[Second Chances 02]California Dreams (11 page)

Thursday morning Daniella demanded to go to school. “I feel fine, mommy,” she told Grace as she gobbled up a bowl of cereal like she was starving.

“Really? Well, your appetite certainly seems to be back.” Grace watched her tip the bowl up and drink the leftover milk, spilling it over her chin in the process.

“See. All done. Can I go get dressed now?”

“Sure honey. School doesn’t start for another twenty minutes so we’ve got plenty of time to get there. Brush your teeth and then bring mommy a brush and I’ll comb your hair out.”

“Okay,” Daniella took off running down the hallway.

“Well, she sure seems to be feeling better today. Maybe all she needed was a day of rest.”

Grace was baffled but happy nonetheless, “Whatever it is, I’ll take it. She had me so worried yesterday.”

“I could tell.”

Grace placed her empty coffee cup in the dishwasher before asking, “What are you up to today?”

“Nothing much until later on. Stan and Samuel are taking turns keeping watch over Hector at the hospital. I thought I might sit down and come up with a menu for Sunday’s cooking interview. The more I think about it, the more I know I want to train and cook in that restaurant. I only hope I’m good enough.”

“What are you talking about? Of course you’re good enough. You may not have a fancy degree after your name, but you are one of the best cooks I’ve ever met. Don’t sell yourself short!”

“Thanks mom.” Both women chuckled, “Seriously, I want to make a good impression, but I can’t decide if I should make something I’m really comfortable with, or go for something really over the top and unique.”

Grace thought for a moment and then offered, “You could take your favorites, those that you’re really comfortable with and improve upon them. Change them up a bit to make them more gourmet.”

Jane looked at her and nodded, “That’s it. That’s exactly what I’ll do. Grace, you are a genius.”

“Well, I don’t know if I would go that far…”

“Doesn’t matter. That’s a brilliant idea.”

Grace smiled, “Glad I could help. Well,” she said, looking at the phone one more time and wishing it would ring, “I’m going to head into the arts center for a few hours after I drop Daniella off at school. You’ll be sure to answer the phone if it rings?”

“Yes. I will. If Dr. Patterson’s office calls here, I’ll give him both your office number and your cell phone.”

“Thanks,” she said, not getting to finish her conversation as Daniella came running back down the hallway, brush in hand.

“Here mommy, I wants pigtails.”

Grace took the brush, “You do? How come?”

“I like them. You said I look cute in them.”

Grace laughed, “You do and that’s a good enough reason for me.” She brushed her hair out, quickly separating it and forming two perfect pigtails atop the little head. “There you go. Let me look at you.”

Grace pushed Daniella way and then turned her around. Her daughter’s fashion sense definitely needed some tweaking, but she was only four so got away with a lot more than an older child would. Today she had chosen a pair of yellow leggings, topped with a purple and pink princess t-shirt showing Ariella and Sebastian from
The Little Mermaid
movie. She had her multi-colored tennis shoes on, with the laces untied, and bright orange socks.

“Um, Daniella, maybe we should find another pair of pants to wear with that shirt.”

Daniella shook her head, “No. I wants to wear these ones.”

Seeing the stubborn look appear on her daughter’s face, Grace mentally threw her hands up.
Sometimes you just have to pick a battle that’s worth fighting. So what if the color schemes looks like she fell into a rainbow. She’s four and can get away with it.
“Fine. Now, we’d better head out or you’re going to be late, young lady.”

Daniella took off running down the hallway again. Grace heard her throw the hairbrush into the basket by the sink and then scramble to get the front door open, “Come on, mommy. I don’t want to be late.”

Grace sighed, picked up her purse and then smiled at Jane, “Have a good day.”

“You too!”

*****

Grace and Katelin had just finished selecting the first three numbers the Children’s Choir would work on when her cell phone rang.

She looked at it for a moment before she answered it, “Hello?”

“Grace, this is Dr. Patterson.”

He didn’t sound worried.
“Hi, doctor.”

“Grace, I got Daniella’s blood test results back. Her white cell count is elevated, probably due to the cough she’s had the last several days. I would like to schedule her for a chest x-ray, just to make sure we aren’t missing the beginnings of an infection.

“Would this afternoon work for you?”

Grace breathed a small sigh of relief, “So, you don’t think it’s anything serious?”

“Not at this time. I would like to rule out any respiratory infection and then take another blood test the first part of next week and see if her numbers have changed at all. How is she feeling?”

Grace smiled, “She seems to be feeling really good today. She even asked to go to school.”

“And yesterday?” Dr. Patterson inquired.

“Yesterday, not so good. She was lethargic and pretty quiet for the most part.”
Should I be worried about that?

“Well, that sounds pretty normal for a little girl. Bring her round later this afternoon and we’ll get a chest x-ray just to be on the safe side.”

“Thank you doctor, I will. Thanks for calling.”

“No problem.”

Grace hung up. When she looked up, Katelin and Derek were standing there watching her, “Is everything okay?” Derek asked.

Grace smiled and nodded, “Yes. The doctor drew some blood samples the other day and was just calling to tell me he thinks Daniella’s just got some sort of infection. Everything seems fine.”

Derek smiled, “Good. Well, I just wanted to let you know I have the enrollment numbers for this term and you are at three hundred and have a waiting list of twenty-nine already.”

“Twenty-nine? But we haven’t even started yet. Usually we don’t get that many kids on the waiting list until the end of February.”
Twenty-nine kids who wanted to participate and couldn’t because of the limit I put on the size of the choir.

Grace quickly did some calculating in her head and then asked, “How hard would it be to expand our risers?”

Katelin knew where she was going and grinned, “Yeah, could we add an extra set to each side of the stage?”

Derek thought for a moment and then nodded, “I think there’s plenty of room for that. What are you two thinking?”

Katelin looked at Grace who was smiling broadly now, “I’m thinking that if there are that many kids who want to participate with us, why not let them?”

“You mean, increase enrollment? But, we’ve never done that before.”

“Aren’t you the one who’s always preaching to me about change and how it’s a good thing?” Grace asked Derek, placing her hands on her hips and raising one eyebrow at him.

“Well,” Derek stammered and then smiled, “Alright, you’ve got me there. Do you really think you can handle more kids?”
Three hundred is way too many for me to handle. I still don’t know how she and Katelin do it.

“You let us worry about crowd control. You bring’em in, and Katelin and I will have them singing like canaries before you know it.”

“Alright, but if this doesn’t work, it’s all on you two.” Derek walked out of the office, mumbling beneath his breath.

Katelin turned to Grace, “You really think we can handle another thirty kids?”

“Sure. But that means we need to build that many more folders before Monday.”

“Grace, it’s already Thursday,” Katelin reminded her.

“I’m aware of that, so why are we standing around. We have music to print off and folders to put together.”

Grace and Katelin spent the rest of the day doing just that. As 3 o’clock rolled around, Grace stood up from the conference room table, grabbing the latest stack of finished folders and depositing them in the large rolling cart. “I’m out of here. I have to go pick Daniella up and run her by the doctor’s office for her chest x-ray. Why don’t you leave the rest of these and we’ll tackle them first thing tomorrow morning?”

Katelin stood and stretched, “Sounds good. See ya tomorrow.”

“And they took a picture of my insides, only they wouldn’t let me see it.”

Sara chuckled through the phone, “Well, I’m sure Dr. Patterson would be happy to let you see it when you go to visit him again.”

“I wants a copy. Mommy says that they don’t do that, but maybe if I ask really nice Dr. Patterson could do that.”

“Maybe. It was good talking to you Dani. Can you got get mommy and put her back on the phone for me?”

“Mommy! Aunt Sara wants to talk to you again,” Daniella hollered into the phone.

Sara pulled the phone away from her ear and laughed, waiting a second and then putting it back to listen for her sister to pick up. “Sara?”

“Hey, you might want to talk to Daniella again about pulling the phone away from her mouth before she screams really loud.”

“She didn’t! Sorry about that. We have talked about it, I think she just forgets.”

“Don’t worry about it. Anyway, tell me what the doctor said.”

Grace filled her sister in on the report and promised to keep her informed. “So, what are you and Trent up to this fine Saturday morning?”

“No much. We got another ten inches of snow last night. Trent’s out clearing the driveway with the tractor right now.”

“Ten inches? Sara, are you sure you want to live up there?”

Sara chuckled, “Yes I’m sure. Besides, Trent and I have decided to expand.”

“Expand?” Grace said the word, trying to figure out what her sister was talking about. When the light came on, she squealed, “You’re going to have a baby?”

“Well, not that I’m aware of, but we are trying. Do you think Daniella would like a cousin sister or a cousin brother?”

Grace smiled, “Anything, as long as it’s healthy. Oh, you have to tell me the minute you find out. Daniella and I will make plans to come up there when the baby’s born.”

“That would be fun. Did I tell you that Trent was going to bring me to California if Dani was really sick?”

“No, and he offered to do that?”

“Yes. I thought it was a nice gesture.”

“Totally sweet and making me totally jealous.” Grace cringed at the wistful note in her voice, sure her sister had picked up on it.

“Feeling lonely, sis?” Sara asked.

“Maybe. I don’t know. Lately, I don’t know that I’d mind having someone else around to share things with. No offense, I know I can always share things with you, but it’s not the same …”

“…as sharing them with a soul mate and partner. You can have that again, you know. Alec wasn’t a one shot deal.”

“I’m starting to think you’re right. I guess maybe I’ve been out of the dating scene too long. Maybe after things settle down at work and with Daniella I’ll visit one of those dating circle things.”

“You mean
speed dating
?” Sara screeched. “Tell me you’re not actually considering that? Grace, you can’t do that. A lot of those men are psychos and abusers. You need to meet some nice, career oriented guy who would also make Daniella a great father. Don’t get in a hurry!”

“Slow down, mother. I was just saying it might be one way to meet someone new. I don’t think I could ever make myself go through with it, but it was an idea.”

“Don’t have those kinds of ideas!”

Grace chuckled, “I could always advertise online for a boyfriend?” Grace heard her sister’s gasp of outrage and laughed, “Gotcha! Don’t worry, when and if I ever decide to start dating again, I’ll be safe. Who knows, maybe Prince Charming is already out there looking for me and I just haven’t found him yet.”

*****

Samuel arrived at the house to pick Jane up a few minutes after her phone call with Sara. Letting him in, she informed him, “Jane’s still getting ready. She got delayed keeping Daniella entertained for me while I spoke with my sister.”

“How are Trent and Sara?”

“Good. So, what’s on your agenda for today?” Grace picked up toys as she led the way back to the kitchen.

“Jane wants to shop for the food she’s going to cook tomorrow. I thought we’d take a walk through the Botanic Gardens first and then head down to the docks.”

“That sounds fun and exciting.”

“What are you and the princess up to today?”

“We are going to ballet class. A friend of mine from college has a dance school that just opened up and she’s running a preschool ballet class on Saturday mornings. I think Daniella will enjoy it.”

“I’m all ready, mommy,” Daniella said, twirling her way into the kitchen. Seeing Samuel she grinned and twirled her way over to him, “Hi Mr. Samuel. Pick me up.”

“Daniella, be nice,” her Mother admonished.

Samuel chuckled but dutifully picked the little girl up, admiring her outfit as he did so, “What are you wearing?”

“Ballet clothes, silly. Don’t smash my tutu. Mommy said she didn’t think I’d need it, but Angeline Ballerina wears one, doesn’t she mommy?”

“Yes, Angelina wears a tutu, but I don’t think you’ll need one today. We’re just going to try it out, remember?”

“I’s remembers. But I want to be a ballerina and fly up in the sky.”

Samuel took that as a clue to lift Daniella above his head and fly her around the room once, “Like that, princess?”

Daniella’s eyes danced with glee, “Just like that. Mommy, Mr. Samuel needs to come to ballet as well. That way everyone can see how well I can fly.”

“I think Mr. Samuel has other plans with Aunt Jane. Speaking of which, would you run down the hallway and tell Aunt Jane that Samuel’s here?”

“Okay,” Daniella squirmed until Samuel set her down. She lifted her arms above her head and proceeded to dance her way down the hallway.

“Sorry about that.”

“Don’t be, she’s as cute as a button. I’m real glad she’s feeling better.”

“Me too.”

“Me three,” said Jane, entering the room with her list in her hands.

Samuel smiled at her and kissed her cheek as she drew near, “What’ve you got there?”

“My list. Grace gave me a brilliant idea when we were talking about the menu. Chefs Perez and Scaltini aren’t going to know what hit them after tomorrow night.”

Samuel loved hearing the confidence in her voice. He’d only heard her rendition of her interview, but something had clicked for her during that process. She was more confident than he had ever seen her. He loved it!

“Ready to go? I thought we’d take a walk through the Botanic Gardens before we headed down to the docks.”

“Great! I need to pick up some flowers for the table as well.”

“We’ll get you whatever you need. Grace. Daniella, enjoy ballet class.”

“I will Mr. Samuel. Will you dance with me when you get back?”

“I’d love to sprite. It’s a date.”

Daniella beamed at him, happy at his compliance, “It’s a date.”