Sofia scrunched her nose. "It's not the same."
"One day, your dad might want to date again. But whoever he's with won't replace your mother."
Sofia sighed. "I know. That's what I told Dad."
One of Sofia's friends ran up. "You want to get ice cream?"
Sofia looked at me. "Can I get some?"
Normally, I wouldn't let her get ice cream and candy, but this was a special occasion, and I wouldn't mind her dropping this conversation. I gave her some cash. "Go there, and come right back."
"Okay," Sofia said, taking the money from me and dashing off with her friend.
Mom moved closer. "How are you handling that?"
"When she first mentioned it, Eve left, so clearly she's not interested in the position."
Mom gave me a look. "Maybe she gave you space to have a private conversation with your daughter. Did you ever think of that?"
I cleared my throat. "I suppose that's possible."
"Don't assume what's in a woman's head. You're bound to be wrong," Mom said dryly.
I let out a breath, keeping an eye on the girls in the ice-cream-truck line. "What am I supposed to do? I can't just give her a stepmom."
"What's going on with you and Eve? You looked so cute together at the tree-lighting ceremony."
I couldn't answer because I didn't know. I'd come to crave our nights together, but they were fleeting moments, over before I wanted them to be. I never asked her to linger, and she seemed to understand that she shouldn't. Maybe it was my fault.
"Sofia is open to the idea. So there's no reason why you can't consider it. Do you like Eve?"
My gaze moved to where Eve was talking to Clara. She gave so much to this town and the people in it. She was the same way with Sofia and me. She didn't have to be so nice to us, but she was. "Yeah, I do."
"You have to give yourself permission to move on. No one else is going to do that for you." The single-parent grief support group meeting was later this week. Maybe that would be a good place to figure this out.
"I'm not sure I'm going to do that by Christmas. Isn't Sofia going to be disappointed when Santa doesn't bring her a stepmom?"
Sofia and her friend got their cones and walked over to where Eve was talking with Clara. Eve leaned down with a smile on her face, listening intently to whatever they were saying.
"Maybe he's already doing his magic," Mom said before walking away.
What did that mean? That Eve was somehow in my life for a reason? That it was fate? I wasn't sure how I felt about that.
I joined Eve, Clara, and Sofia.
"Did you get your tree up yet?" Clara asked me.
I sighed. "We bought one. We haven't put it up yet."
"Well, what are you waiting on?" Clara asked.
"Dad's been busy," Sofia said, her tone tinged with irritation.
"I can come over and help you if you want," Eve offered, and Clara smiled.
"That would be great, actually." I wasn't going to turn down help. I was worried about putting up a tree with new decorations. Would Sofia be upset? Would I? But if Eve was there, I wouldn't have time to think about anything else.
Sofia yawned.
