135. It's the little things

Bridgeport, present day...

Leigh decided at the last minute to invite Eloise and Blake to the park. She missed her nephew and she wanted to catch up with Eloise, find out what she and Devon had been up to over the past few days. She’d barely spent time with them since Blake’s return.

They made sure the kids were settled and having fun before they drifted to the food truck.

“So when you are moving back home?” Eloise asked. They were waiting for their hot dogs.

Leigh ignored her question; she didn’t want to talk about Krisis and their problems. She carried on watching Lily and Blake play in the sandpit.

It was their first meeting, but they seemed to get along like a house on fire.

Blake was in a sharing mood, Leigh saw him offer all his toys to Lily, who merrily accepted them.

A second later though, they got into a squabble when Blake demanded to have his yellow truck back and Lily refused to hand it over.

Leigh started to walk over to them to break up the fight, but Eloise stopped her.

“They’ll be fine Leigh. Let them play.” Eloise murmured as she paid for their food.

Leigh sighed as she took her plate, her friend was right, they were kids, and they’d be fine. She wished she could say the same for her and Krisis.

They walked over to one of the picnic benches a few feet from the sandpit. Leigh rolled her eyes when she saw Nick and Tony, her bodyguards, sitting across from them. They were like her shadow; they followed her everywhere she went. Tony insisted on being her driver too. As if she needed or wanted a chauffeur!

“Are you going to pretend you didn’t hear my question?” Eloise crossed her legs and chewed on her food slowly, the look of pure satisfaction on her face said it all, she was enjoying the grease very much.

“I don’t know El. It’s so complicated. The triplets are due in a month and our life’s just falling apart,’ she groaned, hiding her face in her hands.

She really didn’t want to talk about Krisis, but somehow she found herself opening up to her friend. She told her everything, from Thornton being Krisis’ father to the background check he’d done on her.

“Mommmmy!” Lily wailed from the sandpit, and they both looked up just in time to see Blake clobber her again with his truck, not the one he’d demanded back earlier.

Eloise hurried over to the duo and picked up her son. Leigh couldn’t hear what she said to him, but she guessed it must have been a silent reproach or a promise of a treat as she watched Blake walk up to Lily and give her a hug.

Leigh smiled. It was the cutest thing she’d seen in ages. Once again, she wished her life was that simple and her problems with Krisis could be resolved with a mere kiss and a hug.

“Where were we?” Eloise asked, resuming her place beside her. Leigh shook her head. She’d done all the sharing she was going to do that day. She felt much better though now that she’d gotten everything off her chest.

“You know, it took Tamsyn taking Blake to make me realize how short life really is, and how much I take the people around me for granted. Some things are not worth fighting over, Leigh. And some things are worth fighting for,” Eloise whispered, gazing off into the distance.

Leigh waited for more, but Eloise only smiled, there wasn’t any more, the rest was up to her.

Eloise had showed her the light through the crack, it was up her if she wanted to follow it and let it guide her home.

“Thank you.” Leigh whispered, taking Eloise’s hand in hers.

“You’re welcome.” Eloise scooted over to the other side and wrapped her arms around her burgeoning frame.

They stayed like that for a long time, both drawing strength and comfort from the other.

For a while, they sat on the bench, reminiscing about the past, and watched the sun go down as they planned Eloise’s wedding…

_______

Note:
Looks like this will be the only update this week...I have a busy week ahead of me.

I've been subpoenaed to appear in court tomorrow, I'll be tossing and turning, worrying about that tonight. And on Thursday, I'm flying out to Durban with DH and DD to see the in-laws. I'll only be back on Sunday afternoon, so hopefully there'll be an update for you all when you wake up on Monday.

I'll have my iPad with me and if I can get internet access, I'll hop on and read all your awesome updates, if not, I'll catch up when I return.

Namaste, stay blessed!