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“ I love you too. Did you cut your hair?”“ Not recently,” she said.“ New make-up?” he asked, looking more closely.“ A different shade of lipstick,” she lied.“ It makes you look more grown up. I kinda like it, but I still see you as my little cupcake,” he said, heading back into the house. Ryan was leaving and said goodbye as he jumped on his mountain bike. He peddled off quickly. Eddie found Justin and challenged him to some video games. They sprinted to the family room while Tanya cooked Sunday dinner. She wondered what it would be like to have a chef five days a week.
With the table set, the family gathered for dinner.“ We will be moving next summer,” Tanya announced.“ It’ s my senior year!” Nicole was alarmed.“ You will be in the same school,” Tanya assured.“ Where are we moving?” Justin asked.“ You will see tomorrow. I want both of you home right after school. Samantha Evans has invited all of us for dinner,” Tanya said, emphasizing“ All” and noticing Nicole was about to put up a fuss.“ Remind me there is something we need to discuss privately,” she said to Eddie and glanced at Nicole.
Nicole asked to be excused from the table as soon as she finished her dinner. Eddie excused both children and waited for them to disappear before resuming the conversation. Tanya said she would be making an appointment to put Nicole on birth control. Eddie nodded, knowing this day would come.“ She can’ t be your little girl forever in the sense that eventually you will be walking her down the isle and giving her away.”“ That is going to be hard,” Eddie said.“ I know. But she will ask, hopefully not soon, and you will be gracious and happy for her.”
They left for Sam’ s right after school. She wanted Justin and Nicole to see the place before dinner and knew Tanya informed the children of the impending move. The automatic gate opened as Tanya punched the code on the security panel. Eddie occupied the back seat with Justin and observed their reaction to the estate they would be calling home.
At the front door, Maurice greeted them by name and introduced himself.“ I am your butler and at your service,” he said, with a bow and a friendly smile. Sam came out of the house a moment later dressed in designer jeans, white silk blouse and tennis shoes. A golf cart was parked near the front of the home. Introductions were offered and Sam noticed she and Justin would get along marvelously. She was sure he would stop blushing every time their eyes met even though it was an endearing quality. Eddie and Tanya’ s tour of the mansion consisted of the main house and the pool.
“ Drive Eddie,” Sam said, leading them to the golf cart. Tanya took the seat next to Eddie. The kids jumped on the rear facing seat.“ Oh my. Nicole would you mind sitting on Justin’ s lap, or should I?” Sam asked. Nicole passed on the offer.“ You don’ t mind. Do you?” she asked, not waiting for an answer.“ Follow the path to the right,” Sam directed, putting her arm around Justin’ s neck and placing his arm around her waist.“ Don’ t let me fall,” she laughed, as the cart jerked forward. Justin tightened his grip.“ Where are we going?” Eddie asked.“ The garage on the back forty,” Sam said. The low barn style building was once a horse stable. It housed John’ s private automobile collection. eighteen pristine, classic cars waited inside.“ I thought you might like to see John’ s cars before I sold them,” she said, as the cart came to a halt. Sam placed a key in a lock box and pressed some numbers on the keypad. The automatic door opened and the lights came on.“ John liked horsepower not horses,” Sam said, as the brightly colored vehicles reflected the lights overhead.“ This is an amazing collection,” Eddie said, running his hand over a royal blue Shelby Cobra.