Page 119 of Riding the High

“Me and Ginger have our own team!” she says as Cole feigns shock.

“Traitors,” he gasps, pushing his hair off of his forehead before climbing out of the water. “And what is this team called?”

Mabel and I look at each other.

“The Gardenistas,” I say as Mabes and I side-five, without even looking at each other. It took us three days to be able to do that.

Cole chuckles and opens his little outdoor fridge near theBBQ on the patio, pulling out the sandwiches Mabel and I made earlier

“Okay, Gardenistas, come and have some food,” he says, drying himself off.

Ten minutes later, we’re seated and eating our lunch. Cole polishes off his sandwich first.

“So, Mabes, can we have a talk?” he asks, his eyes on mine, telepathically telling me that the time is now.

Mabel dips a berry into whipped cream and shoves it into her mouth.

“Yep,” she says.

Cole fidgets in his seat. “Do you like having Ginger here with us?”

I smile into my lap as I pop a berry into my mouth, loving Cole so much in this moment for caring so intensely about what his daughter thinks of him. Of us.

“Yes,” she says as she continues to eat.

“How would you feel if Ginger were to stay for longer?”

“Happy,” she says without hesitation. I smile at her.

“I’d be happy too,” I tell her.

“Why?” Mabel asks. “And what will happen to your house?”

“Well …” I take a breath before answering her. “Someone else would live there and I would live here.”

“You’d help my dad take me to school?”

“Ginger will help me look after you, I’m sure. But there’s something else too, Mabes,” Cole says.

Mabel looks at both of us and tries, in her little eight-year-old mind, to understand Cole’s beating around the bush.

“Sometimes, when grown-ups spend a lot of time together,” I say, “they find they get along very well.”

Mabel nods and looks up at me. “Like me and you?” she asks.

“Yes, sort of. But also in a different way,” I tell her.

She picks up another berry and thinks for a second.

“Like how Grace is always around when Annie comes to Mr. Stacks’s, and they fall in love?” Mabel asks, referencingAnnieand sounding way too grown-up.

“Exactly,” I tell her.Smart girl.

“Do you love my dad?” she says bluntly.

On the other side of the table, Cole almost chokes on his iced tea. I look at him.

“Yes, I do, very much,” I answer.

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