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“Why do you think that? Has he told you he wants you to chase him?”
She swings her feet back and forth. She’s changed out of her clothes into a leotard with fake princess high heel slippers. “I don’t know if I like him now. He said his dad said I was a stage five clinger. What does that mean?”
“Stage five clinger?” I ask.
Palmer steps up to our daughter, her hands going a mile a minute.
“Mommy, slow down.”
Adley might not be able to decipher everything her mother is saying, but I can, and let’s say Mama Palmer is pissed.
Palmer taps me on the shoulder, and I turn fully in her direction. I should handle this since you have plans. You go.
“We’re a team.”
Okay, have at it. She puts her hand out as if I’m going to regret this.
“Adley, sweetie, you’re three?—”
She crosses her arms, and her eyebrows draw down. “I’m almost four.”
“Okay, you’re almost four, and there is plenty of time in the future for boys. Holden is one of many fish in the sea.”
Adley leans away from me to look at Palmer over my shoulder. “Holden is a fish?”
“No, Holden isn’t a fish. I’m just saying there are a lot of boys.”
“I want Holden. His favorite animal is a gorilla like me.”
“And there are other boys who like gorillas too,” I say.
Adley stares at me. “So?”
I exhale a frustrated breath. “So, you can’t go around chasing boys, okay? The boys will come to you, you don’t have to go to them. When you’re older.”
“I should wait?” Adley asks.
A tap on my shoulder tells me I’ve fucked this up. I turn, and Palmer hip-checks me out of the way.
If you like a boy, there is no harm in telling him. But then you wait. Would you like it if one of your other friends chased you?
“NO!”
Exactly. If Holden likes you, he’ll come to you. She pokes Adley in the stomach and Adley laughs. Spaghetti time?
“Yay!” Adley raises her hands in the air.
So, you aren’t going to chase Holden anymore, right?
She shakes her head, sending her brown hair flicking side to side. “No chasing.”
I have my suspicions that this will continue, but hopefully Palmer got through to her. I hear a vehicle outside and look out the window to see Theresa pull up behind my truck in my driveway.
“I gotta go. Have a good night, ladies.” I pretend to bow as though I’m a prince.
Adley laughs, hugging me, then I get her off the counter, set her on her feet, and twirl her around with my finger in her hand. The ruffled flare of the leotard spins.
“Bye!”
