Chapter 10 - The Girls Wanted Ice Cream
Lily asked first.
“Can we get ice cream?”
Ava immediately added:
“Together.”
Every adult looked at every other adult.
The girls groaned.
Ava said:
“You do that a lot.”
“What?” Julia asked.
“Look at each other before saying stuff.”
Lily nodded.
“Like somebody has the answer.”
Walter hid a smile.
I ignored him.
I looked at Julia.
She caught me.
“Go ahead.”
“No. You.”
The girls groaned louder.
I laughed despite myself.
“One hour.”
Julia looked at me.
I continued:
“We stay in the mall.”
She nodded.
“No security following inside the shop.”
Graham started:
“Mrs. Carter—”
Both Julia and I said:
“No.”
Ava whispered to Lily:
“That's creepy too.”
They went with Walter because neither girl wanted five adults standing over sundaes.
Walter promised not to buy them anything except food.
Diane's five hundred dollars stayed with Graham.
Good.
Julia and I sat where we could see the ice cream counter.
Diane sat farther away.
Her choice.
Or Graham’s advice.
I didn't care.
I watched Lily tell Ava something with her whole body.
Ava laughed.
My chest tightened.
Not because I was instantly in love with the niece I hadn't known.
Because I could see what absence had cost in ordinary units.
One laugh.
One shared spoon.
One argument about sprinkles.
Nothing dramatic enough to justify nine years.
Julia said:
“Ava asked me if twins know what the other one is thinking.”
“What did you tell her?”
“That if we did, we'd have murdered each other by fourteen.”
“Accurate.”
She smiled.
Then:
“Lily seems good.”
“She is.”
“You?”
“What?”
She looked at me.
“How are you?”
The question felt indecent.
We had skipped nine years and moved directly to mother, daughters, old lies.
“I work too much.”
“Still married?”
“Yes.”
She nodded.
I waited.
She didn't ask who.
She knew his name from Diane, probably.
“Evan?”
“Yes.”
“You happy?”
“Most days.”
She nodded.
No analysis.
“you?”
“Divorced.”
I looked at her.
“When?”
“Three years.”
“Was it bad?”
“No.”
That surprised me.
“We got tired.”
“That's allowed?”
“Apparently.”
She smiled faintly.
“Ava sees him every other week.”
I had missed a marriage ending too.
Ava dropped her spoon.
Walter bent to pick it up.
I tensed.
Tiny.
Julia noticed.
“She’s okay.”
“I know.”
“Your hand moved.”
“Shut up.”
She smiled.
Then:
“Mom told me you became intense after Lily.”
“I was intense before.”
“True.”
“She said you wouldn't let anyone hold her.”
“Not nobody.”
“Mom?”
I looked at Diane.
“She handed newborn Lily around a Christmas party after I asked her not to.”
Julia winced.
“Yep.”
“So when she says I'm overprotective—”
“She has examples and causes.”
I looked at her.
That was fair enough to annoy me.
The girls returned carrying napkins and identical chocolate stains.
Lily looked at me.
“Can Ava have my number?”
I almost said she doesn't have a phone.
Then remembered the watch.
I looked at Julia.
Caught myself.
I asked Lily:
“Do you want her to?”
“Yes.”
Julia asked Ava the same.
“Yes.”
We exchanged numbers.
No secret.
No grandmother in the middle.
It felt ridiculously significant.
Then Diane stood.
“Can I say something?”
Julia stiffened.
I did too.
Diane looked at the girls.
Then back at us.
“Not to them.”
Good.
She came closer.
“I’m returning the money.”
Walter raised an eyebrow.
“To what?”
Diane looked embarrassed.
“Fine. I'm keeping my own money.”
Ava laughed.
Even Diane smiled.
Then my mother looked at Julia and me.
“I will not call either of you through the other one again.”
Julia said:
“You should have stopped at ‘I will not.’”
Diane nodded.
“Fair.”
She stepped away.
May you like
No request to join the ice cream hour.
That was the first useful thing she had done all afternoon.
