Page 338 of Safe With You
My hand stilled over the container of strawberries.
I turned around.
Mila was standing exactly where she was a second ago, waiting for an answer like she’d asked whether I remembered to pack her juice.
“Why would you ask me that?”
She shrugged.
“Mila.”
“Ava said.”
Of course she did.
I set the container down. “Ava said what?”
“That if you get a girlfriend, she can be my new mommy.”
I leaned back against the counter.
“And why was Ava talking about me having a girlfriend?”
“She wasn’t.”
“Then how did we get here?”
Mila looked down at the sock in her hand.
“She said her mama has a boyfriend now.”
“Okay.”
“And I said you have Miss Luna.”
I looked at her.
She looked back at me.
There were at least three different conversations buried somewhere in that sentence, and we had less than fifteen minutes before I needed to get her out the door.
I pulled out the chair across from her.
“Come here, Bug.”
She climbed into it, setting the sock beside her plate.
I sat across from her.
“Miss Luna isn’t your new mommy.”
“Oh.”
The disappointment in her voice was small, but I heard it.
“You already have a mommy.”
Her eyes dropped to the waffle left on her plate.
