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Her face lights up and her pigtails swing as she bounces up and down. “Yay! I reaaally wanted him because my daddy is taking us to the beach tomorrow.”
My heart skips a beat at the mention of her dad. After our impromptu lunch on Monday, I haven’t been able to get him out of my head. Which is extremely frustrating because all I’ve tried to do over the last decade is put him to the back of my mind.
“That’s fantastic, Izzie. Willow Bear will love the beach, I don’t think he’s been there before.”
She seems to contemplate something before asking, “Have you been?”
“To the beach?” She nods. “Sure, lots of times. It’s one of my favorite places to visit.”
“It is?” she squeals, her eyes wide and excited.
I chuckle. “It sure is.”
The bell above the door rings out and I stand up, my eyes connecting with Tristan’s. I didn’t get to see him this morning, by the time I’d finished up a phone call in my office, he’d already dropped off Clayton and Izzie, and gone.
“Daddy!” Izzie cries, running toward him and pulling him by his hand toward me. “I get to bring Willow Bear home.”
He chuckles, the sound causing goose bumps to prickle along my skin. I see Mom out of the corner of my eye staring over at me with her arms crossed, watching our interaction.
“You do?” he asks, his eyes widening with excitement for her.
“Mmhmm, can he come to the beach with us, Daddy? Pleaasseee.”
“Of course he can,” he answers, his voice raising an octave.
I chuckle and start to walk away until I hear her say, “And Miss J?” making me halt in my tracks.
“Oh… Erm…” His eyes meet mine, his gaze unsure. “Not this time, pumpkin.” Izzie’s stomps her foot and he chuckles. “Miss J probably has plans.”
Izzie pulls on my hands. “Please come, you said it was your favorite.”
I stand with my mouth wide open, not knowing what to say. My eyes flick to Tristan’s and he smiles slightly before bending down in front of Izzie. “Another time, huh?”
“I’m sure you’ll have a great time,” I add.
Izzie looks up at me, her face screwing up like she’s about to cry. “But… I want you there.”
I kneel down in front of her, holding her hands. “There’ll be other times, sweetie. And I’ll see you next week.”
Clayton walks over toward us when he sees us standing by the door. “Hi, Dad.”
Tristan stands and ruffles his hair. “Hey, buddy. You ready to go?”
I watch the interaction, a weird sensation running through me.
“Clay, Miss J won’t come to the beach with us,” Izzie cries, her bottom lip jutting out.
Clayton turns toward me. “Why don’t you want to come?”
“I… I err, I’d love to come, but I wouldn’t want to intrude on family day.” My gaze flits to Tristan before moving back to Clayton. “And I’m sure your mom wouldn’t be too happy about that.”
His head snaps to the floor. “Mom isn’t—”
“Clay,” Tristan interrupts. “Let’s not talk about Mom.” His eyes fill with sadness before he says, “Why don’t you two go and help everyone else tidy up while I talk to Miss J?”
Clayton walks off without acknowledging either of us, but Izzie looks up at Tristan before swinging her head toward me, her lips dropping into a pout as she walks away.
“I don’t—”
