“You know that Tripp and I are good friends, right?” she asked them, sitting down on the edge of her own bed.
The wind rattled the window frames a little, but it was cozy and warm in the room they shared.
“He’s your boyfriend,” Posey piped up right away.
Jillian couldn’t help glancing over at Mari, who was studying her with wide, worried eyes.
“I like Tripp a lot,” Jillian said, determined to tell her girls the truth. “And he’s not my boyfriend, but he did ask me on a date.”
Mari nodded slowly.
“Can we come?” Posey asked hopefully.
“Well, he actually asked fortwodates,” Jillian said, smiling. “He wants to take me out tomorrow night, that will be just us grownups. And then on Saturday, he was hoping to take all of us to the Christmas events in town.”
“What Christmas events?” Posey asked excitedly.
Mari still didn’t speak.
“Well, there’s a town snowball fight,” Jillian said.
“Asnowball fight?” Posey echoed.
“And there’s a tree-lighting ceremony in the park at night,” Jillian finished.
“That sounds good,” Posey said, nodding her head up and down enthusiastically.
“What do you think about all this, Mari?” Jillian asked, moving to sit on the edge of Posey and Mari’s bed.
Mari shrugged and fixed her eyes on her comforter.
“Is it weird to think of me going on a date?” Jillian offered.
“Dad had a girlfriend,” Posey put in. “They went on dates.”
“But she broke up with him,” Mari said quietly.
That was news to Jillian.
“She did?” she managed to ask Mari calmly.
Mari nodded, looking downcast.
“Does that make you sad?” Jillian asked.
The idea that her daughters might have a fondness for Alan’s girlfriend hurt her heart. But their well-being was the most important thing in the world to her, and she didn’t like the idea of them hurting for any reason.
“Are we going back to the city?” Mari asked, finally breaking her silence.
“No,” Jillian told her, not sure wherethat question could be coming from. “We can’t really afford the city, so we’re making a whole new life for ourselves right here.”
“What if Dad wants us to come back?” Mari asked softly.
Oh.
“Mari and Posey, let’s all three of us cuddle up,” Jillian said, beckoning for Posey to join them.
Posey scrambled over to snuggle in close with her mom and sister.
