the contrast of the scar and Grace prancing around in the sequined dress, looking at herself from all angles, drew a smile from deep inside Sienna’s heart.
“What?” Grace asked.
Sienna shook her head. Flashbacks of Grace wearing a Cinderella costume for Halloween—when she had made Henry go as her prince charming—came to mind.Weren’t you just three and eating toothpaste?
“I hopeJustinthinks I’m beautiful.”
Emily raised her eyebrows. “Did the kid ask you yet?”
“No,” Grace said. “But he will.”
“You could go with your friends. Does everyone go with a date?”
Grace shrugged. “Most people go with dates. Did you have a date?” she raised her eyebrow at her mother.
“I never went to prom,” Sienna said, taking another swig of her coffee.
“Why not?”
Sienna shrugged. “I just didn’t. But I’m glad you’re going and that you’re so excited.”
Prom had remained an unchecked item on Sienna’s wish list—a rathersoreunchecked item.
