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Ari didn’t open her door. She bent forward to be able to see Patience’s face. “Can’t you drop me off?”
“And have you stay home alone?”
“Why not? I’m old enough.”
That was true. She’d stayed by herself—for an hour or two—before. But they were in a new place, and Patience wasn’t quite comfortable leaving her there on her own quite yet, not when she had a better option. “There’s just no need. Don’t you want to say hello to your father?”
“I’ll be going to his house after school tomorrow, won’t I? I want to play with Bubba while I can.”
Patience understood how enamored she was with the Devlins’ pet, but that didn’t change her mind. “It won’t be long,” she said again.
With a dramatic huff, Ari finally climbed out of the car.
“Don’t forget your backpack,” Patience admonished. “You might as well get your homework done while we’re here.”
She reached in to grab it and slung it over her shoulder. “Does Dad know we moved?”
Patience was waiting to lock the car. “He does now. Why didn’t you tell him?”
“I didn’t know I was supposed to,” she said as she came around the front of the vehicle.
“You weren’t supposed to,” Patience said. “I just thought you would.”
“He’s going through a hard time. I didn’t want to make it any worse.”
They’d started toward the entrance, but at this Patience stopped. “How would our moving make what he’s going through any worse?”
“Because we’re not moving back in with him,” she replied as if it was obvious.
“He wouldn’t even want us to!”
“Are you kidding, Mom? He’d love for us to be a family again.”
“He told you that?”
“He didn’t have to.”
“Why have you never brought this up to me?”
“Because I knew it’d make you feel as if you had to go back to him for my sake.”
Patience was stunned by the emotional maturity of her daughter. “That was very…generous and considerate of you.”
She kicked a pebble that skittered away from them on the cracked, uneven blacktop. “Michaela’s mother says we all have a right to find happiness.”
“You’ve discussed this with her?” Patience wasn’t thrilled by that idea…
“No. I overheard her talking to a friend about her own divorce. But that’s when it hit me that moms and dads sometimes have to make choices they don’t want to because they think it’s best for their children—like you did when you got pregnant with me.”
Tears welled up in Patience’s eyes, and she couldn’t manage to blink them back.
When Ari noticed, she reached out to touch her arm. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.” Patience couldn’t explain why she was crying because she wasn’t quite sure herself. “I just… I want you to know something.” She rested her hands on her daughter’s shoulders and looked down into her big, beautiful eyes. “I’ve never, not even for a moment, regretted having you. I hope you know that.”
“I do. But you married Dad once because of me. I don’t want you to have to do it again—not unless that’s what you want.” She grinned. “Besides, I like Kanon.”
“Kanon and I are just friends, honey,” Patience protested.
