The house smells more homely, thanks to the homemade breakfasts and scented candles that have suddenly found a home in every room of the house and the conversations that we have managed to have were a pleasant surprise.
She seems to be settling in okay. Maddie absolutely adores her, although I could do without the constant stream of Disney songs blasting through the house at all hours of the day, but I haven't seen her since last night and I'm worried things are going to be really awkward.
Either way, it's nice to have her here. It feels good not to be alone in an empty house on a school afternoon and I’m definitely not complaining about that kiss.
Shaking myself from my thoughts, I turn on my heels and head back through to the gym to continue the session with Jamison following.
The next few days feel like Groundhog Day. Get up, train, eat, train more, eat, sleep. All while desperately trying to catch a single moment with Mia, who seems to be avoiding me. It’s Wednesday morning and I’m leaving for my press tour in half an hour so I’m waiting by the front door to say goodbye to my girl before I go.
A mop of curly brown hair runs towards me and I instinctively crouch down to let her throw her arms around my shoulders as I scoop her up in my arms and smile at Mia over her shoulder.
I explained everything to her again last night and although I’m in the bad books for going away, she’s looking forward to a couple of days with Mia, especially since I’ve arranged for the two of them to go on a chocolate making experience on Saturday. I’m not sure who’s more excited, Maddie or Mia.
“Promise me you’ll be good for Mia while I’m gone.” I put lower her to her feet and rub the bottom of my back as I straighten up — a reminder that she’s growing up fast and soon it won’t be so easy to just pick her up.
“Yes daddy.” She sighs, rolling her eyes at me, “But you need to tell her that too because she did my hair wrong this morning.”
I laugh as she stands looking at me with her hands on her hips like she’s telling me off. “Okay, why don’t you go get your school bag and I’ll tell her.”
Maddie skips up the corridor towards her room and disappears up the stairs.
“Okay, so I’ll be back on Sunday morning. You’ve got my number if you need it but if it’s an emergency, you can call Sarah. I’ll be calling every night to speak to Maddie before bed too.” This is the most I’ve said to her since the kiss and I really don’t want to leave it like this.
Her gaze is directed towards her worn burgundy converse and she’s holding her arms across her body as though she’s trying to protect herself from something. “We’ll be fine. I promise.”
I turn to leave, then hesitate, “Are we ever going to talk about what happened the other night in the kitchen?”
Her eyes find mine. “There’s nothing to talk about.”
“Is that why you’ve been avoiding me?” I press, knowing that I should just leave it alone.
“Look, you’re my boss. We kissed — and it was a really great kiss, but it can’t happen again because now things are weird and...”
“I know,” Impulsively I reach for her arm, but she pulls away. “It was a mistake, and we should just forget it ever happened.” Even though all I can think about is doing it again.
“I’m ready.” Maddie comes flying past and out the door. “Come on Mia, I’m going to be late. Bye daddy!”
She’s already halfway up the drive when Mia turns to follow her, jogging slowly to catch up with her as she takes her hand, and they fade into the distance. I grab my bag from the corner and head into the courtyard, locking up behind me and waiting for my team to pick me up so we can begin the journey down to London.
I was happy when Ethan left for his press thing on Wednesday. These past four days have been great. I’ve got to spend time with Maddie, and even Lexi has been over to give me a hand, which I never thought would happen — let’s face it, she only spends so much time here normally so she can ogle the athletes.
This morning we went to the chocolate making visit that Ethan had planned for us and I’m pretty sure we ate our body weight in chocolate, so I guess I’ll be reuniting with the couple of extra pounds I put on after the break-up. Maddie was exhausted when we got back this afternoon and put herself to bed straight after her phone call with Ethan so tonight, I am alone and have one heck of a movie marathon lined up. We’re going old school tonight.
First up is Breakfast at Tiffany’s, followed by Gone with the Wind and then we’ll end with Casablanca. We came away with a whole heap of freebies from our visit so I can’t wait to try some of the flavoured hot chocolate calling to me from the kitchen.
As great as it is having the house to myself, I am actually glad that Ethan is coming back tomorrow.
Initially, I was a bit worried that things would be a bit weird between us, but it turns out, we’re both pretty good at pretending nothing happened between us, maybe we can be friends after all — of course it helps that he’s miles away and I’ve only seen him for about ten minutes a day on a small mobile phone screen.
Even on the small screen he looks amazing, especially tonight when he called before the press conference in his fitted suit. I’d be lying if I said my mouth wasn’t watering. He seemed a little distracted though, almost like
