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Kayley also told me that the furniture would be arriving in three weeks, and that’s probably when the girls would move down. With everyone helping her, she’d gotten the project done in record time. Not that she didn’t have other things that needed work, but the house's bones had been repaired and replaced, and now she could take her time doing the little things.
I was also disappointed that I hadn’t been able to build that swing and firepit in her backyard. That had been a project that I wanted to do. Maybe we could find a way to be friends, and she would allow me to do that for her. My gift to her and her girls. However, it would suck to build something that I wanted so much and not use it.
“Dad,” Tonya said from the door.
“Yeah, sweetie. What’s up?” She came out to the porch and sat on the glider beside me. I put my arm around her shoulders, and she cozied up to me. “You sleep alright?”
“Yeah, I did,” she said around a yawn. She remained quiet for a moment, and then she glanced up at me. “I talked to Ms. Nickels last week at the soccer game.”
“I didn’t know you went to a soccer game.”
“I did, with Michelle. She plays on the team.”
I forgot about that, and Tonya had spent the night before with her. “I hope you said hello to Ms. Nickels.”
“I did. We talked for a little while.”
“What did you two talk about?” Tell me every single word. Tell me she still looks beautiful.
“You.”
My brows popped, although she didn’t see that. She had her head resting on my shoulder as she stared out over the backyard.
“Me, huh? Pretty boring subject if I say so myself.”
She giggled. “No, it’s not.” She grew quiet again, and I wanted to beg her to tell me everything, but I remained silent and waited. Finally, she spoke again. “She told me that you guys are just friends.”
“We are.”
“I told her that you don’t smile as much now. You were smiling a lot when you were helping her, but you’re back to how you were before.”
I frowned. My daughter was way too observant. “I’m sorry. I’ll try harder to smile.”
“If you were with her again, you’d smile.”
“Yeah, well, that’s complicated.”
“She said that too.”
“She did?”
“Yeah, and she told me about her daughters. She told me that Lauren couldn’t play soccer because she has something wrong with her heart, but she told me she likes to do other things, like read and do puzzles like I do.”
“You do enjoy those things.”
She nodded against my shoulder. “Her other daughter has autism like Beth in my class.”
“Well, similar to Beth. I think Emmy is more along the lines of having Asperger’s syndrome, but it’s similar.”
She got quiet for a few seconds. “Is that why you aren’t friends with Ms. Nickels anymore? Because her kids are sick?”
“What? No! Not at all. What makes you say that?”
She glanced at me and then away. “Because you were happy with her, and then you weren’t. I thought maybe you found out about them and decided you didn’t like that.”
“Aw, honey. It’s just the opposite.” I kissed the top of her head. “Nolan doesn’t want to burden me with kids who have medical conditions. She said it would put too much strain on you and Tyler and me.”
“Why would it bother Tyler and me?”
