In Omnia Paratus Book 3

No secrets again

"Okay I'm gunna tell you something because you know we said we'd tell each other everything and I think we should keep to that." I smiled across at Richard as we met for coffee in a very busy week.

It was the third week into 2nd year of uni for me and 3rd year for him. So we were finding it hard to find time for one another.

"I don't like how this sounds." He joked.

"A couple of weeks back I met with George, you know the guy from the modelling business I work for." I explained sipping my drink.

"You used to work for..." he interrupted. "And hang on is this your ex boyfriend 20 year old George we are talking about here?"

"Well he's actually almost 24 now so..." I smiled happily across at him because I knew he wouldn't take this Well. "Well I never stopped working for his dad and now he's about to take over the business from his dad next year and has asked me to come back." I nodded.

"Let me get this straight." Richard coughed. "Your ex boyfriend who is four years older than you is asking you to come back from a job you told me you quit but never actually did."

"Yes exactly." I nodded.

"And why are you telling me this..." he frowned knowing what was coming next.

"Well..." I smiled.

"No Jenna no come on. When you quit last winter you said no going back." Richard groaned.

"But I never actually quit. I just took time off." I said happily.

He made a frustrate face. "You know I don't like the modelling Jen, they put you all over the place and we end up seeing you on the wall in next or Superdrug or any shop..."

"Well they kinda stopped the outsourcing, it'll mainly be online shopping places to be honest. Plus they may have offered me like double my pay and higher position than what I had before?" I begged him.

"What's higher than posing in front of camera?" He moaned.

"I'm just more reliable and flexible on hours and I'll get paid more for knowing what I'm doing. Especially at some of the fashion shows..." I grinned because I knew what was coming now.

"Jenna!" He snapped. "Again Last year we said just modelling no more shows..."

"To Get this pay I'll have to do a few every other month. Not loads." I explained.

"We have a hard time seeing each other as it is with all the work we have. When you're working it'll be worse." Richard moaned.

"I know, but you're coming home with me this weekend to see violet and the days I'm not at work I'll be with you. Work is flexible!" I smiled.

"Okay Fine. But you get stressed out and you quit ok? And can we do anything about this George guy?" He moaned.

"No, he's my boss." I laughed and kissed Richard quickly. "Thank you."

"Don't worry." He smiled reluctantly and kissed my forehead.

- - - - -

"Hiya." I called through the from the front door as Richard and I walked in to my house.

"Jenna!" Violet squeaked running to the front door and smiling.

"Hey." I lifted her up in my arms and kissed her cheek. "Oh I missed you." I laughed hugging her before putting her back on the floor. She was still incredibly light from the weight she lost with the cancer.

"Hey buddy." Richard smiled bending down and giving her a huge hug too.

We had spent all of summer with her and now going back to school meant we hardly saw her at all. It had been 3 weeks maybe 4 and we missed her like hell.

"Look at my hair." She spun around in her dress and her hair spun too. As I said before, she never fully lost her hair, it just got really thin and some of it fell out so she had patches of it that were really thin and you could see her scalp.

She usually did wear a beanie but today she wasn't and the patches were closing up. Some of it hard grown back but it still looked bad to be honest.

"Wow." I smiled looking down at her. "A few more weeks and I'll be able to plait it for you!"

"Oh Yes please!" She giggled. "When you were gone, grace said dada and mama." She jumped up and down but you still saw her get really tired after a few bounces and we had to go and sit down in the living room.

"Wow that's so cool and she's so close to walking." I said because last time I was here she was trying to walk at 8 month old and now she was over 9 months.

"She is so close!" Violet agreed.

- - - - -

It was hard because we came home for violet because she had this cancer and we were here all summer with her and now we didn't know what to do with her. She was too tired to do anything like softplay or going for a walk in the park or ride her bike.

She wasn't quite strong enough for most kids things.

So the day we got there on Friday we just sat and coloured this huge canvas Richard had bought for her and we got the paints out and had fun and then watched a movie in the evening.

But god know what we were gunna do tomorrow.

"We could go to the zoo but just carry her when she gets tired or take her pushchair." Richard suggested as we laid in bed that night.

"She wouldn't like to be carried, too much attention drawn to her, the same with the pushchair really." I explained.

"How about the cinema?" He asked.

"Oh yeah that sounds cool. We can ask her that." I nodded. "Then we could always take her shopping and I'll just carry her because she likes to look at the clothes that are high up anyway."

"Sounds good to me." Richard smiled. "Imagine if this was maisie we were trying to occupy for the day." He blurted out suddenly. It was what we were both thinking but for some reason he said it out loud.

"I can only imagine babe." I laughed at him and kissed him as he was dangerously close to me anyway.