Morgan lifted up a brow. “I thought I left you a bag of cereal for her to eat.”
Of course she had. A no-sugar-added, high-grains concoction that looked like something he should feed a canary, not a little girl. “I must have missed that,” he said vaguely.
“What is a goddess?” Ella asked and looked at him with curiosity. “Is that someone you pray to?”
“You could say that,” Henry said and bit back a laugh as his sister shot him a warning glance.
“Never mind, Ella. And no, you’re not going to have any Lucky Charms. You can have more eggs if you’re still hungry.”
“No, thanks. But can I watch some TV? Uncle Henry has a billion more channels than we do.”
“I suppose,” she said, and they watched as Ella scooted from her chair, went to the couch and expertly turned on the TV and began flipping through channels.
“So how are things going with you, Morgan? You seem to have a pretty full schedule these days.”
“Better than even I expected. In fact, my publisher approached me just a couple of days ago and asked me if I’d be interested in writing two more books. A pretty generous advance was mentioned as well.”
He could see that despite the modest delivery, she was excited about the news. As she should be. “That sounds terrific. Congratulations. What did you tell them? Yes, I take it.”
“I haven’t yet answered. It is a great opportunity, really. But it would mean I’d probably have to cut back a little on my speaking engagements. You know, if I’m to write the kind of word count I’d need to get these finished in the next two years.”
“Sounds like a win-win to me. You get a healthy advance and you get to spend more time around here with Ella. Instead of having to travel to thirty different cities in a few months.”
Like Henry, Morgan had wanted independence and separation from the Brighton family and wealth and had chosen to keep her own vast inheritance untouched. She planned on leaving the entire sum to Ella once she was a little older and without all the baggage that the money had for Morgan and Henry.
Not that Morgan was hurting for money, since Henry knew she was making quite a bit in her recent ventures, not to mention the generous child support payments her NHL superstar ex-husband sent her every month.
“I suppose.” She picked up her glass of white wine and took a sip. “I just get a little worried if I take myself off the circuit whether I’d be undercutting any gains I’ve achieved so far. I like getting out there and engaging with readers. With an audience.”
Because it’s on a superficial level. Nothing actually intimate. Or real. But he couldn’t tell her that. “No one said you couldn’t. But you would be able to be more selective. I’m sure Ella will be thrilled. I know she misses you.”
“Ella is doing just fine,” Morgan said a little too quickly, a definite edge to her tone.
He’d have to step carefully. “She is doing fine.
Better than fine, I’m sure. I just want to make sure you’re not throwing yourself too much into your work that you’re forgetting about the other more important things, important moments. Ella is only young once, and you and I know what it can be like to be left in the care of other people while our mother busied herself with work. Missing everything important in our lives.”
Her eyes were hard now as she answered. “I know very well what it was like living with an absent mother, Henry. More than you might know. I am nothing like her. And besides, who are you to talk? Outside of your work, what kind of personal life do you have? Other than the brief interludes you have with”—she glanced over to Ella—“the goddesses.”
“Uncle Henry has Benny,” Ella chirped from the couch, her gaze still on the cartoon playing on the TV, but obviously still in tune with their conversation. How did kids do that? “She’s really nice and helped get the candy from my nose and read me bedtime stories when I couldn’t sleep and we picked out clothes for her at the mall, then she bought me a corn dog.”
His sister looked surprised…and amused. “Who’s Benny?”
“No one,” he said too hastily. “I mean, we ran into her at the pediatrician’s office after the whole…Skittle fiasco,” he said quickly diverting his eyes. “She was the attending physician. We’ve become friends is all, not surprising since she lives next door. That’s it.”
“But you two went shopping together.” She brought her wine to her mouth to cover a smile. “That’s a little…unusual. Yet you’re just friends?”
“Long story, but yes. She actually is completely hung up on some doctor at her practice and—”
“You mean Dr. Seeley,” she interrupted, her eyes wide. “Oh, he is pretty cute.”
He paused. “Yes, thanks for that clarification. Anyhow, she needed some tips, some suggestions, really, on what she might do to help draw his attention her way.”
“And since you are a proverbial…connoisseur of women,” she said again after a quick glance to Ella, “who else to be her coach, is that it?”
“Something like that,” he said. He needed a change in topics and quickly. He wasn’t comfortable talking about Benny like this, not sure if he was violating some confidence. “How’s your own dating life coming? Seeing anyone?”
“No, I’m not. I don’t really have the time right now. But getting back to your new friend—Benny, was it?—tell me. What’s she like? Maybe I’ve seen her around.”