Page 98 of Rock Chick Bonus Tracks

Judith, the eldest, noticed more of her mother’s bullshit when it was happening.

Alice had baby birds that had fallen out of their nests to save, and bullies on the playground to tell off. She noticed it. But it took longer to dig under her skin than it did Judith.

“You shouldn’t call your mom stupid, honey,” Moses rebuked gently.

“She acts stupid sometimes, Dad. It should be called what it is.”

She wasn’t wrong. He didn’t want his daughter to speak of her mother that way, but she wasn’t eight anymore. She was nearly grown. Every day, she got closer to becoming the woman she was going to be. As much as he wanted to freeze them as his babies forever, he had to let her bloom into whoever that was.

On this thought, his phone rang. They both saw the screen saidShirleen Calling.

“Two seconds,” he said to his girl, then took the call. “Baby, I’m talkin’ with Judith. Call you back.”

“Okay, darlin’. Since it’s probably on your mind, just to say, all good here. But talk soon,” she replied, and he heard the disconnect of her giving him what he needed before he did it himself.

Yeah, he had to figure out how to come home with Shirleen.

He put the phone down.

“I like her for you,” Judith whispered.

He felt his chest get hot. “Sweetheart.”

“I hate you alone when we’re not here. You’re too good of a guy to be alone.”

Right, enough of this mature adult dad and maturing-to-an-adult daughter shit.

He pulled her out of crossed legs and shifted them into the bed, him against his big pillows and leather bolster, his girl tucked to his side with her head on his shoulder.

“Talk to me,” he demanded.

“Okay, so I told Mom we were meeting you and your new girlfriend and her sons. It was after, when we talked about it in the car, that Alice agreed it was the right thing to do. I mean, obviously, since you wanted us to meet her, she’s going to be around awhile.”

“She is,” he confirmed.

“So Mom’s eventually gonna find out.”

“She would.”

“And I think she’s mad about it.”

He sighed.

She pushed up and looked down at him. “But again, Dad,stupid. She’s married to another guy. Why can’t she justmove on?”

“I don’t know, honey,” he muttered, hating he didn’t have the answers, and pissed at his ex because she was still finding opportunities to put him in that place. He gave his girl a squeeze and shared, “I’m glad you and your sister are smart enough to read this for what it is. And I love how sweet and interested you were in Shirleen, Julien and Roman.”

“Particularly Alice with Roman,” she mumbled, settling back into her old man, sounding amused, and although this didn’t amuse Moses, he liked to hear his girl was.

“Yeah,” he grunted.

She giggled.

He gave her another squeeze. “And the bottom line is, there’s nothing your mom can do about it.”

“Doesn’t mean she’s not gonna dream up something to do.”

“Maybe so, but it’s not your problem. It’s not mine. It’s hers.”

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