Page 85 of Never Kiss Your Neighbors

“Well, that’s good. Only three more days, and you can be done with the brace.”

“Thank goodness!” She sounds like she’s been wearing it for ten months, rather than ten days.

At home, we go through the regular routine of a treat for Goldfish, a snack for Jessie, and some playtime outside, though what Jessie can do has been limited while she heals.

We also had a talk last week about safety on the playset, after I found out she was doing something risky to try to impress Cam and Wyatt that evening that she fell.

When she comes inside, she skips through the living room.

“Are you excited to go out to dinner with Cam and Wyatt?” I ask her.

“Yes, I am!”

“They told me they’re taking us to a restaurant where we’ll eat outside, and there are games like bean bag toss, that we can play before and after we eat.”

“I can’t wait,” she cries.

“Before we go, I wanted to talk to you about the neighbors, about Cam and Wyatt.”

Jessie scoots to a stop and plops her bottom down on the carpet. Goldfish is immediately at her side. “What do you want to talk about, Mommy?”

I sit down on the floor with her. “Well … I really like them, and I’m going to be going out on dates with them.”

“Okay.”

“But I want you to know that you’ll always be my first priority. Seeing them won’t take away from how much I love you.”

Jessie nods as she pets Goldfish. “Are they your boyfriends, Mommy?”

I bite my lip. “I guess you could call them that.”

She nods. “I knew that already.”

“You did? Did they tell you?” I can’t imagine that Cam or Wyatt would have decided to tell her before I did, but maybe it slipped out somehow.

Jessie shakes her head. “No, I just knew. I told Goldfish a few days ago, and he said he already knew, too.”

ONE YEAR LATER

Jessie

Mom’s in the kitchen. I always know where she is, because she’s always humming or singing.

She smiles a lot too, and when Cam and Wyatt are around, she laughs a lot. We both do.

Mom plays games and jokes with me a lot more than she used to, too, even when Cam and Wyatt aren’t here.

We all live in a big, new house together, which is great, except that Goldfish doesn’t live with us. He visits, and we visit him a lot, but because he’s Auntie Marissa’s dog, he lives with her.

I miss having him in my bed with me at night, especially in my new room, which is big and kind of scary when I’m trying to fall asleep.

During the day, my room is so pretty, and I love it, because I got to pick out all the decorations. But when it’s dark, I can’t see all the sparkly unicorns on the wall.

Mom puts on music for me at night, and it helps a little.

I miss being able to play with Goldfish every day, too, even though Cam and Wyatt know way more games than Goldfish and I do. They’re even building a mini golf course in our back yard!

Cam and Wyatt are so much fun, and I love them so much, but they’re not dogs.

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