Page 101 of Secrets That Bind Us
I look down at my watch, noticing she’s probably at lunch, so I FaceTime her.
“Hello?” she asks quietly.
“Hey, sunshine. Quick question. Wait– are you in class?”
“No, I’m at the library.”
Of course. She may look like me and have my attitude, but that brain of hers is all Ver. I smile at that. “Okay,” I reply, not questioning it. “Jason brought the sign. I’m gonna put you down and you tell me where it looks best, alright?”
“Okay…”
I do as I said, put the phone to where she can see me, grab the neon sign, and put it toward the middle. “Here?”
“No, try more to the left… wait,yourleft. Yeah. Lower. Okay, now the right side of it should be more down.”
“Like this?”
“Uhhh… little more. Okay. there.”
“Perfect?”
“It looks great from here.”
I bring it down gently and grab my pencil from my back pocket, then do it all over again– measuring where she said. “How’s that?”
“Good.”
I measure it out where I need to screw the nails in.
“It needs glitter.”
“Huh?”
“The flowers and stuff. It needs glitter. The sign looks great. Can you buy some glitter spray from O’Flannigan’s? I can spray it when you pick me up.”
“Oh, is that Savvy? Hey honey!”
“Oh, hey Mom.” she says, still as unbothered as ever, looking up from time to time.
“Is everything okay? Why are you in the library?”
Savvy sighs. “Cafeteria’s too loud. Plus, this guy asked me to Homecoming and I’m not sure. So I'm kind of avoiding him.”
Verity hikes a brow. “Is it the dance you don’t want to go to, or the guy you don’t want to go with?”
“No… I like River… I just… I don’t know about the dance.”
I hold in my frown. As much as I don’t want my daughter to go on a date… I feel like HoCo is a weird rite of passage in Texas. Mums and garters. The football game itself. “Would you feel better if your mom and I chaperoned? That way if you want to leave once your social battery runs out, we can.”
I can tell Verity wants to smile but she’s holding it back. I take her lead, knowing we have to play it cool. Nonchalant. Bechill.
“That would be kind of okay, I guess. If you aren’t too busy.” She says softly.
I blink at my daughter. “For you? Never too busy, sunshine. Go ahead and tell River yes, I’ll take you shopping for a dress tomorrow, and I’ll contact the school.”
“Can Uncle Jake come? To shop, I mean.”
I nod and so does Verity. “He’s definitely who you want to help you choose a dress,” she giggles beside me.
