“And Valentime’s Day.”
“And staying the night with Mimi and Pop Pop.”
“Oh, yeah. That too.”
The girls grin at each other.
Holy. Shit.
They masterminded our whole relationship. How the hell did I not recognize what they were doing? I knew it was weird that they were being so friendly to Gia the first day they met her. I just never imagined that they’d pick up on the connection between us.
“You two are sneaky.”
“We were really sad when she had to go home. I wanted her to like us enough to stay,” Lauren says.
“She did,” I tell them. “She told me she didn’t want to leave, but as adults, we sometimes have to make really hard choices. This was one of those choices that Gia couldn’t make without a lot of thought.”
Leah scrunches her nose. “I don’t wanna be a grown-up.”
I bark out a laugh. “Good thing you don’t have to worry about it for a long time.”
“Good thing.” Lauren nods.
“Your grandma wanted you to spend some time at their house on Saturday.” I was shocked to see her text this morning about having the girls over. It’s been weeks since Kathy reached out first.
Lauren makes a face, looking down at her almost empty bowl.
“You don’t want to go?”
She glances at Leah before shaking her head.
“Why not?”
Lauren bites her lip, but then Leah bluntly says what they’re hiding. “She told us that we had to make Gia go away. She said Gia was a b-word who was trying to take us from her.”
I inhale a long, slow breath to keep my anger fromexploding outward. The girls do not deserve to be the recipients of my harsh emotions. Once I’m in control again, I look at both of them. “Thank you for sharing that. Why didn’t you tell me before?”
“Lo Lo was worried she’d get in trouble.”
I frown at Lauren. “Why in the world would you have gotten in trouble?”
She looks at me with guilt. “’Cause I told Gramma that she was the one being a b-word and that we would never see her again if she said anything else bad about Gia.”
My eyebrows fly up my forehead. “You said what?”
Tears swim in her eyes, and I soften immediately, holding my hands out to her for a hug. She climbs into my lap, wrapping her little arms around my neck. “Oh, sweetheart. I’m not mad, just surprised. You’re such a brave girl to stand up to someone who is saying mean things.”
“Gramma looked like she ate a lemon after I said it.”
I snort. “I can only imagine. I’m really sorry she said that while you were with her. Can you promise me you won’t keep anything like that a secret again? If I don’t know what’s going on, I can’t protect either of you.”
“Lee Lee.” Lauren looks at her sister.
Leah sighs and comes over to sit on my other leg. They’re getting too big to fit anymore, but I’m going to pretend like they’re not for a little while longer.
“Mason has been bothering me again, and I told Gramma about it. Ms. Nelson asked her to talk to you, but Gramma just said that the school year is almost over and to ignore him.”
“She also told us not to tell you about it since it wasn’t a big deal,” Lauren adds.
