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Grace Bass was having a sleepover at her godmother’s house and she loved it, she always loved being there, first of all she loved Ava, her little cousin. Plus her godmother really was great and most of all, her husband was the best.
Jenny Baizen worked for her mom, she knew, and she loved spoiling her and she was also a lot of fun, they often played dress up together, it was great. And Carter was probably her favorite adult except for her uncle Eric, he was so much fun, he always threw her in the air and made her spin around him. And he knew how to cook, he always made pancakes for her in the morning.
It was the morning, and as it was a saturday, she was the first up, had it been at home, the cook would already be here. She’d waited half an hour but she really was hungry so she stepped into her godmother's bedroom. She was very surprised to see her godmother and her husband sleeping facing away from each other on opposite sides of the bed. Were they mad at each other ? Didn’t they love each other ?
She ran to where Carter was sleeping and shook him with tears running down her face. He woke up, and looked immediately alarmed by her tearstained face. He was up in no time and had her in his arms as he walked out of the room.
“Hey, Sweet Pea, what’s happening ?”
He asked as he walked to the couch, still holding her.
“Don’t you love Aunt Jenny ?”
He seemed surprised by her question, “Of course I love your Aunt Jenny, sweetie, she’s my wife, I don’t just go around marrying people I don’t love. Why would you think I don’t love her ?”
“You weren’t sleeping like you are in love, you were sleeping on opposite sides of the bed,” she explained breathlessly.
“How do you think people in love sleep ?” He asked, rocking her against him.
“They sleep on the same side of the bed, real close to each other and they always hold each other’s hand,” she described, that was how people in love slept, it had always been.
He smiled, “I think I know where you got this from, sweet pea, but there are a lot of different ways people in love sleep, and just because they don’t sleep exactly like your parents do doesn’t mean they’re not in love. I love Jenny but we don’t sleep well if we’re too close to each other, do you understand ?”
“You love her ?”
He nodded.
“And she loves you ?”
He nodded again and the little girl finally smiled, “So you’re not going to divorce like Aunt S and Tom’s dad ? I don’t want Ava to be in Brooklyn like Thomas.”
He shook his head, “No, we won’t divorce, sweet pea.”
Her smile was even wider now, they weren’t going to divorce, it was good, she didn’t like that Thomas spent so much time away and Ava shouldn’t have to be driven from one side of the city to the other all the time.
“Can I have pancakes then ?”
He smiled, “Coming right up !”