“Thank God for that.”
“Let that toxic shit go. You won’t know how Alana or any woman will be in the future until you get there. Do you like Alana?”
“A lot.” More than he had anyone else and the fear that not just his daughter could get hurt but that he could as well was mounting.
“Becca hasn’t stopped yammering about Alana and dinner with her this week.”
“Really?” He hadn’t known if his daughter would do that or not.
“Yes. How you handle letting Becca know Alana is more than her friend is up to you, but the way my granddaughter talks about her tells me that Alana isn’t playing some long game to get to you through your daughter.”
“I don’t think so.”
“You’re saying it, so believe it.”
“She took care of me when I was sick. I looked like hell. She didn’t need to do it and didn’t hesitate to stay.”
“That’s right. If it was about Becca and putting on a front, she wouldn’t have even dropped stuff off, let alone slept on that small couch of yours, then gotten up and gone to work the next day.”
He’d thought Alana would have stayed home or at least worked from home, but she hadn’t.
“Daddy, when are we leaving?” Becca asked, running into the room.
“Soon,” he said. “Why don’t you go pick up any toys?”
“Are you going to tell her Rene is coming?”
“Not until I see her get off the ferry,” he said. “I don’t trust her not to change her mind.”
His mother snorted. “Why not make her take a selfie on the ferry so you know she’s coming and can prepare Becca? She might not even remember her.”
“Becca remembers everyone. And I told Rene to do that. She got pissy with me, but I’m not getting Becca excited only toexplain why it didn’t happen. And I don’t want to just surprise her and have her think it could happen again too.”
“It’s a tough situation.”
“It is,” he said. One he wished he didn’t have to deal with, but there’d been too many times that Rene bailed last minute on them.
“I’m ready,” Becca said, dashing into the room.
His daughter’s hair was pulled back in a single braid flying around her head.
Normally Becca complained about the style being too boring.
“I gave her a bath and washed her hair last night,” his mother said. “She got chocolate in it.”
“Do I want to know how that happened?”
“Pudding. She got excited over something on one movie and flung her spoon out and it landed in her hair.”
“Better you than me.” He looked at Becca hopping in place. “Let’s get your jacket on and go.”
His mother grabbed Becca’s bookbag on the floor and handed it off.
Becca gave his mother a kiss, then he picked her up and carried her outside, getting her secure in the back.
“I’m hungry,” Becca said.
“Grandma said she fed you lunch.”
