She learned over kinetic sand that Lucy’s best friend was named Tommy, a boy with two dads, as well as what the names of Tommy’s pets—two cats, a dog, and a lizard—were. She learned every bit of first-grade gossip there was to be had and that it was far more than Charlotte would have ever expected, if she was entirely honest.
“Wow. Miles kissed Jackie on the cheek and then pushed her into the fence? I hope your teacher did something.” She frowned at the injustice of this latest recess story.
Lucy nodded sagely at her. “I told the teacher, and he got in a lot of trouble. His mom got called and everything.”
Charlotte patted her shoulder with her clean hand. “Good job.”
It was that simple for Lucy to beam at her. “Thanks!” She turned her attention back to the kinetic sand on the plate on table in front of her, her eyebrows scrunching up in a way that left Charlotte reeling. It was so similar to Sutton’s own expression.
It hit her, then, all over again that this wasSutton’s daughter. Logically, she’d never forgotten it, but emotionally, it was overwhelming whenever she thought about the fact that this little person had genetically come from Sutton. That Sutton had raised her and made her into the person she was.
Lucy, entirely unaware of the thoughts Charlotte was having, turned to face her in excitement. “Look! Charlotte! The sand is making a ball.”
She giggled at it as she held up a little hand to show off her handiwork, and it made Charlotte smile indulgently as well. “Incredible. You did really well reading the instructions.”
And she had; Charlotte had been very impressed with the fact that Lucy had been able to read how to make this all on her own. Was that normal for a six-year-old? She didn’t think so. Obviously, Sutton’s daughter was smarter than others.
Lucy’s smile turned into her absolutelybeaming, and Charlotte sat up a bit straighter.
“Thank you!” Her voice raised just a bit in her excitement, and she turned her attention back to the ball in her hands, rolling it a few inches across the table. “Look!”
Charlotte diligently did and then found herself grinning along with Lucy’s giggles as she continued to manipulate the sand ball. Yes, she could definitely do this. Caleb could take his doubts and?—
Her smile slipped as she watched Lucy toss the ball several feet in the air.
Kinetic sand, she learned, was not quite the easiest cleanup, despite what the box said.
Lucy’s still-damp-from-being washed hand grabbed at Charlotte’s, tugging her down the hall twenty minutes later.
“Come on, I’ll show you my bedroom!”
It was Charlotte’s own doing; after cleaning the table and the floor and herself and Lucy’s hands and hair to the best of her ability, she’d instructed Lucy to change her pajamas.
Lucy paused as they walked down the hall, smacking her tongue against the roof of her mouth before she turned to Charlotte and stuck her tongue out up at her. “Is there sand on my tongue?”
Taken by surprise for a moment, Charlotte took a breath and bent down to study said tongue… “I believe it looks normal to me.”
Lucy coughed into her arm once before shrugging. “I think I got sand in my mouth.” She took off down toward an open door at the end of the hall only a moment later, the abrupt change in action giving Charlotte pause.
“C’mon!” Lucy called, gesturing for Charlotte to follow.
Shaking her head slightly, she did.
Her bedroom was painted a light blue, with a purple canopy bed in the corner and stuffed animals hanging down from the top. There was a bookshelf, a dresser, a large mirror and a trunk, and several see-through containers that held, as far as Charlotte could see, LEGOs, paint, some sort of science-experiment-looking material, and much more.
Lucy immediately pulled out a drawer from her dresser and dug around in it. “I wanted to wear my Ivy Abrams pajamas to show you them.” She paused, to point at herself. “Because they’re my favorites.”
“Ah. I’m unfamiliar with Ivy Abrams,” Charlotte said, still taking in the room from her perch in the doorway, her hands clasped at her waist.
Lucy dropped the clothing she was wearing as she spun around. “No way! Charlotte, that’scrazy,” she informed her so seriously that it was damningly cute and hilarious in equal measure.
Charlotte arched an eyebrow, holding her hands up in defense. “I don’t get much reading done.”
“My grandma thinks that’s crazy. She says people should always read,” Lucy commented, clearly accepting those words as the gospel truth. She hurried over to her bookshelf and grabbed a book before hustling over to Charlotte to present it to her. “See?”
She certainly wasn’t surprised by Katherine Spencer’s thoughts on reading, she thought as she looked at the animated cover. There was a young girl on the cover, surrounded by animals, all in a cute little illustration. “I see, indeed. What does Ivy do?”
“Talks to animals and goes on adventures!” Lucy explained, looking at Charlotte as if she couldn’t quite grasp how in the world Charlotte didn’t know that. She pushed the book up at her. “Here, you can have it. It’s the first one.”
