My attention. The loyalty I promised her.
***
Cary, you sent me a fanny pack with a Naval destroyer on it.
***
I’ll be crushed if you don’t wear it, Shiloh.
***
Too late, Junie has already claimed it. She’s carrying scented markers and naked Disney princesses in it.
***
The intended usage.
***
Cary, it always feels lucky when you’re online at the same time as me. Did you have a good day?
***
Yeah. No big mistakes. No big concerns. So busy that I hardly noticed time passing.
How about you?
***
Yeah. It’s Junie’s seventh birthday tomorrow. I’ve been baking the cake.
***
What flavor?
***
Hummingbird. Your favorite.
***
That is my favorite. Do you do their birthdays separately—you and your ex?
***
No. Ryan and I do it together. We’re having the party across the street, at the park. That’s what Junie wanted. It will be mostly family—Ryan’s siblings and their kids. These are the strangest times for me, because it’salmostlike we’re still a family. His parents still treat me like a daughter-in-law. (His dad loves me.) And I’m in all the group photos.
I asked Ryan not to bring his girlfriend. This is probably the last birthday party where I’ll get away with that.
I am truly dreading the next fifteen years of parties.
I would never tell the kids this, but I feel like I’m serving out a sentence.
And I can’t even complain about it, because I brought it on myself.
***
You can complain about it.
