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“Capri?” I called out, laying my purse on the entryway table.
“I’m in the kitchen with Emily, Momma!”
Quickly, I rushed into the kitchen. Excited to see my girl.
“Momma!” She jumped into my arms. “I missed you so much! I’m so happy you’re home early! I thought you weren’t coming back until tomorrow?”
I tightly squeezed her against my chest. My girl was getting so big. She’d be ten in a couple of months.
“I missed you, baby.” I kissed the top of her head.
“Momma, are you okay?” See, perceptive as all hell.
I nodded, glancing at Emily. “Thank you for everything.”
“Of course. I’ll let you two get reacquainted. I’m going to get the groceries for the week.”
“Oh, yeah… umm… you can just buy groceries for yourself. Capri and I won’t need anything.”
“We won’t?” Capri asked, looking up at me. “Are we going somewhere?”
I nervously laughed. “Something like that.”
“Sounds great,” Emily replied. “You can tell me all about when I get back.”
I smiled, and she left.
Giving my girl another big hug, I coaxed, “Baby, we need to talk.” Julian was waiting in the SUV, I didn’t have a lot of time to tell her what was going on, needing to get right to the point sooner rather than later.
“Am I in trouble?”
“No, you’re not in trouble, but what we need to talk about is serious, so let’s go in the living room and sit down.”
“Okay.”
Once we were sitting on the couch, I grabbed her hands in my lap.
“Momma, you look really pale. Are you sure you’re alright?”
“Mmm-hmm… I’m just having a little trouble finding the right words to say.”
The concern was evident on her beautiful face. “What’s this about?”
“You know how I told you that I was taking on a client that I used to know?”
“Yeah, you spent the last week with him, right?”
“Yes, I did.”
“Is this about him?”
“Yes, baby, it is.”
“What is it? Do you like him or something? Because it wouldn’t bother me, Momma. I’d love to have a daddy. All my friends have daddies.”
“Honey.” I paused, needing a second. It absolutely killed me she missed out on having a father and was starting to feel his absence so profoundly. I tried my best, always playing both roles, but in the end… she longed for her dad. Making me feel intensely guilty I waited this long to tell him.
Maybe I was wrong?
