I’m staring off in space when Mila crawls into my lap and wraps her arms around myneck.
“Hey, bugaboo.” I stroke her silky hair. Her sigh makes me frown, and I pull back to see worry etched all over her delicate face. “What’swrong?”
Those big baby-blue eyes turn up to me. “How do you know somethin’swrong?”
I rub the furrow in her brow. “Because of this. You get all crinkly here.” She doesn’t laugh the way I expect her to. Instead, she sighs again. “Want to tell me aboutit?”
She rests her head on my chest. “Momma’s supposed to come tomorrow. She said she’d take us to thezoo.”
“I bet you’re excited to see her, huh? The zoo sounds so fun!” Two weeks is a long time to go without seeing your mom at that age. Thinking back to the long stretches without seeing mine when I was a kid makes me want to squeeze the stuffing out ofMila.
But instead of agreeing, she shrugs. “What if she doesn’t come? What if she forgetsagain?”
Man, shoot me now. This poor kid.I’ve never met Allison, but how could she not adore Mila and Cody and move heaven and earth to seethem?
“Oh, honey. Did she forgetonce?”
A sniffle escapes her as she nods. “A fewtimes.”
The psycho part of me wants to punch that woman in the ovaries for making her kid feel likeshit.
Nibbling my lip, I rush to think of something to explain Allison’s behavior. “Sometimes, when life gets crazy, people lose track of time. Like how I burned those cookies today when I forgot to set the timer. Or it’s possible she misremembered. Wrote down the wrong dates or got confused.” I hope to hell she didn’t deliberately blow off herkids.
Mila sniffles and looks up at me. “Yeah?”
“Totally. But that doesn’t mean your momma doesn’t want to see you and your brother. As I get older, I’m starting to understand that parents aren’t perfect. They try really hard. Like when you were trying to do that cartwheel the other day. Even though you didn’t quite nail it, you gave it your whole heart,right?”
Nodding, she sniffles again, but her eyes don’t look quite so downcastanymore.
“So we have to cut our parents some slack. Give them a break sometimes because everyone makesmistakes.”
“Okay.”
I run my hand gently across her back, wanting to soothe her. “But if you ever need to talk about this again, you can always talk to me or your daddy. He loves you so much, and I know your momma doestoo.”
She nods against me, and I kiss the top of herhead.
Someone clears his throat, and I look up to see Ethan leaning in the doorway, his solemn expression telling me he heard the conversation I had with hisdaughter.
I stare at him while I whisper to Mila. “I think your daddy could use a hug. What do youthink?”
Her head whips around, and a second later, she’s bounding into his arms. He’s so sweet with her, so tender and reassuring that the sight of him snuggling her close makes my breathcatch.
I start to wonder, if he’s that gentle with his daughter, maybe he’s the type of man who could be gentle with my hearttoo.
The five ofus head for Ethan’s enormous four-door truck. Logan yells “shotgun” and grabs the passenger seat, but Ethan smacks him with a baseball cap. “Where are your manners? You should let Tori sit upfront.”
Logan nods and starts to getout.
“It’s okay,” I yell from the other side of the cab. “Really. I’ll sit between the kids. It’s easier for me to fit back hereanyway.”
Once Cody is all buckled in, I’m debating how the hell I’m getting into this huge vehicle myself when a hand on my hip makes me turn. I’m finally face-to-face with Ethan after this crazy day where I’ve been making myself nuts debating what’s going on betweenus.
He gently pulls me away from the truck and half-closes the door behind me. “Just wanted to thank you for what you told Milaearlier.”
“Noproblem.”
There are so many things I want to say, but with his family waiting for us a foot away, now’s not really the time. Instead, I stare at his broad chest, at the tats that extend down both arms, and I shiver when I remember how it felt when he touchedme.
