Her confidence is both thrilling and heart-breaking. Danika wishes hard that it’s not misplaced.
Danika’s phone rings at eight on Christmas morning. Kim’s number. Her heart stutters. She can’t see how this can go terribly wrong, but equally, there are many levels of how it could go, from barely okay to wonderful. She answers the phone. “Hi, Kim.”
“Hi, Danika. Happy Christmas to you and Cami.”
“To you and Bella, too,” Danika says. She waits.
“Bella loves the present. She’s wearing the shirt now, and I don’t think I’ll get it off her to wash until she outgrows it. She wants to thank Cami. And Danika”—a swift, indrawn breath—“I want you to know that Bella had already told me she misses Cami. I don’t know what she’s going to say, but please know that she was already working toward seeing Cami again before this.”
“Oh,” Danika says faintly. Maybe, just maybe, Cami’s idea will work. “Shall I get Cami now?”
“Yes, please,” Kim says. “I’ll get Bella. Danika, I’m happy with whatever the girls decide between themselves.”
She nods, then realising the stupidity of the gesture, says, “I trust them to be sensible. Just so you know, though, I’ll put the phone on speaker, and I’ll be listening in to what they say.”
“Me too.” The sound of footsteps on wooden floors echoes over the line. “Here’s Bella now.”
“Give me a moment.” Danika goes into the living room where Cami, dressed in her Matildas shirt despite the heat, is pulling out pieces to make the Lego dinosaur, one of her Christmaspresents. “It’s Bella,” she says, and puts the phone on speaker and holds it out.
Cami jumps up, and Lego spills everywhere. Her face is flushed pink with heat and excitement.
She grabs the phone and sets it down on the table, face up. “Hello, Bella?”
“Hi Cami.” Bella’s voice is tentative, shy, as if she’s talking to a stranger. “Thank you for my present. I love it so much. It’s the best thing I got for Christmas. And Mary Fowler signed it too—I’m never going to take it off.”
“I’m glad you like it,” Cami says. “I wrote to the Matildas and told them about you and me, and they sent that. I’ve got a Kyra Cooney-Cross one, but it’s not signed.”
“Are you wearing it?”
“Of course.”
The kids’ voices are growing stronger by the second. Danika imagines Kim listening in as well. Her feet will be bare, and she’ll be wearing those baggy hippie pants of hers, and probably a singlet top. Her bare shoulders won’t be that brown yet, because of all the time she spends indoors, but— She stops. Since when does she think of Kim so clearly?
She focuses back on the girls’ conversation.
“I rejoined my soccer team,” Bella is saying. “I missed playing so much. Netball is a silly game.”
Cami giggles. “You’ll have to score like Mary Fowler.”
Bella giggles too, and Danika’s body loses tension with her shaky exhale. Itwillbe all right. Already the girls are finding their way back to each other.
“I missed you,” Bella says. “I have Jorie, and we’re best friends, but I missed you. You’re different.”
“Because we’re sisters,” Cami says matter-of-factly. “That’s why we love each other.”
Oh Cami.Danika holds her breath. So black and white. So straightforward. Is her brave daughter about to get her heart broken again?
“Yeah,” Bella says in a small voice.
Danika lets go of her breath in a shaky exhale.
“Do you want to come over here and practice soccer?” Cami asks.
“Yeah, please.”
And that’s it. It’s done. Cami hands the phone back to Danika, and when she presses it to her ear, Kim is on the other end.
“When would you like to come?” Danika asks. “You’ve probably got plans, being Christmas.”
