Star Bright by Christina Ow

and
took Elizabeth’s hand.
    Dave looked at Maria, and
then at Michael astounded. He couldn’t believe the woman was
keeping his child away from him, and the kid wanted to keep her.
This was his kid, why did he feel like he had to negotiate to get
her back, as if he was negotiating contracts at the
office!
    “ Michael,
she’s not a puppy,” she said softly to her son before she turned to
Dave with a stern look, “nor a thing to be left around.”
    “ I said I was
sorry.” Dave said, frustrated. He extended his hand for Elizabeth,
but waited for Maria to give her up. He didn’t want to push or
perceive ungrateful to the woman who had rescued his daughter, but
he was getting impatient with her better parent
attitude.
    Maria looked at him for a
while before she shifted Elizabeth on her arm. She brushed her
curls from her face and kissed her forehead, “Your daddy won’t be
winning any parent of the year award anytime soon, but I think he’s
learned his lesson.” Elizabeth laughed and kissed Maria on the
cheek. She passed the child to the agitated father. He hugged her
tight against him, apologizing profusely for leaving her
alone.
    “ Thank you.”
he said, more relaxed. He hadn’t known where his daughter was for a
few minutes and he felt like he was losing his mind. He loved his
daughter and he was never again going to be separated from her. He
extended his hand to Maria, “I’m Dave. I work at McKenzie and
Associates across the street.”
    Maria took his hand, it
was soft, heavy and hard, “I’m Paula, and you already know where I
work.”
    “ I’m Miguel.”
Michael offered. He moved close to Dave and held on to Elizabeth’s
foot.
    Dave looked at the
peculiar child, wondering how old a boy had to be to develop a
crush, “She’s Elizabeth.”
    “ Lithbeth ,” Maria said repeating the
child’s attempt at telling Maria her name, “she’s a beautiful
child,” smiling at the little girl. She took Michael’s hand and
pulled him to her, “Not a puppy or a toy for you to
keep.”
    “ He lost her!”
Michael accused. Maria’s hand shot up and covered his
mouth.
    Dave looked at him and
laughed, “I think we’ll be going now. Thanks again,” he turned and
walked out of the cafe with his child in his arms. He found the
little boy amusing and surprisingly over protective. She on the
other hand, seemed like a kind, protective, but yet secretive woman
to him.
    Maria took off her shoes
and rubbed her feet, “My feet hurt.” Michael brought the bag of
food to the small living room and began plating it. One of the
reasons Maria loved waitressing was taking home the leftovers, it
gave her one less thing to do at the end of a long day.
    Michael sat next to the
table, struggling to twist the spaghetti on his fork, “They would
hurt less if you didn’t wear high shoes all day.”
    “ It’s the
uniform, kiddo. Would you like some juice?” Maria got up and limped
to the fridge. She needed to start walking barefoot during lunch
hour, give her feet a break, or she won’t have any toes left a year
into the job.
    “ Hmm.” his
mouth full. He took a pinch of garlic bread and stuffed it in his
already full mouth.
    She placed his drink down
then picked up a napkin and tucked it in his collar, “Slow down or
you’ll choke.”
    “ Mama, when do
I start school?” he looked up at Maria, his face covered in tomato
sauce. Maria loved seeing him like that, he looked so
sweet.
    She ruffled his hair and
sat on the couch behind him, “What, you already bored with
me?”
    “ No offense
mama, but I need to hang out with kids my own age.” he put another
fork full of spaghetti in his mouth.
    Maria laughed, but he did
have a point. There was only three weeks left until school
officially started and she had no idea where to take him. Jane had
made some suggestions, but Maria wasn’t sure she could afford it.
The other option was to take him to a private school, but she
wasn’t sure about that either, Ricky might