Elena moans,slurping another bite of fettuccine Alfredo. “This is divine.”
“Because it’s mostly butter and cheese.”
“I don’t care. I will marry it and have its babies. You’re okay with cheese sisters, right, Harps?”
Harper looks up from her plate with a little scowl. Her four-year-old expressions are extreme and still padded with so much baby fat that I spend an inordinate amount of time reminding myself to respect her boundaries and not squeeze my love into her too much.
“Cheese sisters would be stinky.”
Elena takes another bite. “That’s okay. We’ll buy more candles. Just try not to eat your siblings.”
Harper giggles. “Yucky, Mommy.”
“Funny,” Elena mutters under her breath. “That’s what all men seem to think, too.”
“Hey,” I snap. “No negative self-talk. Now give me three positives.”
She rolls her eyes. “I have amazing hair.”
That she does. Luscious dark locks from her Puerto Rican mother, who died when she was way too young.
I swipe a breadstick along the remains of my Alfredo sauce. “Two more.”
“My kid is wicked smaht.” There’s her Irish-Bostonian dad coming through.
Harper giggles again around a mouthful of pasta.
“And I’m good at my job.”
“You’re amazing at your job,” I agree. “So what if the losers you try to meet on that stupid app can’t see any of that?”
“Well, I won’t let them see the kid, for starters.”
“Smart move.”
“Dating is hard.” She looks at Harper when she says this, and I know it’s because dating means something different when she’s not just trying to find a connection for herself, but one who fits in with her most important person as well.
“When Dorian was in the shop the other night for the writing class, we kind of talked about this.”
Elena locks in on me, lowering her fork full of saucy pasta. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen her sacrifice good food for the sake of an answer before. “About dating?”
“Just what he wants in a partner. He was being hit on by this superhot chick, like Shakira meets Sabrina Carpenter, but she also writes.”
She whistles. “His dream woman.”
“Right? So I didn’t intervene. But he sent me asave melook. Save him! From that? I thought he was out of his mind. He just said that he’s looking for a connection.”
“And she was too beautiful to form one?” Elena asks.
“I don’t know what his deal was. She came on really strong, so maybe that was a turnoff. But there are three more classes, so she has time to win him over.” I twirl my fork around the last few noodles on my plate, but my stomach sours at the thought of anyone winning Dorian over right in front of my eyes. I don’t want to watch that in real time.
“I still can’t believe you two are being cordial,” she says around a full mouth.
“Mommy, I’m done.”
“Finished, baby. A turkey in the oven is done.”
Harper sighs with long suffering. “Mommy, I’mfinished.”
