Page 134 of Sharkbait
“Iris has been very excited about meeting her marine biology book consultant in real life,” Eva says.
“And to visit her aquarium!” Iris shouts and swings a maraschino cherry around by its stem. “Don’t forget that part, Mom!”
“How could I forget? You’re going to learn all about crustaceans, right?”
“Cetaceans, Mom. Daddy signed me up for the ‘What’s the Purpose of a Porpoise’ Workshop. Crustaceans are lobsters and crabs and a bunch of other stuff. Cetaceans are dolphins, porpoises, and whales. I told you that, geez!”
“My bad, my bad.” Eva laughs, then says under her breath, “She gets saucier by the second.”
“I’m gonna step out to take a work call,” Ron says and holds up his ringing phone.
“Okay, babe, we’ll be out as soon as she’s finished her Shirley Temple.”
“Nice to meet you, Louise,” Ron says, then gestures to James that he’s heading out.
“Have a great trip, man,” James calls out from where he and Iris are pouring syrup into her glass filled with bubbles. “Thanks for bringing me my baby girl.”
“You bet,” Ron says with a finger salute, then heads out the door.
Wow.
This little modern family is so… functional.
“She likes you,” Eva says quietly as she sips her soda.
We both watch Iris and James playing at the end of the bar.
“I like her too. You have a really sweet kid.” I hesitate. “Not that I know her very well. James has just put me on the phone a bunch of times and—well, you know that. Of course, you know that. You’re her mom. You’re with her 24/7, monitoring her phone calls and who she’s talking to, and—”
“Louise?” She places a gentle hand on my arm.
“Yeah?”
“You can relax with me. It’s okay.”
“It is?” I breathe.
“Yeah.” She chuckles. “This is not the moment I give you the ‘if you hurt him, I’ll kill you’ speech. I mean, I certainly hope you don’t hurt him. But you two are grown-ups. You’ll figure it out.” She pauses. “Listen. I’m sure this is a strange time for you: navigating a new relationship, juggling the complications of dating the father of a young child… And, gosh, doing that all while that new guy is in the midst of moving across the country? It can’t be easy.”
She’s right about that, but I do my best to school my features.
“So I thought I’d offer you something—in the event it helps.”
“What’s that?” I ask.
“You don’t have to worry about me.” She looks right in my eyes when she says it. “I trust James completely. Always have. Always will. I want him to be happy, so I will give him the same grace he gave me when I was falling in love with Ron. You have my full blessing to have a blast with those goobers these next two weeks.”
Iris cackles at the end of the bar as James dramatically covers his ears when she makes empty-glass slurping noises through her straw.
“That—” I swallow the lump in my throat. “That means so much to me Eva, thank you. But you should know that this is temporary. We’re not falling in love like you and Ron. We’re just—Well, we’re… having fun until it’s time for him to go.”
She gives me a knowing look. “Okay,” she says, not the least bit convinced by me.
I can’t blame her, though.
Because right now, I’m having a really hard time believing that myself.
“Rissy?” Eva calls out. “Time to go, boo boo. Let’s go have some fun in that fancy hotel before I bring you back to Daddy’s place tomorrow morning.”
