Vivi paraded through the door wearing a flower crown. Seven other twelve-year-old girls, also in flower crowns, came in behind her.
Caroline cleared her throat and said, “Presenting the Ansley and Jack Wedding Invitation Delivery Team.” Vivi grinned. “It’s so much more personal than the mail.”
I smiled. They looked much more innocent when they were wearing flower crowns than when they were smoking cigarettes. “Do you really think you can pull this off?”
“It’s only twenty-five invitations,” Vivi said, shrugging. “I’d say we can handle it.”
I winked at her. The newfound bit of freedom with the boat Jack had given her had done wonders for Vivi. I liked to think that I had played a role in that, too.
I peeked out through the kitchen window and saw Jack. He caught my eye and motioned for me to come outside.
As I walked to meet him, I wondered what this was going to be about. I was on board with Mom and Jack taking my wedding. I mean, it was only practical. Mom had spent all this money, and when I really thought about it, it did seem more like them than Mark and me. They were the ones who had met on the sandbar, who had fallen in love on Starlite Island.
“Could you come to my house for a minute?” Jack asked once I reached him. He seemed nervous.
I shrugged and followed him into the kitchen. He motioned toward the barstool at his island and poured us each a cup of milk and pulled out a bag of Oreos once I sat down. I could have told him that I didn’t want any—I had to watch my figure, after all—but I found myself dipping the cookies into the milk anyway. They seemed to soothe the butterflies in my stomach.
He looked at me for a second and took a deep breath, looking down into his cup. “Kyle told me what you said about your mom, Sloane, Caroline, and me being a family,” he said slowly.
Snitches get stitchesran through my mind. Kyle was going to get an earful from me later.
“That’s not how I feel,” he said. “I don’t feel like we’re our own family and you aren’t—”
I cut him off, saying, “But you aren’t me, Jack.”
“Right,” he said. “That’s where I was going with this. I’m not you. And even though I don’t feel any differently about you from how I feel about Caroline and Sloane, I can see how you would feel that way.” He took a bite of Oreo and grinned at me—without teeth, thank goodness. A cookie smile is not cute over the age of five. “I want to fix that. And I might know how.”
I was going to tell him that there was no way to fix it. No matter what, I was never going to be one of them, not like they would be to one another. But I was intrigued. So I cocked my head to the side and let him continue.
“I want to adopt you,” Jack said.
I burst out laughing. “That is literally the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard.”
I felt a little bad when I saw how crestfallen he looked. But only a little. It was a laughable idea.
“Jack, I’m a legal adult. You can’t adopt me.”
“Well, that’s where you’re wrong,” he said. He took a sip of his milk. “I’ve looked into it, and you can adopt a person of any age. And I’d like to adopt you.”
I felt very flustered by all of this. I mean, my dad was my dad. This man, no matter how cute my mom thought he was, was never going to be my father. My father was my father, and that was that. I was almost offended that he would suggest something so insensitive. But then I was also a little bit flattered.
“You are absolutely insane,” I said. “You and Mark’s mom could be friends.” But I smiled when I said it.
Jack smiled, too. “Just think about it,” he said.
“It’s so sweet, Jack, but I don’t know what it would change.”
“It would change a lot.”
I patted Jack’s hand. “Again,” I said, “I’m twenty-six. I had a father, and he died. I’m fine. I don’t need a new one now.”
Jack nodded, and I ate my final bite of Oreo and got up off the stool.
“Hey, Em,” he said. I turned to look at him. “Just think about it, OK?”
I was surprised to find that I was. But ultimately, I felt like maybe it would be a betrayal of my father. And, really, I didn’t need a piece of paper or a legal document to change what I already knew in my heart. Jack wanted to adopt me. He wanted me to be his. He wanted to fix this so it didn’t hurt me anymore.
I realized as I walked through the yard and back to my house that just knowing that was enough. It meant more to me than any piece of paper ever could.
