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“No.”
“So when you get a chance later on, tell him you’re sorry and that you didn’t mean it. Your dad will always forgive you because he loves you more than anything.”
This seems to appease her. “I’m gonna make him a picture.” She looks up to me again. “And then we go in the pool?”
“I think he’d really like that, and sure, we’ll swim after.”
It’s been less than half an hour, but when I find him out in the pool house he already has a mattress set up, my crate of books and my bag are in the corner, and he’s rolling an old garment rack from the garage into place. He doesn’t look my way but knows I’m here.
“I hope this is all right. I don’t want to force your hand or anything, but short of getting some totally overpriced rental, I figured this is the best option.”
“Leo, your pool house is nicer than the house I grew up in. Probably the same size, too.” That last part was a joke, but the pool house is beautiful. French doors open out onto a deck with comfy couches and lounge chairs, and there’s a large screen television in case you want to catch a movie or watch a game outdoors. “It’ll do.”
“And you’re ok…With everything?”
“Yeah. We’ll be fine.”
I don’t know what that means exactly and I’m sure he doesn’t either. We’ve put ourselves into some weird sort of limbo, or a purgatory of some kind.
He wants me but won’t do anything about it. I want him but I get the feeling that if I push this thing between us that I might lose him. Patience is a virtue I’m sorely lacking in, but I can do this.
For Leo I’d wait a lifetime.
Chapter Thirty-Five
“Is my big girl ready for her first day of kindergarten?”
She’s checking herself out in the mirror, turning back and forth to watch as the pleats in her skirt move and twist with the movement. “Is Clementine in my class?”
“That’s one of the fun things about the first day of school. You get to meet your new teacher and you find out which kids are in your class. And remember, there are only two kindergarten classes so even if Clementine is in the other class you’ll still see her at lunch and recess.”
“What’s recess?”
“It’s when you get to run around and play in the schoolyard after lunch. It’s the best.”
“Is Skylar picking me up today? I want her to see my outfit.”
Olivia looks like the character from the Madeline books, with her yellow pleated dress and the red bow in her hair. Skylar picked it out for her and gave it to her as a surprise last week before she left to go visit her sister.
“No, baby. It’s the first day of school for Skylar today, too. And your first day is special so I want to be there to pick you up.”
“I wish Skylar was my teacher.”
“Yep, those kids are lucky. But I already met your teacher, Miss Winters, and she’s very, very nice.”
Olivia shrugs her shoulders as if to say,We’ll see about that. Yeah, no one compares to Skylar in my daughter’s eyes.
“Sky is picking you up on Tuesdays and Thursdays, so she’ll be there tomorrow after school.”
“I wish she still lived at home with us.”
So do I.
“She’s back at school now, Libs. And this is her last year so she’s super busy. She’s teaching three days a week and then has classes on the other days.” I want to add,Believe me, no one’s more disappointed about the living arrangements than I am.
We’ve been doing a good job of keeping things quasi platonic. Skylar stayed the rest of the summer in the pool house and I think it turned out better than either one of us expected. We fell into a routine, kept our hands off one another for the most part, and got to know one another a lot better.
Sky and Olivia would already be down in the kitchen making breakfast together by the time I got out of bed, and the sight of them side by side, talking and laughing, was the best thing to wake up to. Some days I’d skip going to the shop and work from home just so I could be around them. She kept Olivia busy all summer taking her to museums, to the zoo, to community theater shows and hosting her little friends at our pool a few times. Sky also took her down to see her sister’s family and stayed overnight there with her twice.
