Sophie (The Boss 8)

El-Mudad and I sat up against the headboard. I took my phone off the nightstand, and he picked up the remote, turning the television on just in time. Neil strolled out nude and gave us a critical look.

“You’re not as good at acting casual as you believe you are,” he said, rubbing his hair with a towel. He tossed it aside and rounded the bed to pull back the covers. “Something is going on.”

“You may wish to put on pants for this,” El-Mudad suggested.

Neil never liked feeling vulnerable during a serious discussion.

He let his head drop back and sighed in resignation. “I thought we were tired.”

“I am tired,” I assured him. “But I want to get a good night’s sleep.”

“Well, I refuse to put pants on, so you’ll simply have to keep this as non-confrontational as possible,” he grumbled as he settled in beside me.

“We don’t want Olivia to have visitation with Valerie and Laurence,” El-Mudad said flatly.

“And I have a good excuse for why she shouldn’t go this weekend,” I offered.

Neil seemed far less upset than I had anticipated. He simply shrugged and said, “There’s no excuse needed. We’re her guardians. They have no legal right to visitation at all if we wish to deny it.”

“Oh.” I wasn’t sure what to do with that.

“Were you expecting an argument?” Neil looked between both of us. “I assure you, you won’t receive one.”

“Maybe a little bit. Because of the upset that severing ties with them would cause Olivia,” I admitted.

“There’s no reason to sever ties,” Neil said reasonably. “Valerie is perfectly welcome to visit Olivia here. Under our supervision.”

“And Laurence?” El-Mudad asked.

Neil didn’t answer that.

“My only fear,” El-Mudad went on, “is that this might open some room for Valerie and Laurence to object. I’m unfamiliar with the law here. Would they be able to do something to force us to let her go with them?”

“That’s a good point. We need to figure that out before we do anything official. Or even breathe a word of this around Olivia,” I warned them.

“Agreed,” Neil said immediately. “We’ll need distance between any legal proceedings and whatever tantrum Valerie throws over being denied further visitation.”

His words made a lump stick in my throat. “Would it be a tantrum?” I asked, my voice trembling. “Or would it be a woman losing access to her only remaining link to her daughter?”

Neil looked as though I’d slapped him.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered. “But I’m not. This has gone all wrong. I hate having to do this to Olivia and Valerie.”

“Valerie did this herself,” Neil argued.

“Did she, though? Neil, you know—”

“That this isn’t her?” He repeated the words I’d said so often, and which had been running around my brain for such a long time. “I thought we’d decided that this is the person she is now. That we were both on the same page.”

“We are. But...” What could I tell them? I had no proof. “You’re right.”

“I’m glad you think so,” Neil agreed. “Because for a moment, I thought there was some sort of gas leak making you defend her. Is there anything else we need to discuss then? While we still have this poorly-timed summit?”

“As a matter of fact, yes. El-Mudad and I have discussed sleeping arrangements for Molly’s visit, and we’ve decided not to hide anything,” I said, brushing my hands together as though I’d done some hard work.

“You two have been busy while I showered,” Neil mused.

“Children can see through dishonesty,” El-Mudad said.

“And teenagers talk about stuff behind their parents’ backs,” I added.

Neil nodded in concession to our points. “Which is important for us to remember with regards to both Molly’s visit and this debacle with Valerie.”

I cuddled up with my head on Neil’s chest, and El-Mudad spooned me. He took Neil’s hand and held it, resting both of them on my hip. “Everything will be all right, my loves. We simply need to have patience and trust.”

“Yes, two things that Sophie and I are known for,” Neil quipped, disentangling their fingers to reach over and flick off the bedside lamp.

With a yawn, El-Mudad replied, “You can be pessimistic right now, but starting tomorrow, it’s to infinity and beyond.”

He meant “onward and upward,” I assumed.

I didn’t correct him; it felt like this would drag out to infinity and fucking beyond.

Chapter Six

Though there were two airports on Long Island that were much closer to our home in Sagaponack, I tended to fly visitors from back home into JFK or Teterboro so they could fly over New York in the helicopter. It wasn’t a weird luxury flex; everyone just really wanted to see Manhattan. It was much more impressive than landing at Islip.

We pulled directly onto the tarmac at Teterboro. Our jet had already landed, and the moment the car pulled up, Molly was headed down the stairs way too fast. As I stepped out, I called, “Be careful, those are steep!”