“The life cycle of plants. Friday, our teacher gave us all beans, and we put them in a baggie with a wet paper towel to see if they’d grow roots. I got a black bean, but that was boring, so I traded. Now it’s a pinto.”
“Excellent negotiation skills, sweetheart. So you’re learning about photosynthesis?”
“What’s that?”
“Hmm.” I explained the concept, which we’d definitely learned by third grade at St. Marcellin. Caitlyn’s school in Walnut Creek was good for average kids, but my daughter needed more to achieve the way I had. I was all too aware of corporate America’s challenges for women, especially those with some melanin in their skin. “How would you like—” No, I shouldn’t get her hopes up about switching schools. A long battle with Zara lay ahead, most likely involving another trip to court. So I pivoted to the other, easier idea. “How would you like to take a trip?”
“With you?” Her eyes widened, and she showed her gap-toothed smile. For a moment, she looked at me like Zara used to. Before her love fizzled out.
“Yes. To Costa Rica.”
“Where’s that?”
“What the hell are they teaching you in school?”
“Swear jar.”
We were at a stoplight, so I pulled out my wallet and tossed her a dollar. “Do you know where Central America is?”
She scrunched up her nose. “It’s that skinny part that connects North and South America?”
“That’s right. Costa Rica is in the skinny part. It’s got volcanoes and mountains and rainforests. It has a coast on thePacific Ocean and one on the Caribbean Sea, and it’s about the size of West Virginia.”
“West Virginia?” She squinted one eye. “What’s that?”
“What the fuck? They should’ve taught you the states by third grade.” She extended her palm, and I grunted as the light turned green. “I’ll owe you for that one.”
“I have a friend who moved here from Guatemala. Is that close?”
“Sort of. It’s beautiful. I was in Costa Rica once, years ago. We went rafting on the Pacuare River and hiking through the Talamanca mountains, then we went to the beach.”
“Pacific or Caribbean?”
“Pacific, a beach called Playa Manuel Antonio. It had white sand and clear, turquoise water.” Though at twenty, I’d mostly remembered it for the tropical drinks and gorgeous girls in bikinis.
“Hmm,” my daughter said. “I think I’d like the Caribbean side. I see the Pacific all the time.”
“I’ll see what I can do to check the Caribbean off your world travel list. Now, tell me what you’re learning in math.”
When we got to Zara and Eli’s, Zara was on the front porch swing of their ranch house, bundled in a coat, her black curls sticking out from under a beanie.
I opened the back door, and Caitlyn jumped out. After she grabbed her bag, she stopped to hug me. Her skinny arms didn’t quite meet behind my back. “Thanks, Daddy. I had fun.”
I bent and embraced her. “I had fun too.”
She pulled away and opened one of the side compartments of her bag. “Here.” She pulled out a beaded bracelet. Some of the plastic beads were dark brown like her hair and others were light brown like her skin, but interspersed among the shades of brown were beads in rainbow colors. She held it out to me on her palm.
“That’s, um, pretty,” I said. “Did one of your friends make it?”
“I made it for you. See?” She rotated three white beads in the center. They had letters stamped on them. “D-A-D.”
“Oh. Thanks.” I tugged the tight band onto my wrist and ignored the plastic digging into my skin. Maybe Mason was right, and the parenting thing wasn’t as hard as I’d thought. If I packed the weekend with frenetic activity, there was no time for Caitlyn to be bored or whiny. She was already so much easier at eight than she’d been at four, when her mother and I split. It would only get better as she grew into real personhood.
Zara stood when we approached the house. She was even more beautiful than when we’d gotten together in college. She’d gained a sexy maturity and confidence that she’d lacked when we were together. Maybe she was a late bloomer, or maybe Eli’s less forceful personality gave her space to grow. He was a lucky man to have her. To have them both.
Caitlyn released my hand and ran to her mother. Zara hugged her tight, then said, “Go inside and wash up, then help Eli put dinner on the table. I’ll be there in a few minutes.”
“Bye, Daddy,” Caitlyn said. “See you in two weeks.”
