I glanced in the rearview mirror at Hannah who was staring out the window. “You mean her bionic mom, Miss Peyton?” she asked.
“Biological, yeah.”
“Can they come over to our house?”
“I think that they might already have plans.”
Hannah continued to gaze out the window forlornly. I wanted to remind her that she’d just come from a sleepover and had pizza, but Lizzy had discussed with me that I shouldn’t invalidate her feelings and I should just let her work through them. She was allowed to be disappointed with something even if she had a lot of other great things, as long as she regulated her behavior and didn’t throw a fit or act up.
She sighed. “I wish I could see Miss Peyton today.”
That made two of us. Last night had been amazing, but it did sort of put the talk we’d had in a gray area. I knew that hooking up while being friends wasn’t sustainable. One of us would end up getting hurt and from my reaction when I’d seen the ring on her finger, I was pretty sure that one would be me.
The rest of the car ride was in silence. My usual chatterbox of a daughter didn’t say another word until we got to Lizzy’s and her mom greeted us at the front door.
“Hey, Banana.” She said as she ruffled our daughter’s hair. “Did you have fun at the dance?”
Hannah nodded.
“And the sleepover?”
“Yeah,” she said quietly.
Lizzy looked up at me with a questioning look. I shook my head that it was nothing to be concerned about.
“Do you want to help Robbie give Bubba a bath? He’s out in the backyard.”
That offer lifted the dark cloud of disappointment that had been hanging over our six-year-old’s head. She jumped up in the air. “Yeah!”
We watched as she ran out in the backyard calling both Bubba and Robbie’s name and informing them she was coming.
“What had her in the depths of despair?” Lizzy referenced Hannah’s favorite bookAnne of Green Gablesas we walked inside the house toward the kitchen.
“She wanted to see Lina today. I told her that Lina was going to see her mom. She asked if they could come over, I told her I thought they had other plans. She said she wished she was seeing Miss Peyton today.”
“I’m guessing she’s not the only one.” Lizzy handed me a coffee and we sat at the breakfast nook.
“Yeah,” I nodded, not even trying to deny my feelings.
“So how are things with you and Peyton?” Lizzy asked as she sipped her tea. “I heard you stayed after the dance to help her clean up.”
“Who told you that?”
“Miss Bianca.”
“You know Miss Bianca?”
“She’s in my spin class. I saw her this morning.”
“Feeling that much better, huh?” I had a sneaking suspicion she hadn’t been that under the weather that she couldn’t go to the dance last night. She’d just wanted me to go to see Peyton.
“Yeah, it must have been because I rested last night.” She smiled sweetly and innocently batting her eyelashes at me. “Stop changing the subject. How are you and Miss Peyton?”
“Good. I talked to her last night.”
“I’m sure you did.” Lizzy wagged her brows.
I knew what she was insinuating, and she wasn’t wrong. Things had gone farther than talking, but we had talked.
