This whole fiasco was a huge mistake. And they’d dragged the girls into it. No matter what their intentions were, nobody was going to feel good about it.
“Are you two breaking up?” Annie asked, and the words were a tad desperate.
“We were never together, hon,” Em said, gently. “Remember? We talked about that.”
Ethan knelt in closer to his daughter, so he could make direct eye contact with Annie. “Em means a lot to me. But we don’t need to play pretend anymore.”
His eyes met Em’s and her breath caught in her chest. No one could doubt that he was a wonderful dad. A good guy, even.
Annie didn’t meet his gaze, instead glancing away.
Em set her jaw because she didn’t want to say something here that would confuse the situation further.
A tear threatened to fall from the corner of her eye, but she stopped it before it even made contact with her eyelid. There were no tears here. None allowed. This life she was building in Denver was not a life filled with tears.
Been there, done that. Never again.
“Have I ever told you about pearls?” Barbie asked, but she asked in such a way that even if she had told the story (which she hadn’t) then she’d tell it again, anyway.
“I want to hear about pearls,” Fiona said, staring up at Barbie with innocent awe.
“It’s time to go home, Annie.” Ethan ticked his head that direction. “We can hear about the pearls later.”
“No. Not until I hear Barbie’s story.” Annie crossed her little arms.
“Well, to get a pearl, you have to find a clam. You with me?” Barbie asked, storytelling with her hands.
Fiona nodded.
“I thought oysters made pearls?” Annie asked.
“Aren’t they the same thing?” Barbie countered. “They’re both in shells, right?”
Em was pretty certain that’s not how it worked.
“So you’ve got this clam or oyster orwhatever. To make a pearl, something’s got to get right in there and bug them. It can be an irritant like a fleck of sand, or it can be a parasite.”
“What’s a parasite?” Annie asked, frowning.
“Em’s ex-husband,” Barbie said without missing a beat.
Em made a strangled noise.
Barbie plowed right on ahead. “Or something in the ocean that just crawls in there with Mr. Clam and drives him nuts.”
Ethan pressed his hands against his hips and eyed the door like it was a lifeline.
“So Mr. Clam-Oyster gets grumpy and starts covering the annoyance in snot,” Barbie continued.
Em pinched her eyelids into slits and made the strangled sound again. She didn’t mean to. It just kept happening and she really just wanted a bath and a do-over tomorrow.
Ethan sort of choked, but recovered.
“It’s not boogers,” Em confirmed.
Barbie nodded, her blonde hair bouncing. “It’s clam snot. You’re right. Not the same.” She splayed her hands to illustrate her point. “Over time, the clam continues coating the irritation until—” She smacked her hands together.
The sound of her hands smacking together came out substantially louder than Barbie likely expected. Everyone jumped, including Sketch.
