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“Can Aunt Sasha come too?” he wondered.
“I’ll give her a call.”
About an hour later,Rex and I met Sasha at the park. Rex made his way to the playground, spotting some kids from his class. I watched as they invited him to play with them and smiled. This time, there was an ease about him. He was more relaxed as he played. Like,actuallyplayed. And didn’t try to turn a simple game of tag into… I don’t know. Some kind of teaching moment.
Part of me wondered if this was Carter’s influence.
“Want some?” Sasha asked, offering me her water bottle.
I could smell something fruity and alcoholic inside it.
“I’m good, thanks,” I told her.
She shrugged. “More sangria for me.”
“You seriously brought alcohol to the park?”
“What? You really think I’m the only one here with booze on me?” she asked, amused. “Wine moms are totally a thing.”
“You’re not a mom, Sasha.”
“Wine aunt, then.”
She took a big swallow and I rolled my eyes.
“Don’t judge me, lady. You know there was a time in your life where you’d have chugged half of this thing and go flirt with the single dads.”
“Yeah, that’s kind of the problem,” I told her.
“You met someone?”
“No,” I answered. “Just… drama with Desmond. My mom told me that he wants to take Rex full time and he’s going to—”
“Hey, speaking of single dads… do you know that guy?”
I grit my teeth, pissed that I was trying to have a serious talk with my best friend, but all she could think about was guys. But she pointed and I followed her finger across the park to see who she was talking about.
Sure enough, I did know that guy. It was Mark.
Right. He has a daughter around Rex’s age who was running around with the group playing tag.
I looked away, pretending I hadn’t seen him, hoping to avoid hellos and awkward small talk. But it was too late. He got up and walked towards me and I did my best to plaster on a smile and look happy to see him.
“Hey, Zoe. What are you doing here?” he asked, though the answer was pretty obvious.
“Out with my son.”
“Nice,” he said. “Yeah, me too. Here with Ashley. Getting some daddy-daughter time, you know.”
“That’s nice.”
I hoped that would be the end of the conversation. But he didn’t take the hint.
“My ex was really being a bitch about me taking her here today. I mean, I get that she wants her new boyfriend to spend more time with Ashley and all, but she’s my fucking kid—”
“Mark, watch your language. There are children here.”
“Yeah, yeah.”
