"Now you can ask." The blonde put her feet up and leant back in her chair, the cup of coffee in her hands.
"Ask you what?"
"About Nico, I can see you have a million questions, I'd have them too if you present me a twenty-one year old daughter out of the blue…you don't have a daughter, do you?"
"No and before you ask, I also don't have a son."
"Neither do I. Only a daughter."
"A very smart one, one of the best we had this year."
"That's her expectation of herself. She wants to be the best or one of the bests."
"She won't have a problem with her master if she goes on like this."
"Don't worry, she will. She wants to be a doctor before she's thirty."
"I can't see a reason why she shouldn't be able to do that."
"Me neither. Do you want to know where she has been all the years?"
"Do you want to tell me?"
To her surprise Sofia felt like telling Sara the story of Nico. Usually she wasn't that eager to come forward what happened and why Nico wasn't around the first years. Today, with Sara as a listener, she felt like she could tell what happened without being judged afterwards.
"I got pregnant when I was sixteen, her father and me split up before she was born. My parents weren't happy about my pregnancy, a baby wasn't their plan for me. Nico's father is five years older, he worked at this time, his and my parents decided it's the best for Nico to be with her father. Two years later he got a pretty good job in Los Angeles and moved away. I saw my daughter on her birthdays, on some weekends and when my ex got married she had a whole new family. We always kept in contact and when I decided to move to Los Angeles we finally had the chance to spend more time together."
"She moved in with her mother."
"Well, it's not like I was the mother, who told her to stay at home and study or disliked all her boyfriends, I was barely around when she started dating and when I got this house, she fell in love with it. How could she not? A house in Malibu, close to the beach, it's a dream."
"But your third housemate isn't a relative too?"
"No, he's a friend of Nico. A friend, not boyfriend. Brian, who thinks you're sexy and wants to date you."
"A university student wants to date me? Who does he think I am? Misses Robinson?" Sara laughed.
"He's not a university student, he works and he's older than Nico. They met during an open music session on 2nd Street in Santa Monica. Both like to play guitar, he sings a little bit and they decided to write a few songs together, play them on the Pier to entertain people. Neither Nico nor Brian plan to become a musician."
"A start. Especially Nico with her talent."
"What about Dean?"
"He works too. Why?"
"That's not what I mean and you know it. Are you and him a couple?"
"Uhm, no."
"Because he said something like he'll see you later when he left last week."
"He's a friend…or my brother. Depends on how you want to look at it."
"Your brother? You never told me about your brother."
"Like you never told me about your daughter, the difference is, Dean and me are not related by blood. We lived in the same foster family for a while and met again by accident in Santa Barbara. For reasons unknown we decided it would be fun to live together, he asked his boss to send him to a location in L.A. and now we share my condo. It has two bedrooms and bathrooms, enough space for both of us."
"He must be special, I imagine you don't move in with anybody."
"Would you?"
"No. So we're both not alone anymore at home."
"We've got our dogs, we're never alone."
"Right, our dogs, who are tired and lie side by side." Sara smiled when she saw how Lucky shortly licked Happy's ear, like she wanted to kiss her friend, before she dropped her head next to him.
"If they start holding paws I'm not surprised anymore. If Lucky is pregnant she's not mad at Happy, she is very happy. We need to find other words for happy and lucky for the name's of the puppies. Other English words or in other languages?"
"We don't keep them. Don't tell me you plan to keep ten or twelve puppies."
"My heart says: I do."
"This is not a wedding, ask your head."
"Your head should say the same at a wedding, otherwise the marriage won't last long. No, my head says I can keep one, that's it. One puppy, it will be the last time Happy becomes a father. We have the pet appointment, soon your boyfriend is caponized, Lucky."
"She won't mind, as soon as it's possible she'll be spayed."
"Will you keep one puppy too?"
"Maybe. I feel kind of guilty there are so many dog already around, in shelters, on the street, we don't need more dogs, we need more people, who wants dog. What if nobody wants the puppies?"
"Golden Retriever Labrador puppies? They're advertisement dogs, people see them, fall in love with them. It shouldn't be a problem to sell them. Which won't solve the problem with the full shelters."
"No. Where did you get Happy from?"
"When I came to Malibu I met a woman on the beach with her pregnant dog. A really nice Labrador, it played with other dogs, children, didn't chase a cat we saw, I thought it's a good sign the mother this is calm and friendly and decided I want one of the puppies. Happy likes children and other dogs, but he chases seagulls and cats. His father must be the chaser. How did you get Lucky?"
"While I traveled I came across a farm, where Lucky's mother lived. She had ten puppies and the people were given them away for free. Don't ask me why, you can make some really good money with pure Golden Retriever puppies, all they cared for was the puppies come to good hands. It's what I want for Lucky's puppies too."
"We'll check the new owner."
"How? Do you have some friends with the LAPD, who will check on the new owner for us? Or can you do it yourself?"
"We'll ask them questions, we know how to ask the right questions, it has been part of our jobs for many years. Plus we have a pretty good gut feeling."
"Do you check on people for your job?"
"I can run a basic security test on the employees of my client, nothing else. The company I work for is a private company, so no government privileges are available."
"They must pay you pretty good money, you work only ten hours a week."
"Ten hours here is the same money I got in Vegas full time. When I work overtime I get a nice bonus, yes, the money is much better. Does the university pay you better than the city of Las Vegas?"
"No night shifts, no overtime, no dead people, no guns, same hours, same money. To me it's a better deal."
"How did you get the job?"
"I applied for it. My marks were pretty good, I've got no teaching experience, it's why I'm an assistant of a professor, but most times I work alone, only for the projects and tests we are together with the students. Your daughter was in two of my groups, in each group she was the best."
"Go figure." Sofia grinned. She expected nothing else from Nico.
"She could go to Berkley or Harvard, what keeps her in Los Angeles?"
"Her family and friends. Her parents are here, so is her stepmother, her step siblings and her friends. She has a nice job in a company, makes good money for a student, lives in Malibu and is top of her class, why risk that?"
"More competition, more challenges. She has your DNA, she likes challenges."
"Like she likes being top of the list and still having some time for herself. Nico isn't a geek, she likes parties. You can't study when you out all night."
"Now this part sounds like her mother too." Sara laughed.
"Actually it's her father. He loves to go out almost every night, comes with his job, he's an event manager. Besides, she has to stay with her mother, we've been apart long enough, don't put any ideas in the head of my baby."
"Your baby is twenty-one, she can vote, drink, drive and do whatever she wants."
"You're not a mother, for a mother the daughter is always the baby and has to stay close. For nineteen years I barely saw her, missed so many things, I want to be with her all the time, make up for the past."
"Do you invite yourself to her parties?"
"Of course not!"
"Hah, you want to go there and hope every time she goes out, she asks you to join." The brunette smirked.
"We talk again when you're a mother."
"Won't happen, I'll be a dog nana, that's enough baby in my life. You'll be a great mommy, right Lucky?" Her dog got up and walked to Sara, putting her head on the brunette's lap, asking for some love and attention. When the brunette started to pet her dog's back, a quiet happy whine escaped Lucky's snout. This was what a dog wanted, needed. Love, attention and the hands of her owner all over her.