One Night Only

Chapter 22 - Paparazzi

                  

It was absolutely the best week ever. Skylar was out the hospital and doing better than ever. I was doing so well as Ask Judy that I was given the job permanently. Through it all Dalton had been by my side – secretly of course. Her majesty was on a prideful rampage constantly about how right she was as Dalton mopped around the penthouse. She had instructed Dalton to stay as far away from me as much as possible and he was - during the daytime at least. It was when the street lights came on and the shadows got a bit scarier that Dalton would slip away to a late night party or bar to help clear his mind. Rolonda was always happy to let him go thinking he was coping with my betrayal. All the while Dalton was with his true family.

Our late night rendezvous had become our favorite part of the day. Sky would be allowed to stay up a little later so they could play before bed. Once she was sound asleep then the parents would relax, eat, drink, and be merry. It was truly a lovely time until we would realize that it would be our last. Then we would just sit there holding each other and think about all the time we had wasted apart. Tomorrow would be Dalton's last day in America before he would leave. We had been avoiding the subject for fear of confrontation on how to handle it.

We approached the subject once while Skylar was still in the hospital after King Dominic announced the finalization of their flight plans for Sunday morning. It hurt my heart to think that in the next seven days he would be leaving us and it would be just Sky and I again. We had survived on our own for years but having him in our lives had changed us. It was hard imagining the rest of our lives without him now. Dalton wanted us to try a long distance relationship but in my lifetime I hadn't seen one succeed yet. I couldn't afford to fly to overseas every time Sky and I missed him and I wouldn't let him use his countries jet just to come see us.

It would be easier to just keep things platonic between us when he left. As for now, when we're together we're together – totally in love and mostly exclusive – but when we're apart we're apart – we have our own lives and we can be with whoever we want. I knew Dalton didn't like it but it was the only option we had right now. We were to enjoy the time we had together before he was gone.

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It wasn't just Saturday night but it was Dalton's last night in America. Instead of waiting until night fall Dalton came that morning to spend the entire day with us. We cooked breakfast together and as usual he and Sky did less cooking and more of making a mess. They sat side by side switching between eating off their own plate and each other's. For every one piece he stole from her plate she took two from his. Then she would mimic his every movement like a robot. They played like this all through breakfast until we moved to our next activity.

Later Skylar gave Dalton a makeover complete with pink hair clip-ins, big bows, and lots of makeup. I doubt the clown look was what she was going for but he was the prettiest clown you would ever see. Blue eye shadow, green blush, and purple lipstick scribble across his face. After a lavish tea party we ended with a movie marathon until my mother came to pick up. Skylar for the night. In her words it was 'a gift to us to enjoy our final hours together without distraction.' When it was time for Sky to leave that's when the tears came.

"NO! I DON'T WANT TO GO!!!" she yelled through tears. Jaclyn struggled to hold her as she leaned to the side reaching out to Dalton and I. Her tear stained face reddened as she struggled to break free. Small hands reached out for us for support of her escape and I internally fought the need to help her and I could tell Dalton was too from the look on his face. He had never seen Sky cry so hard and loud for us and it was breaking both of our hearts.

This was our last night together and I truly wanted to spend some of it alone with Dalton but not at the expense of Skylar's broken heart. She had grown so attached to him that the thought of being separated brought her so much pain but I knew that if we gave in then we would never have a chance to talk about everything before her left.