Page 124 of Forfeits

Aiden came close and put his arm around me. “I’m sure you were a huge help and comfort.”

“Yeah, Dad,” Lucy said, smiling as she looked at Aiden and I all cozy together. “Give yourself some credit. You’re pretty good in a crisis.”

“Am I?” I asked, pleased to be told so.

“Yeah.” Lucy sighed. “Anyway, a craptastic end to a craptastic day. I did my drama presentation. I don’t think it was very good.”

“Oh, honey,” I said.

“All right. You know what this means?” Aiden said, clapping his hands together.

Lucy and I looked at him.

“I’m ordering pizza, and we’re going to sit around here and feel sad about Lilly, but happy that she’s not suffering. Then, if we feel up to it, we can watch a movie.”

Lucy glanced at Aiden with excitement but then turned to me with skepticism.

“But I have school tomorrow.”

“You can stay home. Bereavement leave,” I said.

“Oh yeah,” she said. “You mean, it works for animals, too?”

“Sure.” Maybe not officially. But in my books it did.

She had stayed home for a couple of weeks after Daniel’s death, and we’d done things together, cried together and ordered takeout a lot and eaten casseroles that friends and family had dropped off.

“Just one day this time,” I said. “But you need a chance to process.”

“Thanks, Dad,” Lucy said, hugging me again.

“What do you want on your pizza?” Aiden asked as I threw him a grateful glance.

“Mushroom and pineapple,” Lucy said.

Aiden paled. “Really?”

“Yeah. It’s delicious.”

He glanced at me. “Do you want—?”

“Never. Pepperoni and olives.”

“Oh, thank God,” Aiden said, putting a hand to his heart.

* * * *

We had a picnic on the living room floor and talked and laughed and teased each other. Lucy wanted to watch Moana. Aiden had never seen it.

“You’ve never seen Moana?” I asked, scandalized.

He laughed. “No. Hey, I don’t have kids.”

“But you’re a teacher,” Lucy pointed out. “You must have heard about it. It’s literally the best movie Disney has ever made. Well, Tangled is close, but Moana is the best.”

My phone rang while they were talking, and I excused myself and went into the kitchen. It was Brian Marin, and I hoped he wasn’t calling to say that the custody battle was back on.

“Hi, Brian,” I said.

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