little more expression.
“So we’ll be here on my birthday?” Angel asked.
“You bet,” Reese answered, smiling, putting a glass down in front of each of us, even her young daughter. “The green straw means it’s virgin,” she said when Lane’s eyebrows went up.
She put the last one at her own place and sat down, then lifted hers toward the middle of the table. Angel held hers out, followed by Lane, then me. The glasses clinked together, held high, pink as party balloons. Whipped cream topped the festive drinks, and in the center of each mound of white sat a different colored gumball.
“Cheers,” Reese said.
“Cheers,” we answered with varying degrees of enthusiasm; but Angel remained unconflicted, her voice calling loudest of all.
7
Reese
R
eese noted the cold sensation that ran down her arm. She thought about what she’d done, hoped to God it was the right thing. She rode in the backseat with Angel on the short drive back to the marina. Lane sat in the front with Gina. Angel stretched out with her head in Reese’s lap, her bandaged shoulder the only sign of what had gone so wrong the night before. Reese pulled her fingers through Angel’s hair, the soft curls yielding at her touch. Angel snuggled as if settling down for a journey, rather than the short ride home. Then again, everything was part journey to a child. Only adults began to see life in terms of destinations.
“Mom?” Angel asked. “Are we going to live on a boat here too, like Gina?”
“I don’t think so, baby. I have to find us a place to stay, though.”
Reese had dreaded arriving in Charleston. Even as she sorted through the details of how she might work things out with Ben, she understood how torn she would feel when it was done, when she was actually sharing her daughter with him. Months before, when she brought Angel to meet Ben, she’d had hopes of another outcome, one that would give Angel the family she deserved. But Ben had made it clear what the terms would be.
She’d been stupid to take Angel away, to panic like that. Ben wouldn’t have turned against her. He wouldn’t have tried to keep Angel from her, no matter what her problems were; no matter how intent he was on staying with Gina. Gina’s feelings about children had left her with the slightest thread of hope; hope that Ben would have to choose between the girl and his wife.
But that was before. With him gone, everything had changed, and she now had to rely on the woman she’d wanted to replace. Her options had become slim. And as Angel asked about the future, Reese realized how muddled everything had become. How hard it would be to find a solution without him.
“Well, we don’t have to worry about where you’re sleeping tonight,” Lane said. “We’ll have a great time at my place, Angel, and your mom and Gina can spread out and have a slumber party of their own.”
“Right.” Angel smiled, but glanced up at Reese for final confirmation.
“That sounds like a great idea,” Reese said. A night with Gina didn’t have the makings of a party, not with the conversations they had in store, but she could feel her daughter relax—the muscles in her neck, in her good shoulder, eased against Reese’s thigh—and that put a better light on everything else. She saw how much Angel liked Lane, trusted her. Reese trusted her too, and she hoped it was mutual. She needed all the goodwill she could muster.
“We’re here,” Gina said as she turned into the lot of the marina. “I don’t know about you guys, but I’m exhausted. Where’s your car, Reese?” she asked. “Don’t you need to get stuff out of it?”
“The Plymouth there.” She pointed to the maroon car. Her South Carolina license plate read DOG-MAA . In a lot full of fancy sport vehicles, even Gina’s Volvo looked out of place. Reese’s old boxy sedan looked prehistoric.
“South Carolina plates,” Gina said. “That was fast.”
Reese smiled. Gina was fishing. But nothing would be
“So we’ll be here on my birthday?” Angel asked.
“You bet,” Reese answered, smiling, putting a glass down in front of each of us, even her young daughter. “The green straw means it’s virgin,” she said when Lane’s eyebrows went up.
She put the last one at her own place and sat down, then lifted hers toward the middle of the table. Angel held hers out, followed by Lane, then me. The glasses clinked together, held high, pink as party balloons. Whipped cream topped the festive drinks, and in the center of each mound of white sat a different colored gumball.
“Cheers,” Reese said.
“Cheers,” we answered with varying degrees of enthusiasm; but Angel remained unconflicted, her voice calling loudest of all.
7
Reese
R
eese noted the cold sensation that ran down her arm. She thought about what she’d done, hoped to God it was the right thing. She rode in the backseat with Angel on the short drive back to the marina. Lane sat in the front with Gina. Angel stretched out with her head in Reese’s lap, her bandaged shoulder the only sign of what had gone so wrong the night before. Reese pulled her fingers through Angel’s hair, the soft curls yielding at her touch. Angel snuggled as if settling down for a journey, rather than the short ride home. Then again, everything was part journey to a child. Only adults began to see life in terms of destinations.
“Mom?” Angel asked. “Are we going to live on a boat here too, like Gina?”
“I don’t think so, baby. I have to find us a place to stay, though.”
Reese had dreaded arriving in Charleston. Even as she sorted through the details of how she might work things out with Ben, she understood how torn she would feel when it was done, when she was actually sharing her daughter with him. Months before, when she brought Angel to meet Ben, she’d had hopes of another outcome, one that would give Angel the family she deserved. But Ben had made it clear what the terms would be.
She’d been stupid to take Angel away, to panic like that. Ben wouldn’t have turned against her. He wouldn’t have tried to keep Angel from her, no matter what her problems were; no matter how intent he was on staying with Gina. Gina’s feelings about children had left her with the slightest thread of hope; hope that Ben would have to choose between the girl and his wife.
But that was before. With him gone, everything had changed, and she now had to rely on the woman she’d wanted to replace. Her options had become slim. And as Angel asked about the future, Reese realized how muddled everything had become. How hard it would be to find a solution without him.
“Well, we don’t have to worry about where you’re sleeping tonight,” Lane said. “We’ll have a great time at my place, Angel, and your mom and Gina can spread out and have a slumber party of their own.”
“Right.” Angel smiled, but glanced up at Reese for final confirmation.
“That sounds like a great idea,” Reese said. A night with Gina didn’t have the makings of a party, not with the conversations they had in store, but she could feel her daughter relax—the muscles in her neck, in her good shoulder, eased against Reese’s thigh—and that put a better light on everything else. She saw how much Angel liked Lane, trusted her. Reese trusted her too, and she hoped it was mutual. She needed all the goodwill she could muster.
“We’re here,” Gina said as she turned into the lot of the marina. “I don’t know about you guys, but I’m exhausted. Where’s your car, Reese?” she asked. “Don’t you need to get stuff out of it?”
“The Plymouth there.” She pointed to the maroon car. Her South Carolina license plate read DOG-MAA . In a lot full of fancy sport vehicles, even Gina’s Volvo looked out of place. Reese’s old boxy sedan looked prehistoric.
“South Carolina plates,” Gina said. “That was fast.”
Reese smiled. Gina was fishing. But nothing would be
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