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“Eighteen” Her innocence was confirmed when she pursed her little lips and looked crestfallen

“That’s forever away”

“Nah, kid, life goes by really fast” I tweaked her nose and went back to playing

I went on witha job in the architectural firhteen hundreds, and no, I didn’t start at the top just because I bore the family name

Architecture isn’t so you can play off, you either have it, or you don’t, unless you want to steal soht too foul for me to even contemplate

So I started at the bottoe that my as a success because of e sweetheart the year I turned twenty-four and quickly becanant We were overjoyed

My job was pretty steady, of course, since I would be taking over the fir pretty good as a real estate lawyer Things got even better when the tere born alive us the farown up

Dad had been working less and less hours, andshe’d always dreamed of Between the two of thee, five bedrooms, six bathrooms, a home office, a library, and a nursery were too much for their new lifestyle

Lauren and I were only too happy to switch places with thened over ownership of our condo to aveto be mine one day anyway

It was great to be back in the old neighborhood; I hadn’t really been back since I left hoht years earlier, except for the odd trip hoht of the little girl with the big blue eyes and the cute dimples

When the tere about six ain and that we should find a babysitter I wasn’t too sure about leaving er, so far, my mom or hers were the only ones we’d left them with, and that was only for an hour or two

“Oh, come on, Derrick, it’ll be fine”

“But they’re so young”