Page 129 of The Manny

“I never got to shop for clothes before.”

“Never?” I asked, surprised.

She shook her head. “I got new clothes on my birthday and Christmas. But Mommy said we didn’t have the money to go any other times.”

“Oh.”

“Uncle Jack is nice to me,” she said softly. “I love him.”

“I’m glad.” I smiled. “He loves you too.”

She grabbed her napkin and wiped her face. “We talked about Mommy yesterday.”

“Did you?”

“Yes.” She sighed. “Uncle Jack cried.”

Shock rolled through me. “He… cried?”

“Uh, huh. His eyes got all shiny and red.”

“I see.”

“I don’t ever want to make him cry anymore.” She wrinkled her brow. “I won’t leave him all alone, like Mommy did.”

I wasn’t sure what to say. “Uh… I’m sure he’ll be happy to hear that.”

She brightened suddenly. “When can we go shopping?”

I smiled. “As soon as I put the dishes in the dishwasher. How about you go brush your teeth?”

“Okay.” She got down from her chair and ran out of the room.

I rose and went to the sink. As I filled the dishwasher, I thought about what she’d said. I was glad Mia and Jack had talked about Jules, but it hurt to think the conversation had upset Jack. Was that partially why he’d been so emotional last night? Jack had a lot of pent-up hurt and anger inside. I’d have loved to talk to him about what he’d felt while talking with Mia. Odds were he wouldn’t share that with me though. Not now. He’d probably be twice as closed off after last night.

Mia ran into the room, cheeks flushed. “I’m ready to go shopping.”

I laughed and grabbed my keys. “Then let’s go.”

We spent the next four hours shopping. Mia was over the moon with excitement as we picked outfit after outfit for her. Each time we put something in our cart, her happy reaction made my heart squeeze. It was obvious she hadn’t had much in the way of material things growing up.

Once Mia began to look pooped from all the shopping, we called it a day. I loaded up the car with the packages, and then we had a nice lunch at a kid-friendly restaurant. There was an inside play area, and Mia played with the other children, while I watched over her from our table.

When we got home, I took off all the tags and hung up the new clothes we’d purchased. Mia helped me, or tried to. She was excited to show Uncle Jack all the pretty new things we’d bought. Eventually, she began to look sleepy, and I put her down for a nap.

I was cooking dinner when Crispin texted me.

I hope you’re not mad at me.

I was happy to hear from him. I hadn’t been sure if he’d want to see me again after last night’s fiasco with Jack. An ugly scene like that might have soured him on dating me. But apparently not.

Smiling, I responded.Of course not.

Phew. I was very drunk last night.

As was I.

He didn’t respond, so I went back to chopping potatoes. After about ten minutes, he texted again.

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