Juliet left me to take a seat at the kitchen island,across from her aunt. “Those are the best part!”
Francesca tilted her head back and forth, notconvinced. She refused to wear dresses when we were kids. Hell, she stillrefused to wear dresses. “I had something better.”
Juliet’s eyes widened. “What did you have?”
Some of the light dimmed in Francesca’s eyes and hermouth twitched with the effort to keep smiling. “I had power.”
“And?” Juliet pushed, not at all impressed with thatword.
Francesca felt that too, so she upped the ante. “And Ihad servants.”
Juliet threw her head back and giggled again. It wasimpossible to tell if she believed Francesca or not, but at least she wasentertained. For my part, I half expected the Frisco Police Department to bangon our door any second and demand to know exactly what Francesca was princessof.
That would be an interesting conversation.
“What are we watching tonight?” I asked in an effortto change the subject.
Juliet didn’t hesitate. She threw her hands up andshouted too loudly for our paper-thin apartment walls. "Princess Bride!”
I shot Francesca a helpless look. “Again?”
“It’s the theme for tonight. Also, it’s her favorite,”Francesca defended. “Look at that face? How am I supposed to tell her no?”
I hadn’t even set my purse and bag of goodies down ormade it past the entryway. But when Juliet looked up at me, blinking herbrilliant blue eyes, I knew she was going to get whatever she wanted no matterwhat. That was power. She might not have understood the meaning of the word, butshe had it.
All joking aside, I did think of myself as a good momthat eighty-five percent of the time. I disciplined when necessary. I didn’tspoil her. She had an unwavering bedtime and age-appropriate chores. Butwhenever she gave me that puppy dog look with those big, dewy eyes I justcouldn’t resist, she got her way.
So maybe I spoiled her more than I liked to admit.
She was still a good kid.
I dropped my purse next to my shoes and preparedmyself to be dominated by the four-year-old I was supposed to be in charge of.
Folding her hands in front of her, she blinked rapidlyand whispered, “Please, Mommy?”
Done. Dead. She slayed me.
Struggling to keep my stern expression I said, “As youwish, Princess Poop.”
The three of us erupted in silly laughter, relaxinginto the evening and forgetting about the rest of the outside world, then gotbusy with our Friday night o’ fun. After pizza, we curled up together on thecouch and shared popcorn and candy. Juliet fell asleep halfway through themovie, but Francesca and I kept watching. We always did.
This had been our routine for at least three years.Ever since Juliet had the attention span for TV. I didn’t let her watch verymuch of it during the week, but Friday night was all about the movie.
I had always loved our ritual, this night that we madeour own. In the beginning, Francesca didn’t always stick around for the wholemovie or eat pizza with us, preferring to be alone or with some random hookup.But now it was as much her night as it was ours.
We were a family. Not a conventional one or even onemade by blood, but we looked out for each other, we supported each other and weprotected each other. I knew from experience that blood could be bought andloyalty wasn’t an inherited trait. Francesca was my family because she pickedme and I picked her and there was nothing in this world that could make us letgo.
It had always felt safe with just the three of us,disconnected from the rest of the world as we made a life for ourselves in thisvalley. That was how we wanted it. When Francesca and I settled here, we madethe conscious choice to keep our lives small, but normal.
Something neither Francesca nor I had ever had before.
Except tonight felt strange. I pulled my sleepingdaughter closer to my side and pondered the note I’d found on my car at the gasstation. Was it worth bringing up to Francesca?
Or was I being paranoid?
Fine, I knew I was being paranoid. I was alwaysparanoid. Being paranoid had kept me alive for twenty-five years. I wasn’tgoing to quit on the one thing that was working for me.
But was this worth uprooting our lives and startingover for?
