Page 74 of A Whirlwind of Color (The Light to My Darkness 2)

“It is like you,” Melissa said with a laugh.

“But they come in big sizes when they aren’t red. The black and white ones are huge. But I’ve never seen one here. Daddy says one’s coming soon. But I don’t know when soon is. It feels like I’ve been waiting forever.” She stepped forward to get an even better look at the red panda.

“Real pandas are cool, but do you know what’s even better?” Melissa asked.

Scarlett shook her head.

“Red ones.” She crouched down and tickled Scarlett’s side, sending her into a fit of giggles. “You know, I bet if you crawled in there you could blend in.”

“Really?” Scarlett looked so excited. “Do you think I’m allowed to go in to play with them?”

“Only if your dad says yes. Next time he’s here with you, definitely ask him. You can tell him I said it was okay.” She winked at Scarlett.

Scarlett nodded enthusiastically and then looked back at the exhibit.

Melissa was so good with her. I could have gotten mad at her for digging that hole with James. Next time Scarlett came here she’d think she was allowed in the red panda exhibit. But I wasn’t upset at all. Melissa was just being a good aunt. Her first instinct wasn’t to tell Scarlett that pandas would never come to the Central Park Zoo. She had just casually changed the topic to distract Scarlett. It was brilliant. And I was a little jealous that they were the ones bonding. This was my chance to get closer to Scarlett and I was holding back. I wasn’t even sure why.

A chill ran down my spine and I glanced over my shoulder. Porter and Briggs were standing a few paces away, watching us. I wasn’t sure I’d ever get used to that feeling. It gave me the creeps.

“Hey…you.” Scarlett poked my knee.

Speaking of little creeps. Why didn’t she call me Mommy? Her most affectionate term for me was you? That was so weird. “What’s up, Scarlett?”

“Daddy said if I got hungry you’d have a snack for me.” She did that squinted eye thing at me. “That’s me now. Hungry.”

“Oh. Right.” I opened up my purse and pulled out the blue snack pack of gummies. “Here you go.” I handed it to her.

She looked at it and then lifted her head back up to me. “No. My snack.” She tried to hand it back.

“This is your snack.”

She shook her head back and forth.

“Yes it is. It’s a fruit gummy snack in a blue bag. Just like your dad said you liked.”

“It’s not the right one. This says…” she scrunched her mouth to the side as she looked at the package. “Fib…fibey…fieb…”

“Fiber fruit snacks,” I said.

“Mine aren’t fibey snacks. Mine are shaped like animals. These are yours and Daddy’s.”

How different could they be? “Do you want to try one? You might like it.”

“No.”

I laughed. “I’m sure it tastes the same as yours. Just try it.”

“I don’t want to. I want my animal snack. We’re at the zoo. At the zoo you eat animal snacks.”

That wasn’t very sound logic. She was basically implying that you should eat the animals at the zoo. What a little carnivore. I crouched down and took the bag away from her. “Here, I’ll show you that these are good too.” I opened it up and ate one. They were fine. “See, it’s good. Try one.”

Scarlett shook her head as she looked at me. “You’re not very good at this thing.” And then she grabbed the bag and ran back over to Melissa.

What thing? Being her mother? I sighed and stood back up. Why did this kid hate me so much? But at least she was eating the fruit snacks. She liked them just fine. She finished them within a few minutes and then ran back over to me.

“Here,” she said and tried to hand me the bag.

“I’m sure there’s a trashcan around here somewhere. Let’s go find one.”

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