Page 32 of Stolen Kisses

“That will be a surprise. I don’t like pizza.”

I wonder what he ate when I left the pizzas at their place last week? “Why’sthat?”

“Everything touches each other and it’s not crunchy. Sometimes, if the crust is crunchy, I’ll eat the crust, but I won’t eat the rest. I like eating crunchy foods. I have a crunchy apple with my breakfast and crunchy vegetables with my lunch and dinner. I even have crunchy vegetables with my afternoon snack.”

“Right.Soif you don’t eat pizza, will you only have crunchy vegetables?”

“Yesand Mommy makes me chicken nuggets too because they’re crunchy on the outside.”

“Alright. How about I order some thin crust pizza, which will have a crunchy crust,andchicken nuggets? Would that be okay with you?”

“Of course.”

Great. I order dinner to be delivered and get the kids cleaned up before heading back over to Emma’s. I hope she doesn’t mind that I’ve invited Kenny and myself over for dinner. Let’s hope it works out this time.

–eight–

–theo–

My phone rings with anunknown number as I wait for Kenny to come out of class. “Hello, Theo Drivas speaking.”

“Hello, Mr. Drivas. My name is Rosemary and I’m calling about the advertisement you put up atMal’s Minimart.”

“Hi, Rosemary. What can I do for you?”

“Is it true? Will you really do any basic maintenance work for free if I’m over sixty-five? I’ll only need to pay for materials?”

“Absolutely. What do you need done?”

“Uh, well, I’m not sure it will be considered basic maintenance. My husband recently had complications from a toe infection. The doctor had to amputate his leg above the knee and now he’s wheelchair-bound. It was all so unexpected and sudden. We’re going to need some adjustments made to our house to make it easier for him to get around with a wheelchair.” The watery tone to her voice hints at her shock as she tells me what needs to be done. “Would that be asking too much?”

“Not at all. I’mcurrentlypicking up my niece from school, so I won’t be able to come by until tomorrow morning. Would that suit you?”

“Oh, absolutely. Hewon’t be home from the hospitalfor another two weeks yet. Oh, I’m so thankful to have seen your advertisement. I thought maybe it was too good to be true.”

“I’m happy to help. I can be at your place tomorrow morning after I drop my niece at school. Please text me your address and I’ll give you a call before I head over. I’ll need a rundown of what you need and I’ll take some measurements, so I can get the materials required for the job.”

“Oh, thank you so very much! You’re an angel. I’ll send those details through now and I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“No problem, Rosemary. See you tomorrow.”

I’mtuckingmy phone in my back pocket when the doors open and kids come rushing out. I look at every child as they come through the door until the doorway is empty. I don’t see Kenny anywhere! My heart hammers and I begin to panic that something’s happened. Stepping through the classroom doors in a rush, I find Kenny sitting with her teacher. My girl’s back is to me, but her teacher spots me, giving me a half-hearted smile. Five strideshasme squatting next to the little girl who holds my heart in her tiny hands. When I see her face, I hope she’sready to catchall of the brokenfragmentsas my heart shatters into a million pieces. Tears track down her cheeks as snot fills her little button nose. I’ve only seen her cry once in the whole time we’ve been together and seeing her like this hurts my fucking heart.

“What happened, Kenny-girl? What’s wrong?” She wraps her little hands around my neck and crawls across to me, wrapping her little legs around me, latching on like a koala. She’s sobbing too hard to tell me what happened, so I look to her teacher.

“Do you know what happened?”

She places her hand on Kenny’s back and her eyes become glassy as she looks at my munchkin. “Uhm, there’s a Daddy-Daughter dance on the last Friday of the school year. One of the kids commented—” she breaks off and mouths the next part to me, “—that Kenny didn’t have a daddy or a mommy.”

I see fucking red and squeeze my girl closer, kissing her forehead. “And what did you do about it?” Anger drips from my words.

“Ah, uh, I spoke to the child about being a good friend and asked them to apologize to Kenny. At this age, children really don’t understand that words can hurt another person. It wasn’t said with the intention to hurt her feelings, it was a statement of observation.” She steps back away from the two of us. “At this age, it’s important we guide our students in what’s appropriate and what isn’t.”

My shoulders relax, some of the tension leaving me. I probably overreacted; the kidsareonly four-years-old. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to snap at you. I was upset for Kenny.”

“Understandable, Mr. Drivas. It’s distressing to see your child so upset.”

“Is there any information about this dance?”

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