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“Hi!” she says, then grabs me by the collar to kiss me. “Come in!”
We head inside. She turns the lights on in the living room, and I notice the small changes since the last time I’ve been here.
The large TV is the same one that took Dave, Dan, and me to get it out of the car and carry it in so many years ago.
The rug was a plain beige before, but now it’s a dark gray. The decorations are slightly different, and the couch is now huge.
Emily invites me to sit, and I set down my bags, picking up a special one.
“What’s this?” she takes the bag from my hand looking incredulous at the brand stamped on it.
“Look inside,” I say gently, “I wanted to buy you clothes, but I know nothing about women’s sizes, so I bought you something else.”
She takes the package out. It’s a maroon handbag, the same color as the one my mom gifted her when she turned sixteen. I remember hearing about how much she loved it.
“This is a luxury designer bag, Andrew!” Emily utters with surprise. “Oh, I don’t even have clothes to go with it.”
“More of an excuse for you to go shopping with me,” I grin and lean down to kiss her.
“Are you spoiling Alissa too?” she asks with an eyebrow raised.
I nod, feeling giddy, and look through the bags to find the right one. “Found the most fancy doll in the store. I hope she likes it.”
Emily takes the doll box from my hands and peruses its contents. It’s a ballerina one. The salesman said it wasn’t just a toy, but a collector’s item. I bet Ali won’t even care about that detail, but I still wanted her to have the best.
“It’s beautiful,” Emily whispers. “She’ll love it.”
“Can we give it to her now?” I ask, full of expectations.
But Emily dashes my hopes with a simple shake of her head.
“If it weren’t a school night, maybe, but she might get too excited to see you.” She then turns away from me and sighs. “Something happened…”
I’m taken aback. Her stance and body language suggest there’s an issue, as if I did something wrong, and now I’m wondering what the hell I did.
“What do you mean? Is there a problem?” I ask, my palm turned up in confusion.
Emily shakes her head again. “Yes, but it’s not your fault. It’s just that Alissa got upset at school. A kid bullied her for not having a father, then she said she had you, and things went awry from there.”
“Oh.” It’s all I can manage to say. I’m feeling a mixture of emotions. I’m elated that Alissa would say that about me, but I don’t want to be the reason she was bullied.
“Yeah…” she sighs. “She began associating you with the father she never met, and now she’s confused about it because in her experience, fathers are bad, and you are nice. But luckily, she has a school therapist who is helping her work through things.”
Before Emily can saying anything else, a set of small footsteps comes down the stairs and interrupts her.
“Mommy?” Alissa rubs the sleep off her eyes, and then she sees me, “Andrew!”
My heart does somersaults when I see Alissa. She comes trotting toward me and I immediately open my arms to hug her, but Alissa abruptly stops a few steps away from me and turns shy the very next moment.
“What’s wrong, Ali?” I ask, leaning forward to touch her messy hair. “Can’t I have a hug?”
Alissa balances on one foot and then the other until she finally jumps into my arms. I grab the ballerina doll for her, which flies out of my hands when she grabs it the next second. She immediately runs across the living room in excitement with it.
“So pretty!” she interjects, her voice louder than ideal.
“Shh, sweet pea! You’re going to wake up grandpa and grandma.” Emily approaches but doesn’t sit down.
While Alissa destroys the box to get to the toy inside, Emily and I look at each other.
