“Yikes. Ireallyowe you, don’t I?”
I make the final turn onto our street. “I earned cookies.”
He chuckles. “I’ll hit the store before I come home.”
“Homemadecookies.” He really is a damned good cook. Plus he’s got a chocolate chip cookie recipe that was his grandmother’s, and he fucking nails them perfectly every time.
“That’s what I meant,” he says. “I’m no dummy. Love you.”
“Love you, too.” It’s out of my mouth before I even realize I’m saying it. It’s automatic now. I end the call and glance in the rearview mirror.
Shit.
Of course I can’t be lucky enough that Katie didn’t hear. She’s looking right at me. I’m turning into our driveway when she asks it.
“Aunt Zoey, do you love Daddy?”
I go for honesty. It’ll be the easiest position to defend later. “Yes, honey, I do. I love Daddy, and I love you. Uncle Arlo and I both do. And Daddy loves us. We’re really close friends, like adopted family.”
I hope that’s enough, but she’s not quite finished. “Last time I was here, I saw Daddy kiss Uncle Arlo.”
That nearly makes me swallow my tongue. I try to figure out a way to salvage this. “And? I kiss Daddy, too. We’ve been friends a long time. Sometimes, when friends are close, they kiss hello or good-bye.”
“Is Daddy going to live with you and Uncle Arlo from now on? Or will we move again?”
I shift the car into park and unfasten my seat belt. Let’s just do this now, matter-of-factly, and get it over with. If we make a big deal over it, or act freaked out, it’ll make it that much bigger of a deal in her mind.
“We’re going to build the new house. Remember we talked about that? Then, the three of us, and Lucas, will live there. And you’ll have a bigger bedroom for when you come to visit us. We’ll also have a pool at the new house.”
At least she doesn’t seem weirded out about any of this. “I asked Mommy a couple of weeks ago if she wanted Daddy to move back in with her.”
Shit shit shit.“And?”
“She said no.”
Does it make me a horrible person that relief fills me over that news? “Why did you ask her that?”
Katie shrugs. “I was curious. One of my friends, her parents fight all the time. They were going to get divorced, but then her dad moved back in. Now she’s sad because they still fight. I don’t think Mommy and Daddy should live together. They fight too much when they’re together. They aren’t like you and Uncle Arlo. I don’t think Mommy likes Daddy very much.”
Even more relief fills me. “Sometimes, adults start out in a relationship, and it’s only later that they realize it won’t work out. Like me and Lucas’ father. Doesn’t make either person a bad person, it just makes them…different.”
Although, in the case of Lucas’ father, Bill is definitely a shitty human being.
Thatparticular convo can wait until Katie’s an adult, though.
I shut the car off. “Let’s get your stuff inside so you can do your homework, okay?” Arlo won’t be home from work for probably at least an hour.
“Okay.”
Fortunately for me, that seems to be the end of her curiosity.
For now.
But I know the three of us—myself, Arlo, and Nolan—will have to sit down and have a talk about presenting a united front. We’ll need to make sure we’re careful around Katie. I don’t want to do anything to cost Nolan a renewed custody battle. He’s a good father, and he loves Katie.
As much as I hate Jerilyn, the one good thing about her is that she gave him Katie, which is something I never could have done. She’s a bonus daughter for me and Arlo, and I don’t resent her presence in Nolan’s life.
I just resent her mother, and how she’s treated Nolan over the years. Maybe even more because I still bear my emotional scars from Bill.
