Crap. I am definitely going to need to tell her mom she said this, but I’d rather do it withThea’s permission.Don’t you think she’d want to know?
She doesn’t want me to know,Thea writes.She would always try to hide it when she cried, but I saw anyway.
Maybe she would be relieved that she doesn’t have to hide anymore, I write.
Thea thinks about that for a moment. Rosie is singing a sea shanty about pigeons, and the concierge comes back out with a sheet of paper with an ocean scene on it and a box with four crayons. Rosie beams at him and immediately begins coloring from atop her boat.
Not too old for coloring. Noted.
Thea taps my arm with the notepad, shoving it at me again.Maybe, she’s written.But I don’t want it to be onTV.
I know Becca doesn’t either. But, for once, I think I can do something about that.
What if you had a minute alone with her? Would you tell her then?I’d rather this came fromThea than from me. I don’t want Becca to think I put these ideas inThea’s head.
I don’t know,she writes.She might feel bad and I don’t want that.
Becca is going to feel terrible about this. I can guarantee it. But that doesn’t mean she shouldn’t know.Sometimes people feel bad and good at the same time, I write.I think it would be like that. I think your mom would never want you to feel like you can’t love your dad, but I don’t think she likes hiding things from you, either.
Thea twists her lips, first one way and then the other, then writes again.She might feel bad that she thought I didn’t know. She hates it when people assume I don’t understand things, but then she did that too.
Wow.That’s perceptive. I guess I also assumed thatThea was more clueless than she is.Though, to be fair, I don’t think I would have expected any ten-year-old to be this aware of other people’s feelings.
I think she probably hoped you didn’t know because she doesn’t want YOU to feel bad. Sometimes everyone needs to stop worrying about making other people feel bad and just tell the truth.
Thea gives me a sharp glance.Do YOU know the truth?
Damn. I really do not wantThea’s awareness turning on me, but I feel it focusing.I know some things, I write.It’s my job to ask questions.
She raises an eyebrow, and I think the Eye ofThea is now firmly fixed exactly where I don’t want it to be.
She doesn’t keep me in suspense, though.
Does my mom like YOU?she writes.
I want to stop this conversation right here, but we’re waiting for Olivia to come out and tell us they’re ready to take the girls to the restaurant Becca and Preston are at.
Everyone likes me, I write.
Thea rolls her eyes so hard I can only see the whites.I mean like LOOOOOOOOOOVE.
I roll my own eyes.I knew what you meant. Your mom and I are friends.
She gives me the most skeptical look I have ever seen.
What?I write.You don’t think I can have friends?
Thea grabs the notepad and writes so furiously she rips the page a bit under the pen tip.You don’t think my mom is pretty???
Of course your mom is pretty,I respond.That is an objective fact.
So do YOU want to ask her on a date?
Gah.This is getting out of control. But at least there’s an easy answer for that one.
I can’t. She has a boyfriend.
Thea shakes her head firmly.The prince is not her boyfriend. It’s not a boyfriend if he’s dating other people. And if he can date other people so can she.
