“Then we had a water gun fight that got pretty crazy. Dad and I were on a team, and he knew the best hiding places. I remember he carried me on his shoulders and ran across the yard like it was nothing. We sprayed everyone there, including Mom.”
“I remember Mom,” Poppy said forlornly. “Remember her, Ava?”
Ava rolled her eyes. “You just FaceTimed her last night.”
“Your dad sounds very special,” I said to Ava. “He’d be proud of how strong you are, how well you’re taking care of your sister and yourself.”
“I think about him every night when I try to go to sleep.” Ava stared into her cup of milk before taking another sip. “I wonder if he’s watching over us and what he thinks.”
I scooted closer to the girls. They’d experienced so much in their young lives, and though our childhood pains were not similar, I knew their loneliness and confusion, how rejection taunted the adolescent ear. “I bet your dad thinks you’re brave and smart…and going through a lot.”
Ava dabbed a napkin beneath her eyes. “I wish…I wish he was still here.”
The therapist in me thrilled at this new level unlocked. “What would you say to your dad right now if he were?”
“I’d tell him…” As Ava’s voice trailed off in thought, a loud knock sounded at the front door, startling us all. “That’s Uncle Miller, isn’t it?”
I winced as I gave her the truth. “I might’ve let him know your location.”
Poppy shoved half a cupcake in her tiny mouth, crumbs falling like confetti. “We’re in trou-ble.”
I opened the door, and before I could bid Miller good evening, he stormed inside.
“Ava, I’ve been worried sick.” He wasn’t yelling, but his words packed a punch nonetheless. “You can’t just run off like that in the dark of night. You should’ve—”
“Invited you to join us here,” I interrupted. “They were about to call you to pick them up. Isn’t that right, girls?”
Ava nodded her head while the short one gave a blunt, “Nope.”
“The girls and I have decided we’re throwing a party at the farm.” My wide eyes bore into Miller, telling him to zip it and play along. There was a struggle going on in that head of his, and if I wasn’t so mad at him, I might’ve said it was fascinating to see him slightly unraveled.
His chest covered by that faded blue t-shirt rose and fell in harsh breaths, and I knew the heart beating beneath it must be thudding overtime with panic and frustration. “Is that so?” he finally said around clenched teeth.
“Yes.” I slipped a hand around Ava’s shoulders as her little sister climbed into Miller’s arms. “Ava really misses her friends and was feeling down about her birthday.”
“Her birthday,” he repeated robotically, processing this new information.
“Yes,” I said brightly. “It’s in twenty-four days, you know.”
“Right.” Miller’s shoulders eased a notch. “Of course I knew that.”
He definitely had not. “So…we’re going to have a big celebration.” I took a bolstering breath. “At your house.”
Miller scrubbed a hand over his stubbled chin, his response dry as chicken feed. “Cool.”
“It’s hard to be away from everything and everyone familiar,” I said. “Miller, do you remember how you felt when you first moved to San Francisco?”
“Deliriously happy.”
I shot him a look.Not helping here, dude.“Don’t you recall how big and overwhelming the new place was? How sad you felt to be away from the familiar? How hard it was to make new friends and not feel so alone?”
I might as well have said, “Don’t you recall the first time you tried on women’s underwear and bought your first bra?” The man simply did not relate. Probably hadn’t thought about the full extent of what Ava was enduring.
“I guess,” he finally said. “I know you’re still adjusting, girls. But Ava, I forbade you from going to your friend’s because he’s an older boy. Like a lot older. And I don’t know him or his parents.”
“But he’s the only one who’s invited me to anything.” Ava didn’t stomp her foot, but it was certainly implied.
“He’s fifteen.” Miller’s volume lifted. “He doesn’t have juice boxes and Minecraft on his mind.”
