AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Still I hesitate.
“You get out of here, so we can enjoy some girl time,” she coaxes me.
Stella looks at me with big, baby doll eyes. “Please, Daddy. Please. Can I spend the day with Inez?”
Man. They’re all ganging up on me. “Fine,” I say once they’ve broken me down.
My brothers move fast, like they’re scared I’ll change my mind if they don’t get me out of here immediately. Before I know what’s happening, they’re pushing me toward the door.
I wrestle my way away from them and turn to Inez. “Thank you. I appreciate it.”
Everyone always sees this outgoing, energetic, magnetic woman. Inez is all those things, but she’s also far more thoughtful and down to earth than people realize.
She just grins at me. “Get out of here! Go! It’s girls’ day.”
I barely manage to give my daughter a kiss before someone shoves me into the back of Darius’s car. Then we’re on the road, headed out of town to the dealership.
17
INEZ
“Ilove girls’ day!” Stella exclaims.
I laugh, trying to concentrate on painting teeny polka dots on her tiny fingernails, so that they’ll look like the cute little ladybugs she requested.
“Girls’ day is awesome,” I agree. “Especially with you.”
We’ve been hanging out at home, having an exclusive self-pampering day. After playing outside, we came in to do “all the woman stuff,” as Stella dubbed it.
We played dress up, curled our hair and then tested out some homemade facial masks. I’m always trying out different recipes to solve whatever skin ailment I’m facing on a given day, and Stella asked if she could do one, too. I was ecstatic to try out some of the fun, fruity kid-friendly recipes I’ve had saved on my phone.
So, now we’re sitting side-by-side on the couch in the office. We look like Halloween monsters, and we smell like avocados and cucumbers.
“Okay, how do they look?” I ask, capping the polish and leaning back so Stella can inspect her nails.
“They’re so pretty. I love them. Thanks, Inez.” Stella stares at her nails for a long moment. Then I notice her smile starting to wobble.
“Whoa. What’s wrong?” I ask, automatically starting to panic. I know some of my black polka dots aren’t very consistent in size, but Stella doesn’t strike me as a little girl who would fret over something like that.
“Today was really nice,” she says quietly, her eyes large and watery. “I never get to do stuff like this.”Her face crumples then as the tears start spilling over.
“Aww. It was great spending the day with you, sweetie.” I wrap her tiny shoulders in a hug, careful not to smudge her freshly painted nails. “We can totally do this more often, okay? I love hanging out with you.”
She nods, sniffling against my sleeve. “I think…I wish…I…I…”
“What is it, sweetie?” I ask her quietly.
And then she just blurts out. “I wish I had a mom.”
I hold her tighter as my heart cracks into a million pieces. Her tiny body shakes and I feel her banana face mask seeping through my T-shirt.I don’t even care. I’ll hold this precious little girl for as long as she needs me to.
After Stella’s sobs have dissolved back into sniffles, I speak again. “You know what?” She shakes her head against me. I’m thoroughly covered in mashed banana now. “I don’t have a mom, either.”
Stella sits up, leaning back just enough to look me in the eyes. “Really?”
“Really.” I nod. “From the time I was about your age, I grew up without a mom, too. Mine left when I was eight.”
“My mommy left me, too.”
