“I don’t know what I’m doing. I want to say the right thing. Be the right person for her.” Bennett’s confession strikes me.
I nod, staring at the bubbles in my lemonade. “It will get easier. She’s just quiet.”
“Thankfully, Wren isn’t.” He looks at me through his eyelashes as he bites into his pizza.
“It’s nice that Wren is excited.”
He puts down his pizza and sits back in the booth. “How did Leia take it?”
“She’s been quiet about it, but that’s her normally. I think as we keep this going, we’ll know more.”
He stares at his plate for a second, and I sip my lemonade to do anything but wonder how much he hates me. We haven’t talked about me keeping it from him, and I don’t have it in me to get him to understand why I did it, even if I knew it was wrong. I’m not sure I could forgive someone if the roles were reversed. Right now, we just need to concentrate on building Bennett’s relationship with Leia and making this transition as easy as possible for the girls.
“I’d like a day with her, just me and her.” I open my mouth, but he continues. “I’m not saying soon, but at some point, I need to get to know her away from Wren. And she needs to get to know me away from you.”
I swallow the lump in my throat. “Okay.” There’s no changing that he’s her dad, and she deserves to see what that relationship can be.
His eyes hold mine. “Thanks.”
I nod.
The girls rush back over, Wren grabbing Bennett’s hand. “Come on, Daddy, we want to drive.”
Bennett stands and Wren drags him forward. “Are you coming?” he asks me, looking over his shoulder.
I trail behind toward the arcade. Wren darts toward the driving game, shouting something about beating her own high score. Leia stands close to Bennett, watching.
Then he turns to me. “Do you mind taking Wren on the driving game?”
“Is that okay with you?” I ask Wren.
She grabs my hand and tugs me toward the game. “Have you played before?”
I catch Bennett crouching beside Leia, pointing out the claw machine. “Think we can win something?”
Leia’s voice is soft. “They’re rigged.”
He chuckles. “You sound like your mom.”
She blinks at him. And when he laughs, she smiles. A real smile lights up her face, and something shifts deep inside me.
I move to stand beside them.
Wren yells from across the room, “Delaney! Come on.”
As I walk toward her, I look back.
Leia’s hand slides into Bennett’s as they walk over to the machines.
Later, once the girls have had enough of the arcade, we walk out into the warm night, both girls clutching the matching unicorns Bennett won for them.
“Still think they’re rigged?” Bennett asks me.
“How much did you spend? You could’ve bought them for the amount of money you wasted winning them.”
“You’re missing the whole point of the game.” We stop where our cars are parked, the girls talking to each other about how much fun they had.
“What’s that?”
