Love to Last a Lifetime : A Sequel to Love With Staying for

Chapter 6

Rosie's POV:
A day after the brunch the kids were hanging around the Baker lake house doing their own things.

It was all relatively normal, with the exception of Mr. Baker budding in on Sarah and Elliot going kneeboarding together. Yeah, according to Sarah he was an absolute disaster at it, but let's be real no one was surprised by that.

Lunch time came around, and Miguel and I barbecued for everyone. "Elliot seems like a great guy. I can see why you like him so much." Mr. Baker said to Sarah. I had to subtly shake my head at how he just embarrassed her like that.

"Thanks a lot, Dad!" Sarah exclaimed as she got up from the picnic table and walked away from all of us. "What did I say?" Mr. Baker said, being the eternal bumbling and clueless father that he was. "Men are clueless." Kim said. "Honey men aren't clueless." Kate said as she subtly whacked Mr. Baker upside the head.

"I'll go talk to her." Kate said as she was about to go find Sarah. "Mom, let me do this, okay?" Lorraine said as she got up. "Trust me, I've got a little experience in the area of parental harassment." And off she went to talk to Sarah. Which I was sure was going to end in disaster.

And I was right because the next thing I know Lorraine is storming back to the lake house while saying, "A) I'm never helping her again. And B) I can not wait to move to New York!" So I decided to take a crack at it. But first I needed something.

"Charlie," I said as I wrapped my arms around him as he stood in front of the grill. "How much do you love me?" "Enough to know that you want something." He responded as he turned to face me. "I need your car keys so I can take Sarah into town. Please?" I said giving him my best puppy dog pout. "Alright." He said as he fished his keys out of his pocket. "Thanks. I love you." I said as I gave him a peck on the lips. "I love you too." He said back.

"Let's go Sarah." I told her as I walked up to her. "Go where?" She said back, still upset. "I'm going to town and you're coming with me. Unless you'd rather stay here and talk to your family about Elliot." I said to her, and she quickly got up and followed me.

Miguel's POV:
As great as the Baker clan is, I needed a little space to be alone with my own thoughts. So I went on a little mini hike to clear my head for a bit.

Imagine my surprise when I saw Annie Murtaugh swimming up out of the lake as I was sitting at a picnic table by a gazebo. "Hey." I called out to her, making her jump and yell at my presence.

"What are you doing here?!" She demanded of me. "Needed a little peace and quiet. Can't exactly get that from Rosie's future in-laws." I told her. "What's your excuse?" I asked her. "I like to get out of the house." She said plain and simple.

"Needed to take a break from the perfect daughter routine?" I asked her, making her turn to look at me. "I can see it in your body language. You seem like you're just putting on this perfect little angel routine to please your father. But is that really what you want?"

"No." She answered. "And I've been trying to figure out how to tell my dad that I'm not right for the corporate life. But for now, I just wanna draw." And I watched as she pulled out a sketch book. "What do you draw?" I asked her. "How about you?" She suggested as she turned my head slightly to the side. "Fine by me." I told her, enjoying the feeling of peace that being near her gave me.

Rosie's POV:
The car ride with Sarah was pretty quiet, but I could tell she had something, or rather someone, on her mind. And it definitely showed when we walked by the makeup department of the store and she was staring at the products.

"Something catch your eye?" I asked her as I regained her attention, while also making her blush. "Hey. You don't have to be embarrassed about wanting to try makeup." I assured her. "Does this have anything to do with Elliot?"

"It's just that..." Sarah started out as she seemed ready to confess what was going on with her. "I'm not pretty like you, Nora, or Lorraine. I've been thinking that maybe wearing a little makeup might help with that."

"Sarah, you do not need makeup to be pretty." I told her. "And you certainly don't have to change anything about yourself just to get a guy's attention. Besides, from what I hear, it sounds like Elliot already likes you just the way you are."

"You really think he likes me." Sarah asked. "He'd have to be an idiot not to." I assured her. "And don't worry about you dad embarrassing you today. It's basically in the girl dad rulebook that they have to act crazy when it comes to the boys we like."

"You're telling me your dad acted like mine?" She asked skeptically. "He was acting so crazy when Charlie and I first started our relationship, that my mom had to tie him to a chair and gag him so he wouldn't chase Charlie away before our first date." I told her. Which made us both bust out laughing.

"I'm really glad you and Charlie are going to get married." Sarah said after we calmed down from our laugh fit. "I mean you were always apart of the family, but soon it'll be official." I wrapped my arm around her and got ready to give her a tutorial on choosing the right makeup for her. "Trust me, I'm probably more excited than you are."

Miguel's POV:
Annie certainly was not how I was expecting a rich guy's daughter to act. She was so real and sweet and down to earth. And to top it off, she was also a talented artist, as evidenced by her portrait of me.

"You're good." I told her with admiration filling my eyes. "Thanks. Maybe you could say that to my Dad. Then maybe he'd let me transfer from Harvard to Madison Art School." Annie said as she put the drawing away. "Maybe if he saw your stuff, he'd agree in a heartbeat." I suggested. "I'll think about it.

"Do you wanna go for a walk, or something?" I asked her wanting to change to subject for her. "You asking me out Mendoza?" She quipped at me. "Yeah, you got a problem with that?" I quipped back. "Let's go." She said as we gathered her stuff.

Hanging with her was the most natural thing in the world. It was almost like we'd known. Each other for years. Not that I was ready to drop down in one knee for her, but I loved getting to know her. Beside it's not like her dad and Mr. Baker are going to have some big argument, decide to have some sort of competition to see who has the better family, and ban their respective kids from hanging out anymore. That would just be crazy.

(A/N: Hey guys. Look who's back with another update. A special shoutout to Isabellamarty06 for her suggestion on that special moment between Rosie and Sarah. And it looks like Miguel tempted fate in that last part there. As always see you guys in the next chapter. TTFN, ta-ta for now!)