“No. I’m good here. We can talk after she goes to bed, but I needed to say this. Stop engaging my daughter in adult conversations. If you want to ask about Vicky, ask me. And do not, I repeat, do not tell MJ that you’ll stay as long as we’ll have you. You’re sending her mixed messages, and I won’t stand for it,” I said sternly.
She held her hands up in surrender. “I understand. Guess I was a little surprised to see a woman in your clothes with her hair dripping wet standing in your doorway.”
She stood, her brows furrowed in irritation. “And MJ isourdaughter, Miles.Ours.We made her. Together.”
I scoffed. “We haven’t beentogetherin seven years,” I bit back.
“Yeah, I know. Maybe I want to change that,” she answered softly. I stepped back as if her words had physically struck me.
“Katy,” I warned. “Not sure what your game is right now, but any moment, MJ will be back in here, and I swear I won’t let you confuse her. Not until we’ve had time to talk privately.”
“Fine, fine. I don’t want to hurt MJ. Never will, not on purpose anyway. Promise, I won’t say anything to upset you or her.”
She stepped closer to me, her familiar earthy scent filling the small space between us. I looked down at her with a frown, and she wiped across my forehead with her finger, smoothing out the worry line between my eyes. When we were together, it was what she did every time she wanted to calm me down, but it had the opposite effect.
“Don’t,” I hissed.
She recoiled and quickly pulled her hand back to her side. “I just want the chance to talk to you. Like old times.” Before I knew what she was doing, she was on her toes, her hand snaking around my neck and pulling me down to her, planting a kiss on my cheek.
I stepped back and she turned, walking out of the room, leaving me frustrated at her actions.
Our dinner was awkward to say the least. MJ chatted away, catching her mother up on the move and her summer. To her credit, she listened intently. But every once in a while, she would try to pull me into the conversation, especially when MJ mentioned Vicky, which was often. Katy’s telltale sign of discomfort, twisting her lips to the side, was getting comical, even though there was nothing funny about what was happening.
Discreetly checking my phone about a dozen times while we ate our pizza, I’d catch Katy looking at it and rolling her eyes. Glad to have dinner over with, I had MJ toss out the paper plates and put the glasses in the dishwasher as I consolidated the pizza boxes down to one. Katy sipped on her water, taking in our apparent ease and routine with interest.
Her visits to Crescent, once or twice a year, were always brief and ended with MJ in tears for hours. At first, I always felt that pang in my chest, wondering if we could make it work again. A few times early on, Katy seemed to share the same hope. But one call from her “real” life, and she was gone once more, leaving MJ broken and me hopeless.
“Isn’t that right, Daddy?”
“Sorry, what was that, kiddo?” I asked, rearranging things in our refrigerator to make room for the pizza box.
“Mom asked about my school. I was trying to remember what Vicky said that I wanted to add to her verse on my chalkboard wall.”
Either mentioning Vicky made Katy lose interest, or she was just doing her usual, typing on her phone whenever she could.
“Vicky told you that if you want a friend, be a friend. And I agree with her on that completely.” Katy rolled her eyes discreetly, pushing her phone away when she dropped it loudly on the counter.
“Well,” she said, her voice tight with irritation. “Glad Vicky has such good advice.”
I gave her another warning look, my eyes narrowed, and she fixed her face, as my mom would say.
“I think if you just be yourself, people will be drawn to you,” she added, kissing MJ on the forehead.
“Well, I’m a bit much to handle sometimes,” she answered, her voice attempting to sound more grown-up than she was.
“You’re going to do great, MJ. You’re going to rock fourth grade,” I said with a chuckle.
Taking a last sip of her water, Katy asked, “I thought it was third grade? Did she skip a year?”
“No, with her birthday being in January, she’s going to fourth. I told you I’d decided not to let her skip a year. She needs to be with kids her own age,” I said, pushing down the growing annoyance that she never remembered these things.
MJ’s confused look made me decide to get her to bed as soon as possible.
“Kiddo, it’s been a long day. Your mom had one too with the travel. Say goodnight now, but she and I will talk about tomorrow, okay?”
I could see she wanted to argue, but when a sudden yawn so big her eyes watered hit her, she nodded.
“Night, Mom. I’m so glad you’re here,” she said, hugging her tightly when Katy slipped down from her high-top chair.
