Never Say Never Rachael Sommers (story read aloud txt) 📖

“Did you have a good day, sweetheart?” she asked him, although she already knew the answer.

“The best!” he said with a smile so wide it lit up his face. God, she loved seeing him so happy, even if she wasn’t the cause of it.

“What did you do?”

“We played lots, and I made you some more drawings—come look!” He took her hand and led her to his craft corner. Camila glanced at Emily, who was watching him fondly.

Jaime showed her the pieces of paper he had doodled all over. Camila told him to pick his favorite to stick it on the fridge. As he bounded away, she turned to Emily.

“How did it go, Emily?” she asked with the unspoken hope that it had been a good day for Emily too. Camila wanted her to be happy here. She wasn’t sure what she would do if Emily decided not to stay.

“It was great.” Emily looked as happy as Jaime. “He was an angel.”

Jaime, back from displaying his artwork on the refrigerator, overheard her and beamed, then crawled back up on the couch, sitting so close to Emily that he was practically in her lap.

“I’m glad he behaved.”

“Well, I should probably get going,” Emily said. Jaime instantly stuck out his lower lip. “Let you guys spend some time together.”

“You could stay for dinner, if you like.” The words seemed to escape from Camila’s mouth on their own, but there was something about Emily that drew her in, and it had been nice the other night to have a real person for company rather than a glass of wine. Although she was surrounded by people every damn day, not a single person really knew her or even liked her. She knew what her employees said behind closed doors, knew she wasn’t an easy boss, but no one ever became CEO without stepping on a few toes. It was different having someone in her home, someone to gush about her son with, someone she could talk to about things other than work.

Emily looked surprised at the offer. “I… Are you sure?” Emily still hesitated around her. Camila hoped that would change the longer she was here.

“I wouldn’t offer if I wasn’t.”

“Okay, then. Thank you.”

“I think it’s lasagna tonight. Is that all right?”

“Sure. Do you want any help?”

“No. Stay here. Keep this one occupied.” She gently ruffled Jaime’s hair. The movie paused on the TV was one of Jaime’s favorites; Camila had watched it with him countless times. “Finish your movie.”

Jaime bounced happily on the couch when he heard that, and Camila turned to the kitchen as Emily pressed play. She smiled listening to Jaime’s giggles and Emily’s laughter, smiled at the sheer warmth that flooded the apartment.

It was something she could get used to.

As Camila served up their food, Emily started another movie for Jaime before setting the table. Camila noticed that the two settings were next to one another, positioned so they could both keep an eye on her son.

“So, Emily,” Camila began. She wanted to get to know the girl a little better. “How are you finding New York so far?”

“It’s good,” she answered, her mouth full of lasagna. She managed to swallow before continuing. “It’s a lot busier than New Haven and the small town in Massachusetts where I spent my teenage years. But I grew up in Chicago, and it’s nice to be back in a big city again.”

“Why did you come here instead of Chicago?”

“My sister’s here,” Emily explained with a shrug. “She came for college and liked it so much she stayed.”

“I didn’t know you had a sister.”

“Well, foster sister, technically. But she was my rock, after”—her eyes darkened briefly—“after everything that happened with my parents. We didn’t get along very well at first, but pretty soon we were inseparable. I had a hard time when she left for college.”

“Did you want to follow her here?”

“That was the original plan, but then I got a scholarship from Yale, and Cassie said if I even thought about turning it down she’d never speak to me again.” Emily’s eyes shone when she talked about her sister. “I loved coming to visit her here, so it just made sense to move here after I graduated.” Emily pivoted the question back to Camila. “How about you? Why did you decide to settle here?”

“I wanted a fresh start, and there’s no better place if you want to make it big in the world of television. Plus it was on the other side of the country from my mother, and the greater the distance between us, the better.”

“You don’t get along?”

“That’s the understatement of the year.” Camila hadn’t been face-to-face with Charlotte Evans in quite some time, and she couldn’t even say that she missed her. Her mother been cold and cruel when Camila was growing up. Even as an adult, she never stopped telling her what a failure she was, despite everything she had accomplished.

“Does she see Jaime often?”

“I keep him away from her as much as possible.” Camila wanted to protect her son from her own childhood experience. “She barely even remembers she has a grandson. Even if we lived closer, I doubt she’d want to spend any time with him.”

“That sucks.”

“He’s better off without her.” Camila heard the bitterness in her voice, so she cleared her throat and changed the subject. “Do you get on well with your foster parents?”

“Uh, it’s only one foster parent now. Cassie’s dad died a few years ago.”

Camila sucked in her breath. She couldn’t imagine what it felt like to lose both parents, find a foster family, then lose one of the parents who had taken you in. She wondered how someone who had been through so much loss could still shine so brightly.

“But my foster mom, Sarah, has been amazing. I don’t know what I would have done without her. Despite everything else that’s happened to me, I’ve been lucky.”

Camila would have hated that kind of unadulterated optimism from anyone else, but