Allie smiled at her own echoed words.
“How would you like it cooked?” the waiter asked.
“As rare as you can get away with, please,” Ash said. “Thank you.”
“Very good,” the waiter said. “Coming right up.”
“So, what did you do at work this week?” Ash asked, turningback to Allie.
“We’re working on winter projects,” Allie said. “The kids always love that, and it’s a favorite activity of mine too.”
“Maya was talking about making a snowman in class,” Ash said.
“Oh, she’s really excited about that,” Allie said, nodding. “Each child is making a big paper snowman that is celebrating some of their family’s winter traditions.”
“Very nice,” Ash said, nodding. But there was worry in his eyes.
“You don’t like the idea,” she guessed.
“I love the idea,” he told her. “It’s just that we haven’t always had a lot of traditions around the holidays. I mean we do presents and a tree, but it’s not like this.”
He gestured at the window and Allie gazed out at the moonlit park where families walked and chatted, surrounded by twinkling lights and a swirl of snow. Skaters on the pop-up ice rink twirled and smiled, looking like they were having so much fun.
“Libby wasn’t super hands-on with Maya,” he said softly. “And I hate to admit it, but I didn’t exactly make up for it until she left and I realized how much of Maya’s care had been falling on babysitters. It’s another reason we’re here. I want to build something for us, between us. And I think it will be easier in a quieter environment.”
“I don’t know if a location can make people closer or farther apart,” Allie said. “I think it’s all about intentions and time. And you two seem really close to me. She talks about you all the time at school.”
“She does?” Ash asked.
The hopeful expression on his face tugged at her heart.
“Oh yes,” Allie told him. “She loves playing games with you and cooking dinner together.”
“The little things,” Ash said, his eyes far away. “That’s what the parenting books all talk about. I guess it’s true.”
“Lifeisthe little things,” Allie said.
“Her mom is more about the big gestures,” Ash said. “And they definitely make an impression. I think that’s why Maya doesn’t mind her not living with us, because when she comes around she sometimes makes magic happen.”
“You two are kind of opposites, aren’t you?” Allie realized. “I guess that’s why you fell in love. Do you think you might work things out and get back together?”
“No,” Ash said with a horrified expression on his face.
“I don’t mean to offend you,” Allie said right away. “But even all this, right now, it’s for her benefit. She’s obviously on your mind a lot. Maybe you’re not really over her.”
“I just don’t want her feeling like she’s so important,” Ash said firmly.
“Whythisthough?” Allie asked. “You could have just laughed off what I said and told her the truth. There are plenty of ways to let someone see they aren’t the most important thing in your life besides staging elaborate hoaxes.”
Ash looked at her appraisingly for a moment across the table.
There was a little flutter in her chest at his intense gaze, and she triedto quiet it.
“Can I be honest with you?” he asked after a moment.
“Of course,” she told him.
“It was satisfying to see Libby’s reaction to what you said, of course,” he said. “But that’s not the real reason I went along with it.”
