Page 36 of My Best Bet

Mom rolled her eyes before taking a step closer to me and pulling my jacket together. “I guess I'm a terrible person and I should just shut up then.”

“Mom,” I groaned, dropping my head back.

“What?” she asked defensively. “I didn’t mean offense. I’m only trying to help because I love you two so much, you know that.”

“Yeah.” I breathed out a sigh and nodded tightly. “Okay.”

“Sorry,” she said, blowing out a breath. “I’m trying, I really am.”

I nodded, because what more could I really say. My mom had her issues, but her tough love came from a good place.

Silence descended in the car as we drove away from my mom’s house. I think we both needed a minute of reprieve.

Lucy wasn’t talkative again until we were eating our ice creams out by the Navy Pier. Chicago was having a decentOctober for once, and I wanted us to soak up every bit of sunlight before the gray winter descended upon us.

“She doesn't like me,” Lucy said plainly.

“Who?”

She licked her ice cream. “Grandma Catherine.”

My stomach knotted up. “No, she does. She loves you, honey.”

“No. She lovesyou. Not me. It’s okay. Not that many people like me,” she muttered quietly.

My heart felt like it was being sliced apart. Seeing her hurting made me physically ill. I just didn’t know how to make it better.

“That's not true, baby,” I tried. “So many people love you, okay? There’s just a few girls at school who are mean. But ya know what I think?”

She looked at me with a frown on her little face.

“I think maybe those mean girls are hurting too, so they hurt other people. And that stinks for them because they’ll end up pushing good people away. It’s their loss they don’t get to be friends with you, because you’re a really good friend. I should know. You’re mybestfriend.”

That made her smile and reach to hold my hand.

“And Grandma is just a little harsh. But she’s family. She does love us. And she sacrificed a lot for me when I was growing up. She brought me to all my practices and games and tournaments, it was a lot for her.”

Lucy shrugged. “I think she only likes boys. She’s…” She stuck her tongue out of the side of her mouth, thinking. “She’s sexist.”

I pulled back in shock. “Where’d you learn that word?”

“Kappy,” she said without hesitation, a little grin pulling at her mouth. “He says Hans is sexist because he’s nicer to the girls than the boys at the rink.”

I tried hard to keep a straight face. “Kappy was being a bonehead. The boys were probably causing trouble, so Hans gotmad, he wasn’t being sexist.” I needed to change the subject. “You really don’t want a birthday party?”

She munched on some sprinkles and looked thoughtful for a second. “Can we have a party of just me, you, Uncle Kappy, and Uncle JP?”

“And not Grandma?” I winced. She wasn’t going to like that.

“Nope,” she said, popping thep. “Just the hooligans.” She grinned.

That made me chuckle. “Alright.” I patted Lucy’s head. “We’ll do that. Let’s just… not tell her, yeah?”

She reached out a fist for a knuckle punch to seal the deal.

The rest of Sunday, my thoughts kept drifting back to dating. When I finally had enough courage to download a dating app, my fingers hovered over the screen just long enough for Mer’s face to slam into my mind.

Fuck.

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