“My dad is super nice, too. And silly.” Giggling, Mia draws her eyes around to June. “Ya know how I said Fifi isn’t my mom?”
Piqued, both girls nod.
“Well… she’s not. But my dad loves her, I fink.”
Oh dear.
“Sometimes I wish Fifi was my real mom, ‘cos she’s so pretty and nice, and even though she always makes my dad growl and stuff, I see her smiling when he’s not paying attention.”
“Really?” Elle’s wide skirt juts at an awkward angle because of her crouch. “My mom makes my dad smile, even when sheislooking.”
“My dad didn’t make my mom smile at all,” June confesses. “He made her cry. A lot.”
Mia gasps and grabs June’s arm. “Your dad who works wif Sophia makes your mom cry? You should tell someone so they can make it better.” She snarls. “We should kick him!”
“Aw, nah.” She snickers. “Myrealdad made my mom sad. But not anymore, ‘cos he stopped coming around. Pres works for Soph, and he makes my mom growl and smile, sometimes both at the same time.”
“He’s her stepdad,” Elle clarifies. “B’cos June’s mom and dad got married and made June. Then they got a divorce. Now Pres and June’s mom are married, and it’swaybetter. The cakes are better now, too.”
I cover my mouth and the silent giggle rolling along my throat, and though the girls are a little too close to the pool’s edge for comfort, I stay back and give them space.
Worst case, if one of them slips, I’ll jump in after them.
“What’s it like having a stepdad?” Mia wonders aloud. “Is it okay?”
Despite the question not being aimed at her, Elle shrugs.
“I really like it,” June answers. “Pres is funny and goofy and super niceto me and my mom.” Leaning closer, she asks, “What’s it like having a mom who died?”
Again, Elle shrugs. Because she needs to be a part of every conversation. Kinda like her mother.
“It feels…” Mia considers for a beat, frowning until two deep lines form between her brows. “It feels like maybe I’m doing it wrong.”
Unaccustomed to confusion, Elle rotates her head and scowls. “How do you mean you’re doing it wrong? That doesn’t even make sense!”
“I mean, sometimes I fink I’m s’posed to be more sad, ‘cos my mom died and that’s sad. But she was sick, and I fink now she’s not.” She grabs a loose ringlet and gently pulls it to its full length. “I fink people are scared to talk about moms in front of me, ‘cos they fink I’m gonna cry.”
“I’d cry if my mom died,” Elle inserts. “I’d cry alot.”
“Me too,” June agrees. But just as Mia’s little expression falls, she adds, “but I didn’t cry when my dad went away.”
“Really?”
“Really. Sometimes people are weird about dads in front of me,especiallywhen Mom and Pres got married. It felt like I was doing it wrong, too, ‘cos I didn’t get mad about them having a wedding. But my dad made my mom cry a lot, and now Pres makes her laugh a lot. And besides, he’s way better at card games anyway.” She shrugs. “It’s okay to not be sad if you don’t wanna be.” Oblivious to my presence mere feet away, June stares straight toward the house with a smile. “Is Fifi gonna be your stepmom someday? She’s really pretty, and I heard Soph talking about her in the car.”
“Yeah.” Mia toes her shoes off and plops onto her butt. She drops her feet into the water, then lies back on the tile and releases a happy sigh. “She’s gonna be my stepmom someday. But we can’t say so out loud yet.”
“Really?” Elle follows suit, but without removing her shoes. Because she’s a shithead like that. She simply drops her feet into the water and lies down. “Why can’t we say so out loud?”
“‘Cos my dad and Fifi are shy.” Mia’s lips crinkle teasingly to the side. “But guess what?”
Lord. Is this what we looked like when my cousins and I were kids? Conspiring little turds who thought the adults couldn’t hear a thing.
While June settles in on Mia’s other side, Elle tilts her head and asks, “What?”
“I invited Fifi over for a movie the other day, but I picked one that had a number two, so when the first one finished, I jumped up straight away and pressed play on the second.”
“Okay…”