“How long?”
“Since the wedding. Mostly.” She set the bear down and picked up another. “She’s been staying over. After Daisy’s asleep, she comes across the grounds. Since her brother stays in the pool house too, its not an issue.”
“And?”
“And I think it’s turning into something.” She said it to the shelf. “I don’t want to mess that up either.”
Pat took the bear from her, looked at it, and handed it back. “You won’t.”
“I forced her into this.”
“You’ve both made plenty of choices since then that had nothing to do with force.”
“I know. I just—” Lizanne set the bear down. “I want to get it right. The bear, the party, whatever this is with Rose. I want it all to be right, and I know that isn’t always my specialty.”
A young sales assistant appeared at Lizanne’s elbow. She looked at the shelf they’d been staring at.
She immediately picked up a cream-colored bear with a soft knitted sweater.
“This one,” she said. “The sweater comes off and goes back on. That’s a big deal for six-year-olds. They like things they can do themselves.”
Lizanne looked at it. It was simple and well-made. The face was sweet without being annoying.
“We’ll take it,” Pat said.
Outside, two photographers were already on the sidewalk across the street. Lizanne saw them first, which gave her three seconds to fix her face before the first lens came up.
“I wanted this to be private,” she said, keeping her pace steady.
“There’s always someone watching,” Pat said.
“I know. I don’t have to like it.”
They got in the car. The photographers got what they wanted—two shots of Lizanne Connors leaving a toy store with a small bag. The internet would do whatever it did with that, and Lizanne decided she wasn’t going to read it.
Pat’s phone rang before they’d gone a block. She listened, said almost nothing, and hung up. Lizanne knew it was the network.
“The wedding episode aired last night,” Pat said. “Highest ratings for a premiere in four years.”
Lizanne looked out at the street.
“They’re asking about Christmas,” Pat continued. “They want a full episode. The decorating, the whole thing. If you can get Rose’s mom to bake cookies, that would be nice too.”
“I have barely spoken to the woman. And I don’t even celebrate Christmas.”
“You do now.”
“Tell them I’ll talk to Rose.” Lizanne watched a woman struggle with a stroller on the curb. “We haven’t even done Thanksgiving.”
“They know. They’re letting Thanksgiving go because of Daisy’s birthday. Christmas is the trade-off.” Pat made a note on her tablet. “You’re doing the birthday on Black Friday, right?”
“Yes. And we’re doing Thanksgiving food at the party anyway.”
Pat nodded, then she pursed her lips. “Say, something else they keep asking me about. What about Daisy’s dad? Any chance he’d make a sudden appearance?”
“No. No way. He took off when she was a little kid. I mean, a baby. Rose hardly ever talks about him other than to say he was a mistake who left her with a mountain of debt.”
“Which is paid off now, thanks to the show.”
